Marquette travels to South Bend for showdown with Notre Dame |
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Marquette @ Notre Dame Preview 12 P.M. Saturday, February 9, 2008
No. 22 Notre Dame will put their 34-game home winning streak on the line when they welcome in No.16 Marquette Saturday at noon at the Joyce Center. The Irish are 17-4 overall, and sit in second place at 7-2 in the Big East, two games behind Big East leading Georgetown at 9-1. The Irish are a perfect 13-0 at home this season, dominating their opponents by a margin of 18.8 points per game in their 13 wins. Winners of four straight, Notre Dame will be looking to exercise some demons from the past, this year and from two years ago. Earlier this season, Marquette dismantled Notre Dame 92-66 on Jan. 12th, and the Golden Eagles were the last team to win at the Joyce Center, defeating the Irish 80-72 on Feb.25, 2006. In the loss earlier this season, Marquette (16-5, 6-4) held Notre Dame to their third worst point total of the year, while controlling the boards 34-17. The Golden Eagles had five players score in double figures, while forward Luke Harangody was a one-man show for the Irish with 29 points and 14 rebounds.
Since that victory, Marquette has gone 3-3, being man-handled by Louisville twice and UConn. In those three losses, Marquette has lost by an average of 16.7 points, and while the Golden Eagles are very good at home (12-1), they’ve just 3-3 on the road, and have dropped three of their four conference games on the road thus far. Marquette is coming off their second loss to Louisville this past Monday night, 71-57. In both match ups against Louisville, the Cardinals held Marquette to 30 and 32 percent shooting from the field. Guard Dominic James was limited to eight points off the bench in the loss to Marquette. James had been battling the flu and he’s also been plagued by a lingering wrist injury. Before coming off the bench against the Cardinals, James has started 85 consecutive games for Marquette. Notre Dame is on a four-game winning streak, averaging 88.8 points per game in the four victories. Luke Harangody has been an absolute stud this year for the Irish, and he’s had double-doubles in all four Notre Dame victories, averaging 26.8 points per game over the four-game span. Harangody finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds in Notre Dame’s 95-69 win over Seton Hall on Wednesday night. Harangody leads the Irish, and the Big East, in scoring with 20.4 points per game, while pulling down 10.1 rebounds per game for the Irish as well. Notre Dame leads the Big East with 80.5 points per game. The Irish look to run their home winning streak to 35, while attempting to begin conference play 8-2 for the first time in eight seasons. The last time the Irish started out 8-2 in the conference was the 2000-01 campaign.
by Frank Minniti
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