Monday, January 5, 2009

Irish Bounce Back Against Georgetown

Luke Harangody scored 31 points and pulled down 11 rebounds as Notre Dame (11-3, 2-1) bounced back from a loss to St. John's last Saturday in New York. The 13th ranked Irish held on for the win, 73-67, over #9 Georgetown (10-3, 1-2).

Notre Dame, which led at the half, 39-28, was a different team in this game compared to last Saturday. Although, the Hoyas eventually won the rebounding battle, 37-34, the Irish scrapped and hustled. They had the rebound when it was key. They also played much better defense for most of the game versus Georgetown.

Although, he scored 10 points, Tory Jackson was the epitomy of this game as far as being clutch and hustling. Early on, he hit a key jumper. But, later in the game he also drew a charge when Georgetown was trying to pull closer. His no-look pass with 4:07 left led to a dunk by Harangody and a 65-54 lead.

Back to Harangody. Early foul trouble could have caused most player to play timid. But, in achieving his 34th double double, Harangody was anything but timid. As a matter of fact, he played the last 11:34 with four fouls. He did not foul out.

The Irish shot 44.6 percent from the floor. They held Georgetown to 41.7 percent. Notre Dame's foul shooting was key to the win. They hit an outstanding 15-of-16 from the line.

Notre Dame, besides Harangody's 31 points received 17 from Kyle McAlarney. Tory Jackson had a very good seven assists. Georgetown was led by freshman center Greg Monroe who had 21 points and 10 rebounds.

Notre Dame now owns the nation's longest home court winning streak. They have won 44 games in a row at the Joyce Center. They will be back in action on Saturday at 2 p.m.. The opponent will be Seton Hall. The game is at the Joyce Center.

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