Sorry, but this article doesn't make a whol lot of sense to me...prior to the last meeting, ND came in winners of 10 in a row and frankly none of those 10 were really even close. If you thought that game was going to go teh way it did, raise your hand. I am not going to dispute that they're playing well, but not sure how anyone can say they weren't playing well prior to the game here. Makes me wonder just who they are trying to convince...perhaps they do actually have some confidence issues about his game after that pounding last month.
Different team awaits Marquette
TOM NOIE
Tribune Staff Writer
SOUTH BEND -- Names and numbers remain the same, but there is something different about the No. 22 Notre Dame men's basketball team today that was absent in last month's first meeting with No. 16 Marquette.
Heading into the rematch at a sold-out Joyce Center (noon, ESPN), the Irish have more of a swagger than they carried to Milwaukee last month. Going into that contest, the Irish talked of being confident, then played as shaky they have in years before absorbing a 26-point loss. It was the most lopsided loss in the eight-year tenure of coach Mike Brey.
"We're not even going to think about the game we played up there," said senior captain Rob Kurz. "We're so much better than we were when we played them.
"We're a different team now."
The Irish have since won five of six conference games, the Eagles three of six. Four consecutive league wins, including two on the road by an average of 18 points, have helped boost Notre Dame's confidence to a season high. Now when other teams make a run, and every team in the league will do that in every game, the Irish (17-4 overall; 7-2 Big East) know they have the ability to answer with a defensive stop or an offensive spurt."We have a different state of mind about us," said junior guard Kyle McAlarney, who has been especially dialed in the last two weeks. "Other teams go on runs now, and we just never get flustered. We never get rattled."
For the first half of league play, many pegged Notre Dame as a two-man team. Stop sophomore power forward Luke Harangody or bother McAlarney, and the chance of the Irish earning a win diminished. That's what happened the first time against Marquette. Harangody did get 29 points and 14 rebounds, but turned it over six times and looked lost when confronted with constant double teams. McAlarney took just eight shots and also had six turnovers. Nobody else did much of anything right.
The Irish now have the look of a more complete team after Wednesday's 26-point pounding of Seton Hall. Kurz delivered another double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Tory Jackson
flirted with a triple-double with nine points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Jonathan Peoples and Luke Zeller were solid in spot minutes. The Irish are undefeated (4-0) with Zach Hillesland offering the starting lineup more energy and Ryan Ayers aggressive as ever in his sixth-man role.
"They're playing with tremendous energy, tremendous confidence," Marquette coach Tom Crean said of a team that insists it can be even better. "They're clicking on all cylinders."The Irish don't plan to shoot as poorly as the first time around (39.7 percent from the floor, 21.1 percent from 3) nor do they plan to give the Eagles as many open avenues on the perimeter, which led to 12 3-pointers and a 20-2 advantage in fast-break points.
"When you're playing well, you just look forward to playing again," Kurz said. "We feel like we're playing great."
Regardless of the Irish confidence level, Marquette (16-5; 6-4), could put Notre Dame's home success streak in jeopardy. Guards Wesley Matthews and Jerel McNeal can smother opposing perimeter players, forward Lazar Hayward, who scored 17 points with 11 rebounds and four steals last month in Milwaukee, is among the league's most improved players while junior Dominic James could return to the healthy Dominic James at any time.
Ball movement, attacking on offense, making shots and mixing defenses are critical for the Eagles. For the Irish to have success, they must avoid any repeat of the season-high 24 turnovers committed last month in the Bradley Center. Most of that day seemed like the Irish worked against six and seven defenders at a time. The Eagles were everywhere, and are bound to play better than they did in Monday's embarrassing home loss to Louisville.
If the Irish get sloppy, Marquette will find myriad ways to capitalize and quiet a sellout crowd."We must be better with the basketball," Brey said. "Their style of play is difficult for us at times."
At stake for Notre Dame is a 33-game home win streak, third-longest in the nation. That also includes 14 consecutive league wins. The Irish have not lost at the Joyce Center since being beaten by Marquette on Feb. 25, 2006.
Today marks the first game at the Joyce Center where both teams enter ranked in the Associated Press poll since Feb. 26, 1978. Marquette came to town No. 1, then left with a 65-59 loss to No. 9 Notre Dame.
