Irish Open Big East Play With New Year's Eve Road Win
Johnny McDermott Thursday 01, January 2009
#7/10 Notre Dame (10-2, 1-0 BE) 92, DePaul (8-6, 0-1 BE) 82
The Irish opened up Big East conference play with a high-scoring 92-82 victory over the DePaul Blue Demons at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL. This New Year's Eve tilt was controlled from wire-to-wire by the Irish as they never trailed and the game was never tied after 7-7 at the 17:43 mark of the first half. The Irish controlled the tempo of the game and more importantly, controlled the glass, outrebounding the Blue Demons 40-31 and 14-9 on offense. (Jr. PF #44) Luke Harangody led all scorers and rebounders with 26 points and 16 rebounds while Mac Koshwal had a double-double of his own for DePaul with 26 points and 11 rebounds. The Irish also got a career-high 17 points from (Sr. F #33) Zach Hillesland as his drives opened up the lane for Harangody and opened up the 3-point arc for the Irish shooters.
The Irish opened up the scoring with a Harangody jumper but Koshwal quickly matched it for DePaul. A jumper by (Jr. PG #2) Tory Jackson was matched again by Koshwal while a 3 from (Sr. SG #23) Kyle McAlarney was answered by a Dar Tucker 3 to tie the game at 7. A DePaul turnover led to a missed jumper by Jackson but Harangody grabbed the board and made the putback to give the Irish a 9-7 lead, a lead they would never relinquish. The Irish extended the lead to 5 twice before a Tucker 3 cut it back to 2 at 16-14 but a Hillesland layup and another 3 by McAlarney made it a 21-14 game. DePaul would hang around, keeping the lrish lead between 4 and 8 until a (Sr. C #40) Luke Zeller 3 gave the Irish an 11-point lead with 9:21 to play in the half. DePaul would not get the game any closer than 5 points the rest of the half and a 3 by (Sr. SF #42) Ryan Ayers gave the Irish a 47-34 halftime lead. Hillesland and Harangody shared the halftime scoring lead with 12 points apiece for the Irish while Dar Tucker had 16 for the Blue Demons thanks to 4/4 3 point shooting.
DePaul came out of the gate quickly in the second half, scoring the first 4 points to get the Irish lead down to single digits. Two missed free throws by Jabari Currie stemmed the Blue Demon momentum and Hillesland drove the lane to get the Irish lead back to 11 points. 4 more points for the Blue Demons would cut the lead to 7, the closest that DePaul would get for the rest of the game. DePaul would keep chopping the lead down to single digits but every time the lead got under 10, the Irish would respond with a big bucket or a 3 pointer to extend the lead back to double figures and closed out the game with a 92-82 victory to start Big East conference play at 1-0.
There were plenty of good signs for the Irish in this game but the dangerous sign from yesterday's ball game was the utter lack of defense played by the Irish. DePaul, a bottom echelon Big East team scored 82 points, which is way above their season average. The Irish did do a much better job on the glass and they play a fast paced game which will drive scoring numbers up on both ends. However, the defensive intensity needs to be better if the Irish are going to have a big season. Despite that negative, the Irish played pretty well. Notre Dame had 20 assists to only 9 turnovers and shot 52% from the field. All 5 starters scored in double figures and both Jackson and Hillesland helped Harangody on the boards by grabbing 6 rebounds apiece. Jackson had a solid game with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and only 1 turnover. The Irish only forced 8 turnovers but limited DePaul's second chance opportunities and were able to absorb big games from Koshwal and Tucker thanks to balanced scoring from all 5 starters. The Irish look to move to 2-0 in Big East play this coming Saturday as they go to Madison Square Garden to take on St. John's.
