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BIG EAST TOURNAMENT
DAY TWO NIGHT SESSION
Game 7: (7) Notre Dame 68, (10) Seton Hall 56
In his time away from the lineup, pundits throughout college basketball wondered aloud if perhaps the Notre Dame basketball team was better off without Luke Harangody.
Following his return to the lineup for Notre Dame’s second-round Big East Tournament matchup with Seton Hall, the answer was a resounding “no”.
The seventh-seeded Fighting Irish, seeing their first action after a first-round bye, dominated the tenth-seeded Seton Hall Pirates with a 68-56 victory, sending Notre Dame to the quarterfinals of this year’s Big East championship. The returning Harangody, seeing his first serious action since being injured on February 11, led all scorers with 20 points and nine rebounds, with 15 points coming in the first half alone. Jereme Hazell led Seton Hall with 15 points.
Seton Hall would find its best moments in the opening minutes of the contest, immediately jumping out to an 11-2 lead over the Irish before the three-time All-Big East selection leapt into action, scoring 11 of Notre Dame’s next 18 points. Once the Irish took a 20-17 lead, control had shifted for good.
The second half was all Notre Dame. The Irish began the period with a 7-0 run, taking the lead to 14 points and never looking back. In spite of two mini-runs to take small chunks out of the Irish lead, the Pirates failed to pull closer than nine points in the final 10 minutes.
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For a team that scored 109 points in regulation just a day earlier, in a 109-106 win over fifteenth-seeded Providence in the first round, Seton Hall found its normally potent offense hard to come by. The Pirates were just 2 of 16 beyond the arc and shot only 29 % in the first half of a game that was vital to their NCAA Tournament hopes, which were likely dashed with an unimpressive showing that doubled as a painful loss.
Even with a season record of 19-12, 9-9 inside the conference, Seton Hall was in desperate need of a win over Notre Dame in a de facto playoff game for an at-large bid to the NCAAs. Now, the Irish are a virtual lock to be included in the field, while Seton Hall is likely left on the outside looking in following its best season under fourth-year head coach Bobby Gonzalez.
WHAT’S NEXT
Notre Dame has never won the Big East Conference Tournament, but its 2010 quest continues in the semifinals against the second-seeded Pitt Panthers, who were granted a double bye. Although Pitt appears to have an advantage on paper, the fact remains that the Irish began their late-season run with a 68-53 win over the Panthers in late February. The Notre Dame-Pitt game will tip off at 7 p.m. on Thursday, with television coverage provided by ESPN. The winner will meet either West Virginia or Cincinnati in the semifinals.
By: Brad Cooper
BigEast-fans.com Guest Writer