Irish hold off No. 16 Pittsburgh 50-45
March 12, 2010
NEW YORK (AP)—Draining the shot clock on nearly every possession and relyingon stout defense, Notre Dame is playing its best basketball of the season at theperfect time.
Luke Harangody came off the bench and hit three key free throws in the finaltwo minutes, helping the Fighting Irish hold off No. 16 Pittsburgh 50-45 in theBig East tournament quarterfinals Thursday night for their season-best sixthstraight victory.
“I thought we really defended the last seven minutes to win the game,because they defended us,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. “I thought we werefabulous on that end of the floor.”
Harangody and Tory Jackson each had 12 points in a bruising, defensivestruggle. When the dust finally cleared, the Fighting Irish (23-10) hadconsecutive wins in the Big East tournament for the first time since joining theleague for the 1995-96 season.
After reaching the semifinals for the third time, seventh-seeded Notre Damewill play in the second game Friday night against No. 7 West Virginia, whichbeat 11th-seeded Cincinnati 54-51 Thursday night when Da’Sean Butler banked in a3-pointer at the buzzer.
“Our interior defense and ball-screen defense has been the most consistentsince I’ve been here,” said Brey, in his 10th season at Notre Dame. “I guesswhen your life is on the line, you’re really good at it.”
Brad Wanamaker scored 16 points for Pittsburgh (24-8), knocked out in itsBig East tournament opener as the No. 2 seed for the second straight year.Before that, the Panthers reached three finals in a row and seven in a span ofeight seasons.
“We’ve just got to shoot better. We’ve got to play better. And we hadplenty of opportunities to take the lead, and we just couldn’t get over thathump,” Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said.
With former President Bill Clinton sitting a few rows back near midcourt,Pittsburgh became the third ranked Big East team with a double bye into thequarterfinals that lost its tournament opener Thursday.
No. 3 Syracuse and No. 10 Villanova were the others, meaning the squads withbetter seeds went 1-3 Thursday.
“So much for the double byes, huh? I do think there’s some advantage tobeing able to play a little bit,” Brey said.
Playing without an injured Harangody, the Fighting Irish began their winningstreak with a 68-53 victory over then-No. 12 Pittsburgh on Feb. 24. They pulledthis one out despite going nearly nine minutes without a field goal in thesecond half.
Notre Dame, which has never advanced past the semifinals, led almost theentire way and outscored Pitt 10-6 over the final 6:56. The Panthers dropped to24-11 at Madison Square Garden since 2000-01, losing for the fifth time in theirlast 17 games here.
“We just didn’t make shots that we usually make,” forward Jermaine Dixonsaid.
Harangody, who entered the tournament as the nation’s second-leading scorerat 23.3 points per game, missed five games late in the regular season with abadly bruised right knee. Notre Dame lost the first two by a combined threepoints before putting together three consecutive wins without him.
He’s been coming off the bench since his return, and looked healthyWednesday night while posting 20 points and 10 rebounds in a 68-56 win overSeton Hall.
But the senior forward was inconsistent in 22 minutes against a physicalPittsburgh squad, and he sat out for a long stretch late in the second half, awhite towel draped over his knees.
“It’s holding up good. I was curious to see how two games in a row would gowith my conditioning. I’m still not there yet. But I think every day it’sgetting a little better,” Harangody said. “This run we made at the end of theseason, it was pretty special. These guys have played great without me. Now tomake a run in the Big East tournament is great as well.”
Jackson’s 3-pointer put the Irish up 46-40 with 3:26 left, and Harangodyre-entered when forward Carleton Scott fouled out with 3:12 remaining.
Harangody’s free throw made it 47-43 with 1:52 to go, but Wanamaker hit anacrobatic layup to pull Pittsburgh within two.
After Harangody was called for traveling, Wanamaker missed a driving layupand Jermaine Dixon was off on a tough, spinning bank shot.
Harangody grabbed the rebound and sank two free throws with 15.9 secondsleft, making it 49-45. Tim Abromaitis blocked Travon Woodall’s attempted layup,and Pitt never scored again.
“Obviously, when I get that turnover, I’m very upset,” Harangody said.“You have to go on to the next play. I didn’t put my head down. I said, ‘I’mgoing to make this up to my team.”
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