2010 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Basketball: Notre Dame vs Pittsburgh

It's not easy to score against the Pittsburgh Panthers, but if you can, you've got it made. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish learned that simple secret on Wednesday night in South Bend, Ind., and as a result, their faint and flickering NCAA Tournament hopes are still alive.

No, Notre Dame isn't quite dead in the chase for a place in America's best-loved single-elimination tournament. Coach Mike Brey's team - still without injured superstar Luke Harangody - managed to snag a quality win at the Joyce Center and maintain a pulse in the Big East's cluttered and crowded competition for postseason spots. The Irish still have a place at the discussion table alongside Connecticut, Louisville and Marquette (and ahead of South Florida) because they were able to do what other Big East teams had failed to achieve over the past two weeks: beat Pittsburgh.

From Feb. 6 through Feb. 21, Coach Jamie Dixon's Panthers fended off all Big East comers. Pitt went 5-0 overall, and 4-0 in the conference, by ratcheting up its defensive intensity. Yes, Pitt needed some luck to top West Virginia in triple overtime on Feb. 12, but subsequent victories over Marquette and the high-octane powerhouse known as Villanova revealed the Panthers at their pugnacious best. By limiting the Golden Eagles to 51 points and then keeping the Wildcats - a Final Four team last year - 20 points below their 2010 average, the boys from Western Pennsylvania established a very high standard of defensive excellence. Notre Dame - bereft of its meal-ticket scorer - faced a stiff challenge on Wednesday. A shorthanded club was going to have to march straight into the Panthers' defense and find a way to put the ball in the basket.

At the start of the second half, that's exactly what the Fighting Irish decided to do.

The first half went well enough for an underdog outfit that raced to a 35-27 halftime advantage, but in the first six minutes of the second half, Brey's bunch became the Flourishing Irish, not just the Fighting Irish. With vastly superior energy, crispness, ball movement, and balance, Notre Dame scored 17 points and raced to a 52-30 lead to effectively seal the outcome.

What made the scoring surge noteworthy is that five different Fighting Irish players joined the effort. Tyrone Nash, Carleton Scott, Tory Jackson, Ben Hansbrough, and Tim Abromaitis all scored for Notre Dame in those sensational six minutes, with the home team getting production inside and outside. Open shots emerged as a result of passes, not dribbles. Shooters were able to make catches and immediately find a free shooting hand, an ideal progression for a basketball team at the offensive end of the floor. A Pittsburgh team that had been doing everything right over the past two weeks ran into a smarter and more efficient opponent, and as a result, the Panthers petered out a sustained period of high achievement.

Notre Dame still has to win at least two of its three remaining regular-season games just to have a sniff at a potential NCAA invite. The Irish did far too little in the non-conference portion of their schedule, as losses to Northwestern and Loyola Marymount indicate. However, a big-enough push at the tail-end of the Big East season could put this team back in the hunt.

Wednesday night's display of offensive efficiency marked a very good start.

Notre Dame vs Pittsburgh Basketball Recap