Welcome to road respectability, Notre Dame men’s basketball. Well, maybe it’s a bit presumptuous to label the Irish as a “respectable” road team with their 3-4 record in games played away from the Joyce Center, including consecutive road blowouts in Big East play heading into Saturday’s matchup at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, PA. But Notre Dame (14-4, 4-2 in the Big East) certainly looked the part in a 90-80 win over Villanova (13-5, 3-4 in the Big East).
“I thought we were so aggressive offensively and we were attacking,” Coach Mike Brey told the Notre Dame radio network following the game. “That’s a key for us. I think we can put 90 on the board. That’s who we are. I hope that’s something for us to build on.
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McAlarney broke out of his road slump in a big way with 30 points against Villanova.
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“You love being 4-2 in the league going back home the way this league is. We started off with three tough ones on the road, all ranked teams. I’m glad we got one of them and are taking care of our home business. We’ll get on back and get ready for a nice home-stand again.”
The Irish looked like a different team even before the opening tip as Zach Hillesland replaced Ryan Ayers as a starter in the first personnel shake-up of the season. It paid off for a Notre Dame team that had gotten off to slow starts in recent road losses to Marquette and Georgetown. Hillesland brought the energy he usually brings to the rotation in a sixth-man role to the starting lineup, while Ayers found more opportunities to score off the bench with 10 points on a pair of three-pointers and 4-of-6 shooting from the foul line.
“Zach gave us great energy and activity, and he gave us some rebounding early in the game,” Brey said of the change to the starting lineup. “But Ryan Ayers, he’s great. He doesn’t hang his head. He comes in and says, ‘That’s my role, Coach and that’s what I’m gonna do.’ And his minutes are still going to be important. And so I’m very, very proud, but I would have been shocked if he had been any different."
Kyle McAlarney and Rob Kurz jumped out quickly for the Irish, scoring the team’s first 15 points and 17 of the first 24 as Notre Dame jumped out to a 24-15 lead over the first 12 minutes of the first half. McAlarney led all scorers in the opening 20 minutes with 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Luke Harangody, who had been quiet to that point, picked up the slack from there and scored seven-consecutive points for the Irish then added an assist to Hillesland for a thunderous dunk in a two-minute span with just over six minutes left to help Notre Dame build a 33-25 lead at the 4:05 mark en route to a 39-29 advantage at halftime.
Down the stretch, it was all McAlarney and Harangody, as the two combined for 36 of Notre Dame’s 51 second-half points.
McAlarney was the model of consistency throughout the game and was in a great rhythm from the start. He finished with a game-high 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting, including 5-of-6 from three-point range. He hasn’t played well away from the Joyce Center this season, his best performance being a 6-of-13 shooting effort for 18 points in a win over Kansas State at Madison Square Garden in the Jimmy V Classic in early December. In the two games on the road in Big East play, he has averaged just 9 points while shooting a mere 30% from the field.
“I thought he was fabulous,” said Brey of McAlarney breaking out of his shell on the road this season with Saturday’s performance. “And we’ve been on him this week about being more aggressive. He just can’t turn shots down for us, and I thought he was really aggressive.”
Harangody still seemed to struggle to find his offense against active post players, but Villanova’s Antonio Pena left the game with 16:16 to play in the second half with his fourth foul, and Harangody wisely took advantage of the opportunity to really assert himself. He finished with his fourth double-double in the last six games with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
“I thought he did a better job,” Brey said of Harangody. “He got flustered our first two road games, but when he just lets the game come to him, he so good. He gave us such a presence, big defensive rebounds.
“But I do think that he was more poised. And that’s part of becoming an older college basketball player.”
As impressive as the Irish were offensively, perhaps their best performance came against Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds, who was held to 13 points – four below his season average – on 5-of-13 shooting from the field and 0-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc. He had just three points at halftime on 1-of-6 shooting from the field.
Pena led the way for the Wildcats with 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. He and Malcolm Grant led a Villanova charge down the stretch that pulled the game to within seven points at 83-76 with 1:14 to play following a three-pointer by Grant, who scored all eight of his points in the game’s final two and a half minutes.
Up next for the Irish is a return to the Joyce Center on Thursday night for a matchup against Providence. The game tips off at 7 P.M. ET and will be televised nationally by the ESPN family of networks.
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