Monday, January 5, 2009

44


#13 Notre Dame: 73
#9 Georgetown: 67

The Irish needed a win and they got it.  Coming off a bad loss to St. Johns (ugh), the Irish were able to keep the steak alive when they knocked off the No. 9 Hoyas in a game that the Irish really controlled the whole way.  The streak is now the longest active home-court winning streak in the country.  BYU held that title previously until their streak was snapped by Wake Forest on Saturday.  The key to victory today was that the Irish set the tempo and made Georgetown play the way they wanted to play.

Harangody played real well tonight, and scored 31 points and had 14 rebounds.  Another game with a double-double.  He did it all with foul trouble all game.  He got 2 early fouls in the first half and then in 2 more early in the second half.  He played physically with 4 fouls but stayed controlled.   If he fouled out, the Irish would not have won.  At one point in the game Harangody had scored the last 15 points for the Irish.

Kyle McAlarney had a good game which is sure to boost his morale after a few disappointing games.  He finished with 17 points and shot the ball real well for how tightly he was guarded all game.  It is really impressive to score that many points when someone is on you every second.
 
The Irish are off until saturday when they play Seton Hall at home on Saturday.  That needs to be a win, because the stretch after that game is unbelievably difficult.

Irish Next 6 Games:
1/10: VS Seton Hall
1/12: AT #24 Louisville
1/17: AT #11 Syracuse
1/24: VS #5 UConn
1/26: VS #18 Marquette
1/31: AT #1 Pittsburgh

To get another idea of how tough the schedule is,  Pitt (if they stay their current rank) will be Notre Dame's SECOND game against a #1 team.  It's going to be a tough rest of January, every game from here on out is crucial.

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