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February 11, 2010
Another Big Chance
by
TODD D. BURLAGE
Assistant Editor
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Notre Dame (17-7, 6-5)
Vs. Seton Hall (12-9, 3-7)
When: Tonight, 7 p.m.
Where: Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.
TV: ESPNU
Line: Seton Hall by 5.5
Prediction: Seton Hall 79-76
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Irish head coach Mike Brey said after the disappointing loss to Rutgers about two weeks ago that he wasn’t overly concerned about that particular defeat.
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Brey and the Irish have won nine of the last ten games against Seton Hall.
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The key to chasing down an NCAA Tournament bid, he said, would be to hold serve at home, and try to steal one or two road games, and that would be good enough. So there was no point in getting overly worked up about losing one road game with four chances remaining to secure a win or two away from Purcell Pavilion. Just keep moving forward was the message.
The team has followed that plan since the Rutgers loss, securing consecutive home wins against Cincinnati and South Florida to climb back into NCAA Tournament consideration. But those two wins were expected. A win tonight at Seton Hall would be considered an upset, and a great opportunity.
“You’d like to take a little bit of the same personality you’ve had [at Purcell Pavilion] in the last two games on the road,” Brey said. “That’s what we’ll talk about.”
The Irish had plenty of time to talk about exactly what it will take to secure just the fourth road win in the last 15 tries over two seasons.
Inclement weather forced the Irish to fly into Newark, N.J. on Tuesday afternoon, giving the team more than 48 hours together to prepare for an opponent, and practice twice in an arena, that have treated them well.
Notre Dame has won nine of the last 10 against the Pirates, including an impressive 95-69 win at the Prudential Center in February 2008.
“The same mentality that we have here, the way we practice here, we got to take that on the road,” said Irish senior point guard Tory Jackson. “This is a great opportunity for us.”
Indeed. The two-game winning streak has Notre Dame in a seventh-place tie with Marquette at 6-5 in conference play, which doesn’t sound all that encouraging. But consider Notre Dame is one of five teams in the conference that have four or five losses, and it is clear there is plenty of room to maneuver within the conference standings, and maybe even steal a bye in the Big East Tournament.
“Even though those teams at the top can probably win [the league title], we can get two byes just like the other teams,” Jackson said. “That’s the goal for us. We’re right in the thick of things right now to get on a roll that would be huge for us.”
The key for Notre Dame tonight will be the same as it is every night. Defend the dribble penetration well, and rebound the basketball. When the Irish do those two things, their efficiency on offense allows them to play with any team in the league, and maybe in the country. When they fail to do either or both, they can be beaten by anyone…including Rutgers.
Senior guard Ben Hansbrough said the loss to Rutgers served as a warning that when this Irish team doesn’t play tough, it will get beat, and the mindset has been better each of the last two games because of that.
“We just kind of realized that we’ve got to get tougher,” Hansbrough said. “And the practices throughout that week after we lost to Rutgers, they were just really tough when we were going at it.
“We really focused a lot on toughness and defense. I think our mindset as a team has just kind of changed a little bit. We’ve been not necessarily as tough as we can be.”
And that’s a perception Jackson doesn’t care for. Brey called a two-a-day practice for his team immediately after the loss to Rutgers, and the team responded well at home, but can it on the road?
“A lot of guys that scout us think that we are the nice guys, the guys that can score but don’t want to play defense,” Jackson said. “The practices that we’ve had the last couple of weeks just got us back to being down and dirty, and gritting things out.”
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