Notre Dame stays strong against USF; wins 67-57

The Irish basketball squad was able to avoid a letdown after their remarkable Louisville performance on Sunday afternoon as they beat South Florida 67-57 at the Joyce Center. Kyle McAlarney and Luke Harangody once again lead the way for the Irish with 19 points each while Ryan Ayers dropped 12 points and Tory Jackson and (my man) Tyrone Nash chipped in with 8 apeice.  The Irish had a great start to the game, leading by as much as 14 points before South Florida cut into the lead and tied them in the late second half.  Notre Dame responded and thanks to some big shots by their star players, the Irish were able to take back the lead and win in (relative) comfortable fashion.  The Irish next face West Virginia in Morgantown on Wednesday night.

Some additional thoughts:

This week is gigantic for the basketball team/program.  You're sitting at 5-7 in the Big East with two away games against tough WVU and Providence squads.  Win these two and you're doing very well.  Lose one, and while it is not over, it's definitely an uphill battle.  And if for some reason you drop both of them (which is entirely possible), your season is pretty much all over.  The good news is that the Irish are getting hot right now and have some much needed confidence.  I think the WVU game is much tougher than Providence and we'll be lucky to get out of their with a victory.  The place can be a hostile environment and Providence has gotten clobbered by some of the better Big East teams this season.  If the Irish stay focused, I think they can pull these two games off.  If not, hello NIT.

Luke Harangody had a tough game at times getting an open shot, much more so than on Thursday night.  But he made some big shots when it counted, including a 3-pointer late in the 2nd half, and was able to get to the free throw line multiple times.  What's sad for me is that he is such a great player yet he probably won't even be the Big East Player of the Year.  That'll likely go to Thabeet because he has legs that are like 6 feet long.  I am pretty confident that unless Notre Dame entirely collapses in the last few games of the season, Luke will be a first-team All-American, but it would've been nice to get him a second BE POY award.  Maybe next year...

It was good to see Kyle McAlarney and Ryan Ayers make their shots this afternoon, especially late in the game.  They both have had a rough season but when they are on, the Irish can compete with almost anyone in the country.  They are Notre Dame's best shot at a second and third scoring threat and they need to be in double figures if the Irish want to make a strong finish and land in the NCAA tournament.  Guys like Zeller and Hillesland might have the occasional big night but you can't depend on them every game like you can with McAlarney and Ayers.

Tyrone Nash is quickly becoming one of my favorites on the floor.  He played really, really well at times and provided a spark on offense for the first time this season.  It is too bad that he picked up three early fouls because if he had been able to get more minutes, I think he could've been into double figures.  Maybe it's just my man crush on Nash, but everytime he is in the game, we move the ball better on offense and there is at least a threat of us getting the occasional offensive rebound or hustle play.  I would be inclined to give Nash Zeller's minutes because of that spark and hustle he provides.  Zeller is not that great of a shooter and it has shown in almost every game besides Pittsburgh.  He consistently gets open shots from the outside yet does not connect.  Methinks he is getting open because opposing coaches would rather him shoot the ball from the outside than have to defend Harangody, McAlarney and the rest of the game.  I still think he deserves 5-10 minutes a game, but I'd like to see Nash become our 6th man.  It's better for the present and for the future.

Here's the latest standings for the Big East:

2008-09 Big East Standings

TEAM	CONF	GB	OVR
Connecticut #1	12-1	-	24-1
Pittsburgh #4	10-2	1½	23-2
Marquette #12	10-2	1½	21-4
Louisville #7	10-2	2	19-5
Villanova #13	8-4	3½	20-5
Providence	8-5	4	16-9
Syracuse #22	7-6	5	19-7
Cincinnati	7-6	5	17-9
West Virginia	6-6	5½	17-8
Notre Dame	5-7	7	14-10
Seton Hall	5-7	6½	14-10
Georgetown	4-8	7½	13-10
South Florida	3-9	8	8-16
St. John's	3-10	9	12-13
Rutgers	1-11	10½	10-15
DePaul	0-13	11½	8-18

The first four or five spots are pretty much locked up at this point but after that, there is a lot of room for us.  Syracuse and Cincinnati have the tiebreakers against us, which makes the Providence and WVU games even more important.  That Cincinnati game was a killer for us.  It really set us back.