ND's Harangody striking fear in foes
Luke Harangody's baseline jumper from 14 feet away hit hard off the far rim, bounced high up in the air and bounced twice more off the rim before falling in for his seventh straight basket.
It was that kind of night for Harangody and his Notre Dame teammates. The 6-foot-8 Harangody didn't miss a shot until he tried for his first 3 of the season at the end of the first half. He finished with 29 points and 16 rebounds, both career highs, to pace the host Irish to a 69-56 win over West Virginia on Thursday night.
"The difference was Harangody. He just dominated the game," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "He totally dominated our inside guys."
Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said the sophomore's performance reminded him of watching Harangody play at an AAU camp in Houston when he was in high school and dominated everyone.
"Basically everybody on the floor was scared of him tonight and everybody in the city of Houston was scared of him that weekend at the AAU tournament," Brey said. "I'm scared of him sometimes. But I sure am glad he wears our jersey."
Harangody said it was good to be done with the non-conference schedule and playing a physical Big East game.
"I like it because I get to bang a little bit more," he said.
The Fighting Irish (11-2, 1-0) took control with a 22-8 run in the first half, opening a 33-22 lead, and the Mountaineers never got closer than 6 points.
The Mountaineers (10-3, 0-1), who entered the game shooting 49.7 percent from the field for the season, were held to 32 percent shooting against the Irish, including a season-low 5 of 25 from 3-point range. Their 56-point total also was 14 points below their previous low of 70 against Winthrop.
Alex Ruoff led West Virginia with 18 points as West Virginia lost its second straight. The Mountaineers lost 88-82 in double overtime to Oklahoma on Saturday.
"We haven't shot it very well all week," Huggins said.
Tory Jackson added 12 points as the Irish won their ninth straight overall and their 29th straight at home.
"Me and Tory talked about never losing a game here in our whole career," Harangody said. "It's a good goal for us I think."
Memphis 102, Siena 58: Reserve Jeff Robinson scored 20 points, and Chris Douglas-Roberts added 19 as No. 2 Memphis (12-0) won its 39th straight home game by beating Siena. Kenny Hasbrouck led Siena (7-5) with 18 points.
Marquette 96, Providence 67: Dominic James scored 21 points, and Lazar Hayward added 17 as No. 10 Marquette (11-1) won its seventh straight game, beating visiting Providence in the Big East opener for both teams.
Brian McKenzie led Providence (9-4) with 21 points.
Vanderbilt 76, Rice 58: Shan Foster had 24 points and 5 rebounds, and No. 15 Vanderbilt (14-0) extended the best start in the program's 108-year history by beating visiting Rice. Paulius Packevicius led Rice (3-9) with 17 points.
Arizona 76, Oregon St. 63: Jordan Hill had 20 points and 14 rebounds, and No. 21 Arizona (10-3) pulled away to beat visiting Oregon State in the teams' Pac-10 opener.
Freshman Omari Johnson scored a season-best 19 for the Beavers (6-7).
Youngstown St. 80, UIC 68: Vytas Sulskis had 26 points and 7 rebounds to lead host Youngstown State (5-7) over Illinois-Chicago (8-6), which got 21 points from Karl White.
Cleveland St. 63, Loyola 55: Kevin Francis scored 14 points to lead host Cleveland State (9-5) past Loyola (5-8), which received 21 points from Darrin Williams.
Women's results
UConn 88, Villanova 38: Tina Charles had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Mel Thomas added 16 points, leading top-ranked Connecticut (12-0) to a victory over host Villanova in the Big East opener for both teams.
Maria Getty led Villanova (10-4) with 12 points.
Maryland 83, Wake Forest 49: Crystal Langhorne had 15 points and 10 rebounds, leading No. 5 Maryland (17-1) to a win over host Wake Forest in its Atlantic Coast Conference opener.
Camille Collier scored 10 points to lead the Demon Deacons (12-3, 0-1).