Wrapping up Notre DameMaybe Luke Harangody will be to the Marquette Golden Eagles what Allen Iverson has been to the Milwaukee Bucks all these years: unstoppable.
The 6-foot-8, 250-pound sophomore forward put up 29 points and 14 rebounds on Saturday, his second double-double in as many games against MU.
Tom Crean called Harangody "not just one of the best post-ups in college basketball, but one of the best players as well," and his performance went a long way in supporting Crean's supposition.
He hit 10 of 17 shots, 9 of 11 free throws and also blocked three shots. Perhaps most impressive, he fouled out Ousmane Barro, drew four fouls on Dwight Burke and four more on Trend Blackledge while picking up just one himself. That's right -- one.
That's a bit hard to believe, considering how physically Harangody plays himself, and the amount of diving around he does on the floor for loose balls. Give the guy credit, though -- he plays hard from buzzer to buzzer.
"I didn't know he only had one foul. Wow," said Lazar Hayward. "That's crazy. I don't know who we point to on that one. I give him credit for only having one foul, as physical as he is."
Crean, not surprisingly, though MU's big men could have defended Harangody better.
"We really wanted to do a better job of being on his left shoulder. And for the second time now that we've played him, we did not do a great job of taking his shoulder away, " he said. "There were times that we forced him out a little further away than he wanted to be, but then our guys start having voices in their heads when they get the fouls. But we did get pretty good pressure down off the ball, and when we turned them over we were able to capitalize on it."
Most important, inside of the game he got a lot of points but the three backcourt players got 14. That might be the story of the game for us defensively. There's a lot of room for improvement in the post D, but to guard that way on the perimeter was really big."
Crean also said he didn't go into the game with the idea of letting Harangody have his, and then trying to shut down his supporting cast -- even though that's what happened ultimately.
"You don't ever do that," he said. "You want everybody to be responsible for playing the ball. Everybody's got a man. We wanted to guard Tory Jackson a certain way, we wanted to guard Kyle McAlarney a certain way, we wanted to guard Ryan Ayers a certain way. So in the course of a game you've got to be locked into doing that defensively and at the same time know that they have a post-up player and an inside-outside player with Rob Kurz that you have to be totally concerned about.
"Sometimes you hear about that, We'll let this guy get his points and shut down everybody else.' I don't think that works because if that guy can get his points he can also get shots for other people, and we had to make sure that they couldn't get shots for other people in this game."
-- Blackledge was surprisingly effective on Harangody despite giving up probably 75 pounds in the matchup because of his athleticism and ability to alter the big man's shots with his leaping ability. He emphatically swatted one back into Harangody's face, and finished with two blocks to go along with six points and a rebound.
"I brought it up (Friday) in the film room. I said, Joani thinks if we get in any trouble with Harangody we ought to put Trend on him,' and it was deafening silence in the film room," Crean said. "But I'm going to give my wife credit on that one because you wouldn't look at that as the natural matchup. When a guy gets 29 points, you can't walk out and feel real good about how you defended him. But Trend did come in and cause some havoc and created some length issues for Luke."
Our two 5 men had fouls on them so fast it was unbelievable. We wanted Ousmane out - we were at the table to check in - when he got his third. Those things are crucial. But we settled down. The zone was good for us for a while, it got the tempo back in our favor, and we had a lot of guys make big plays. We never left the post defender by himself but maybe 2-3 times in the game.
-- Just when I thought I'd seen it all in college basketball, Saturday's game presented me with another first.
Coming out of a time out with 7 minutes 15 seconds left in the game, the Golden Eagles didn't heed either of the two horns warning them play was set to begin. After the second horn blew, referee Ted Hillary placed the basketball on the far baseline and began his five count just as MU was breaking its huddle.
Hayward, who was supposed to inbound the ball, barely made it past half court before Hillary reached five, giving the ball back to Notre Dame.
I saw the ref was already on two seconds and I was like, 'Is he counting?'" Hayward said. "I tried to get to him, but it was too late. None of us knew. We were just walking out. I've never been a part of that."
The play wound up not being a big deal with MU already up, 75-52, and the Irish being unable to convert. Even still, it could have been a huge turning point had the score been closer.
"We're not getting them out fast enough, I think," Crean said. "I've got to do a better job, my staff's got to help me do a better job, because you certainly don't want that to happen again. So I'll take responsibility for that."
-- Dominic James looked no worse for wear, sporting a brace on his sprained right wrist. He hit his first shot of the game -- a three from the left wing -- and wound up going 6 for 15 overall while also dishing out seven assists.
"Much better in the second half," said Crean. "I thought he was pressing a little bit in the first half. First time he's ever gone through any real injury situation like this since the Pittsburgh game his freshman year. He came in and was trying to find his way a little bit and all he really had to do was settle down and move the ball. He got going in the second half, five field goals and five assists and his defense was outstanding."
James wound up hitting 3 of 6 threes, making it 10 straight games he's knocked down at least one.
"We just didn't want to get in a situation where we were hunting long-range shots," said Crean when asked if the wrist was a concern initially when it came to James' shot. "If they were there, great, take them. But just do what your body allows you to do today. And usually his body allows him to do some really good things."
-- Notre Dame coach Mike Brey was highly complimentary of MU -- especially its guard play and the way they were able to keep the game at a fast pace.
(Three) things you can't simulate in practice all week is how they pressure the ball, how they change ends and how they get to loose balls," he said. You can talk about it all you want. We were fortunate in the game in South Bend last year because we got the tempo under control a little bit, and we were able to sneak out with a win. But today we could never really get the tempo under control.
I love my guards, but they didn't win the battle today against very, very good guards.
Brey was also impressed by the Golden Eagles' success from beyond the arc. They hit a season-high 12, including 7 of 11 in the second half.
Today, I think, probably the Marquette people who cover them, have they played a better first half than they played today?" said Brey. "I've watched a lot of tape; they were fabulous today. And in a groove. Everybody who rose up for a jump shot felt he was Rick Mount today, and stroking it. And God bless them - they were confident. That's coaching and that's leadership."
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