Preview: Notre Dame vs. Seton Hall
5th Feb 2008
The Fighting Irish will be heading to Newark tomorrow night to take on the Pirates in the Prudential Center. The game is set to tip-off at 7:30 ET and should be an exciting one to watch. Seton Hall is 15-7 overall and 5-4 in the Big East so far this season. Notre Dame is 16-4 overall and 6-2 in conference games thus far. Both schools have played very well recently and it should be a close contest.
The Pirates are coming off a close loss to almighty Georgetown, 73-61. But before Seton Hall had played the Hoyas, they went on a five game winning streak, all in the Big East. The teams included South Florida, Louisville, Providence, Cincinnati, and Rutgers. So obviously this is going to be a tough task for the Irish, especially away from home. Seton Hall is one of the few teams that averages more points than Notre Dame, 80.9, compared to 79.8 for ND. However, the Irish on average only give up 67.0 points while the Pirates allow 77.3. That goes to show how close almost all of Seton Hall’s games are.
Senior Brian Laing leads the way for the Pirates with 19.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. He puts up numbers very close to Luke Harangody, but can be used as a guard or a forward. Brian is 6′5″ and rebounds like as if he were Harangody’s size. Sophomore John Garcia, however, will probably be put up against Luke. Garcia is 6′9″, 265 pounds, which is a little bigger than Luke Harangody at 6′8″, 250. But I can’t forget Eugene Harvey of the Pirates who is the second leading scorer on the team with 15.7 points per game. Harvey is also a Sophomore and a big threat to the Irish defense.
Notre Dame will need big games from both Kyle McAlarney and Luke Harangody. This duo has taken home Big East Player of the Week the past two weeks, and is incredibly hard to stop. If McAlarney is having a rough game, Harangody will be there to save the team, and vice versa. Than there is the chance that both are playing well and therefore Notre Dame dominates the opposing team. I don’t think there has been a game where both have had bad days, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
Kyle McAlarney is unbelievable from beyond the arc. He shoots 44.5% from three and makes around three a game, with a high of seven. McAlarney has made at least one three-pointer in every game this season. He averages 15.2 points per game, only behind Harangody on the young Irish team.
Luke Harangody managed to get his average over 20 points by scoring 29 against DePaul in only thirty minutes of play. One of the keys to his success is scoring early. Luke always starts out strong and gets Notre Dame rolling. He managed to score the first nine points for the Fighting Irish last Saturday against the Blue Demons. Let’s hope Luke can put in another thirty and lead ND to another victory.
I believe that Notre Dame has the slight advantage in this game, but Seton Hall will keep it close considering it’s in Newark. The Irish will hopefully come away with another conference win and keep their spot in second place in the Big East. I’m not sure if the game will be televised, so if you have any infomation on this, please let me know. As always, Go irish!
2 Comments to “Preview: Notre Dame vs. Seton Hall”
Louis Orr
Dude, you need to do a better job of researching the other opponent. Seton Hall is 5-5 in their last 10 games, and the wins that you spouted off, besides Louisville is against the lower echelon of the Big East: 16. USF, 15. Rutgers, 12. Providence, and 10. Cincinnati. Not what I call stellar wins. Their best non-conference win is against a 11-9 Virginia squad.
Also I’d like to mention that the Pirates are 1-6 against Top 50 programs. It doesn’t bode well for Seton Hall. This one is in the bank for the Irish!
Kevin
I’ve done my research on Seton Hall and I disagree with you. Actually 6-4 in their last ten games, but the largest margin they lost by was 14 at Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is a great team and it’s very hard to win there. The Pirates have kept so many of their losses close and their record could be a lot different if they pulled through in the end. I believe the game will be a challenge for Notre Dame and it won’t be a blowout. Also, try not to base your research off of just numbers. Thank you.