Toughness The Key

With the schedule the Notre Dame basketball team has faced this season, even coach Mike Brey said that his team was going to “take some bullets” as things moved forward. He probably didn’t realize how quickly the drive-by was coming.

The stars seemed lined up perfectly last weekend for Notre Dame to head to Indianapolis, and record a nice out-of-conference win over Ohio State to put alongside the victory over No. 7 Texas in the Maui Invitational.

But instead of handing the unranked Buckeyes their first loss of the season, it was Ohio State that imposed its will, won the toughness battle, and stayed undefeated with a 67-62 win at Lucas Oil Stadium that sent the disappointed Irish tumbling five spots to No. 12 in the latest AP Poll.

“There’s a lot of teams that look like (Ohio State) that we are going to play against in our league,” Brey said. “If we can’t protect our paint and block out a little better…if we don’t do it, we’re going to be just an okay team in the Big East because the Big East is too darn good be sloppy in that element of the game.”

The loss to the Buckeyes on a neutral court won’t leave a noticeable black mark on Notre Dame’s postseason résumé. The more troubling issue becomes how the Irish lost, because it’s a formula for defeat we have seen a few times before, almost always against the better teams on the schedule.

That recipe Ohio State and others have used won’t likely show up in the three-game homestand that opens tonight against Boston University. The bigger concern will be Dec. 31 when Big East play opens.

Passive board work, an inability to handle Ohio State’s athleticism, and an indifference to defense allowed the Buckeyes to consistently get second-chance baskets and secure control of things in the second half. Sound familiar?

It was really the standard blueprint on how to beat the Irish – let Harnagody get his, smother Kyle McAlarney, outwork the Irish on the boards, realize it’s not a great defensive team, and make Notre Dame beat you two points at a time, instead of by three.

“For us, a reoccurring issue is going to be keeping people, the athletic ability, out of our lane and off our backboard. We’re going to keep coming back to that,” Brey said. “It’s things we have to emphasize in practice and they have to talk amongst themselves to see if we can limit that.”

Ohio State dominated the pace and the hustle battle, holding the Irish to season lows in points (62), points in a half (28 in the first), and 37-percent field goal shooting.

Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette (twice) and Washington State all used the same formula to beat the Irish last season, so it was troubling to see the similar problems resurface with this veteran team.

The Irish have to find some toughness and rebounding balance if they are going to survive in the Big East, and that needs to come from Luke Zeller and Tyrone Nash.

These important areas began to slide late last season and the result was a slippage in production, three losses in the last seven games, and early dismissals from both the Big East and the NCAA Tournaments.

Notre Dame will never be a lock-down defensive team, nor will it ever be mistaken for Connecticut when it comes to board work. But it has to be better in both areas, at the very least in effort, or it could get swallowed in league play. It all brings up the questions again of how difficult it will be to replace the inside presence of Rob Kurz, and what’s it going to take overcome defensive deficiencies, and start winning some of the toughness battles?

“Maybe have their face rubbed in it occasionally like that,” Brey said. “You would like to be able to correct things without getting smacked, but human nature is human nature. I’m going to be able to show some film of some guys getting pushed around a little bit, and see how they respond.”

Much of the rebounding, of course, falls on Harangody, and Brey said his star forward continues to progress nicely as he recovers from pneumonia.

“The weight is starting to pick back up, the biggest thing is the wind right now, and recovery time,” Brey said. “And I think each day it gets better.”

Foul Shooting

One of the staples of a Mike Brey team has always been great foul shooting. The Irish led the Big East last year at .738 percent. But through the first eight games this season, the Irish have been dismal from the stripe, hitting only 81 of 136 for a .596 percentage, which ranks No. 15 out of 16 Big East teams. Tory Jackson and Zach Hillesland have struggled the most, combining for 32 of 62 (.516).

“I think we have to put a little bit more time, not to get into great psychological evaluations, but reps in practice is what we need to do during the break,” Brtey said. “The one thing not playing a heavy schedule like we just went through, guys have time to get in and get reps.”