Preview: Notre Dame vs. Providence
30th Jan 2008
The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame will be put up against the Friars of Providence tomorrow night on national television. The game will be on either ESPN or ESPN2 at 7:00 PM EST. Providence is currently 12-7 overall and 3-4 in the Big East. This ties them for third to last in the Big East with Villanova who is also 3-4. The Irish are now in second in the Big East behind the Hoyas who have only one loss which was to Pittsburgh.
Notre Dame received a lot of votes in the polls this week but were just a little shy from breaking into the top 25. With a win tomorrow and a win on Saturday against DePaul, the Irish have a real good shot at getting in there. But the first step is extending the home winning streak against the Friars.
Providence doesn’t have any true star on their team and win with a team effort. They have five players who average 10+ points, but zero who average more than 14. They play a lot of guards who are somewhat tall for that position, but no true big man to stop Harangody. Their highest scorer is Jeff Xavier, a six-foot-one guard from Rhode Island averaging 13.1 points a game. Although, the Friars are the third best three-point shooting team in the Big East, making 38.0% of their attempts.
Notre Dame of course leads the Big East from beyond the arc due largely to Kyle McAlarney. Kyle is coming off one of the biggest games of his career at Villanova where he scored 30 points. He made five of eight from beyond the arc and if he can come close to doing that again, I gurantee an Irish victory. But in my opinion, Kyle will play well for sure, but Luke Harangody is going to dominate this game. The Friars do have a 6′11″ center, Randall Hanke, but he weighs ten pounds less than Harangody who is only 6′8″. Luke will use his strength to overpower Hanke and dominate in the paint.
Tory Jackson is one of the nation’s leaders in assists, averaging 5.9, but needs to develop a shot. Jackson can pass the ball and help his teammates out, but he needs to start contributing more in the score. He scores an average of only 6.7 points a game and rarely ever shoots. He can take the ball to the hoop and draw a foul with his quickness and athleticism but for some reason chooses not to most of the time. Notre Dame would be much more successful if Tory would take some more shot attempts. If he’s not making any, fine, give the ball to Harangody or McAlarney, they will score.
Either way I think the Irish will win the game in a blowout, considering the game is at home and Providence doesn’t present a great challenege. Luke Harangody will have a big game and Notre Dame will improve to 5-2 in the Big East and 15-4 overall. As always, Go Irish!
