Team Effort Takes Down Marquette
9th Feb 2008
Notre Dame 86
Marquette 83
Marquette came into South Bend earlier this afternoon looking to snap Notre Dame’s 33 game winning streak at home. The Golden Eagles were the last team to beat the Irish at home in the Joyce Center. Notre Dame came into this matchup looking to get revenge and another game added to the third longest, active, home winning streak in the country. The Irish came out on top, improving to 18-4 (8-2) this season, coming within one game of Georgetown who plays Louisville tonight on ESPN at 9:00 PM EST. This makes five wins in a row for the Irish and 34 in a row in South Bend.
Tory Jackson led the way for the Irish early in the game, coming out with a lot of energy and exciting plays. He set the tone immediately with a beautiful block and a couple of rebounds. Remember, Jackson is only 5′10″ but averages nearly five rebounds game as a guard. He also provided some scoring early on making two three’s in the first half, when he has only made five on the season prior to today. Tory finished with 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 9 assists as he guided the Irish to another win.
Luke Harangody was shut down in the first half and only had seven points at halftime. He didn’t score at all for the first 13 minutes and 22 seconds of the game due to the outstanding defense of Marquette’s Ousmane Barro. However, Luke picked his game up in the second half and started drawing some fouls and getting to the line. He provided clutch free-throw shooting (10-13) at the end of the game to win it for the Irish. Harangody managed to get another double-double and finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Kyle McAlarney also struggled in the first half due to a lack of open shots. The Golden Eagles shut down Notre Dame’s deadly duo almost the entire first half and forced the rest of the Irish team to make plays. Kyle eventually started making some baskets later on and finished with an exceptional 12 points, going two of six from beyond the arc.
Notre Dame won this game because of the effort of each and every player on the team. When Luke and Kyle struggled in the first half, Jackson, Hillesland, and Zeller carried the team to a ten point halftime lead. Zeller had 11 points on the afternoon including a sick one-handed dunk in the first half. Zach Hillesland finished with ten points, six of which were in the first five minutes of the game, as well as seven rebounds. Other contributors were; sophomore Jonathan Peoples with seven points, including a pair of late free throws, Ryan Ayers with nine who completed a four point play, and lone senior Rob Kurz with five points and five rebounds.
If Marquette had made just a couple less mistakes, like missed layups, they would’ve have won this game and snapped the streak. Dominic James and Lazar Hayward were the Golden Eagles high scorers with 23 and 21 points. They each made 3 of 6 from beyond the arc, helping Marquette make 12 of 25 three pointers this afternoon. Last time these two teams played, the Golden Eagles again had 12 three’s, but the outcome was much different. So Marquette moves to 16-6 (6-5) on the year with Seton Hall and Pittsburgh coming up next.
The Fighting Irish ended up winning this game by three thanks to the clutch free-throw shooting late in the game. There were too many turnovers in the last couple of minutes, but luckily Notre Dame survived and won their fifth game in a row. They will most certainly go up in the next set of rankings and Marquette will most likely drop out. Up next for Notre Dame is red-hot Connecticut, who has won six games in a row with a chance to make it seven right now against Georgia Tech on ESPN. The ND-Hoyas game is on Wednesday the 13th, at Connecticut, so I will have a preview on Tuesday the 12th. Great win for Notre Dame today, and as always, Go Irish!
