Tory Tears Up The RAC in a Close One
17th Feb 2008
Notre Dame 71
Rutgers 68
The Fighting Irish barely escaped Piscataway, New Jersey today in a game that went down to the last minute. Kyle McAlarney hit two free throws to extend the lead to three and put the game away for Notre Dame. The Scarlet Knights put up a strong fight and nearly won, but mistakes late in the game cost them the contest. The Irish improve their record to 19-5 (9-3), good for a tie in third place with Connecticut. Rutgers is now dead last in the Big East with their rough 10-17 (2-12) record.
The star of the game was sophomore guard Tory Jackson. Tory nearly had a triple-double with 17 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds. That’s his highest scoring game of the season and one of his best nights in assists and rebounds. He had nine rebounds in the loss to Connecticut and eleven assists in the win earlier against UConn. He also had two steals today, but really needs to improve his free-throw shooting. He only made 2 of 5 from the line today and is shooting an awful 50.7% so far this year. However, this game most certainly boosted his confidence, so let’s hope he can continue to play this well heading into the final games of the season.
Junior Kyle McAlarney had a much better game today with 16 points. He made four of his seven three point attempts, after only making two of seven against UConn. Kyle put on a good performance for the 150+ friends and family that he had at the game today. He grew up less than a half hour away from Rutgers in Staten Island. McAlarney played 38 of the 40 minutes and made two late free-throws forcing the Scarlet Knights to shoot from behind the arc in the final seconds.
Lone Senior Rob Kurz also played well compared to his performance last Wednesday night against Connecticut. He had 11 points today with a season high 14 rebounds. Rob played 36 minutes and only had one foul as he dominated the glass.
Surprisingly, Luke Harangody struggled all game and could never get into a rhythm. Hamady N’Diaye and Rutgers’ other big men held Harangody to only 10 points and 8 rebounds, both much below his season average. He got into foul trouble early on and was forced to play a much different style than he is used to, and obviously it didn’t work out too well. This is one of the few games Harangody hasn’t got a double-double but his teammates picked up the slack and managed to come away with another W.
As a team, Notre Dame shot very well in the first half but struggled early in the second. They finished with a percentage of 41.8, making 28 out of 67 shot attempts, including 8 of 17 behind the arc. Once again, the Irish out-rebounded their opponent, this time 43 to 35. Notre Dame is one of the best rebounding teams in the nation and most certainly not the tallest. They just have so many players who always go after the ball and follow their shots, no matter how tall they are, considering Tory Jackson is only 5′11″.
The top players for Rutgers were Juniors Anthony Farmer with 16 points and JR Inman with 14. The Scarlet Knights made 26 of 69 shot attempts, 37.7%. Twenty-five of those shots were from behind the arc, where they shot 36.0%, making nine. Their defensive play and Notre Dame’s offensive struggles kept the game close.
Rutgers gave Notre Dame some trouble, but Mike Brey and his team came away with an important win away from home. Nine Big East wins is am impressive number and puts them in great position as tournament time approaches. Pittsburgh will be traveling to South Bend, Indiana on Thursday to try and snap Notre Dame’s impressive home winning streak. This will be the first meeting between these teams this season and should be an exciting game to watch. I’ll have a preview on Wednesday and as always, Go Irish!
