Passing The Test

• Box Score
  

The first round of the National Invitation Tournament always serves as a terrific guide in determining which of the 32 teams are interested in being in the tourney, and which would rather get the long six-month ride over with.

Notre Dame faced its opening-round “interest test” Tuesday night against UAB at the Joyce Center, and passed with high marks, beating a talented Blazer bunch 70-64 in a gutsy effort that suggests this group isn’t ready to shut things down just yet.

The win secures a second-round date between the No. 2 seeded Irish (19-14), and Tuesday night’s late game winner between No. 6 Nebraska and No. 3 New Mexico. The second-round game is scheduled for Thursday night back at the Joyce Center, likely at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.

“Our energy level Sunday night when we came back to practice was excellent, and it was Monday,” Irish coach Mike Brey said. “I would have been shocked if we weren’t ready to go. This group has always been ready to compete, and to get back on the horse and try it again, that’s why I love them.”

Notre Dame shook off any questions about possible indifference after a disappointing season with a sustained effort that was needed against one of the more athletic opponents to move through the Joyce Center this season

The 2,039 in attendance was sparse, but not completely surprising for a 9 p.m. start on St. Patrick’s Day. But those that made it got an entertaining show from both teams.

Notre Dame jumped out to a 10-4 lead early, stalled with just one field goal in about six minutes through the middle stages of the first half, then opened things up with 15 points in about three minutes to turn a 24-24 game into a 39-35 halftime lead.

Scoring balance defined the Notre Dame attack through the early going with four players scoring at least six points and all eight regular members of the Irish rotation scoring at least one bucket.

Add good three-point shooting for the Irish – 7 of 14 – to the nice scoring balance and the 39 points was the best first-half scoring output since the Irish hit Providence with 49 points seven games ago.

The balance went away some in the second half, but Luke Harangody did not. The big fella scored 12 of his team-high 22 points in the second half to go along with 10 rebounds. Kyle McAlarney added 12 as the only other Irish double-digit scorer. Ryan Ayers and Tory Jackson each added nine points.

“We were pretty loose coming into this,” Harangody said. “We obviously have the goal to get back to New York, so I think we took it serious and I think you saw that out there tonight, and we just need the same thing Thursday.”

Tuesday might be a good omen for the Irish because historically, when they have survived their first-round NIT game, they have made a run to at least the semifinals in five out of eight tries. Notre Dame has never won this tournament in 10 overall appearances.

“We’re in a great tournament, a great challenge, and there’s a chance you could play your way back to New York,” Irish coach Mike Brey said of trying to reach the NIT Final Four at Madison Square Garden. “I think our seniors did a good job of setting the tone of that. They don’t want their basketball to end and obviously they are the ones with their clocks ticking.”

The Blazers (22-12) never went quietly, not at all. In fact, UAB hit Notre Dame with an 11-2 run to start the second half that gave the Blazers a 46-41 lead. That’s where things got interesting and it looked like an upset was looming.

But the Irish never panicked, they weathered the UAB storm, and used some smothering defense, and a heavy dose of Harangody, to build a game-winning 10-0 scoring run that turned a 50-50 game into a seemingly comfortable 60-50 Irish lead inside of five minutes.

UAB stuck around and pulled back to within 63-60 with 58 seconds left in the game before 7-of-8 foul shooting in the last minute helped the Irish put this one on ice.

Foul shooting was an important storyline in this one. Notre Dame went 16-of-20 while UAB was only 5-of-13.