Huge game for Harangody

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright thought his team did a good job of guarding Luke Harangody.

The 6-foot-8 Notre Dame forward, who nearly had a double-double at halftime with 19 points and 9 rebounds, still finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds as the Fighting Irish beat the Blue Demons 89-80 Saturday night.

"It was his second effort," Wainwright said. "That kid's got a big heart."

Notre Dame coach Mike Brey agreed, describing Harangody's play as "scary."

"It is special to watch. What makes it even more special is, what a down-to-earth guy who just wants to be one of the guys and win," Brey said.

Harangody praised his teammates for getting him the ball in good position.

"I was able to get on the glass and get some offensive rebounds, too," he said. "The ball came off the rim at good times for me, and I got some good looks."

Brey said Harangody sets the tone for the Irish.

"I think there's a unique psyche there. It's a unique package of psyche, intensity, motor, athletic ability, strength, touch," Brey said. "It's the perfect storm of a lot of things coming together."

DePaul (9-12, 4-5 Big East) trailed 62-49 when Luke Zeller hit a 3-pointer for the Fighting Irish with 12:14 left. The Blue Demons then used a 17-6 run to cut the lead to 68-66 when Cliff Clinkscales scored inside and added a free throw with 6:17 left.

But the Irish (16-4, 6-2) put the game out of reach with a 10-0 run. Ryan Ayers started the run with a 17-foot baseline jumper. Then Harangody, who was just 2 of 9 from the field in the second half, knocked a rebound high into the air and it fell through the basket to give the Irish a 75-68 lead. Ayers added a slam dunk, Tory Jackson scored on a rebound and Zach Hillesland scored on a reverse layup with 3:03 left to put the game out of reach.

Trying to be as politically correct as possible, Wainwright pointed out a major statistical disparity.

"Obviously there's a statistic that's a marked difference," he said, without elaborating.

The statistic he was alluding to was that the Irish were 17 of 20 from the free-throw line while DePaul was 1 of 3 -- a 16-point swing in a 9-point loss. In not mentioning the statistic, he also pointed out that the Irish had 40 points in the paint, while his team had 32, so it wasn't as though the Blue Demons weren't going inside.

"I did think we challenged them," he said.

He said the officials were "three of the best officials in America." But the Blue Demons, who saw Syracuse outscore them by 11 points from the free-throw line in a 5-point home loss at home on Wednesday, weren't happy to see it happen again.

"It's real frustrating," guard Draelon Burns said.

But Wainwright said his team needs to do a better job of getting to the free-throw line.

"Getting Notre Dame to play a whole game with only 8 fouls, you really don't test their bench or change their rotation," he said.

The Irish, off to their best start in the Big East since the 2002-03 season, won their 33rd straight at home before a crowd of 11,418 -- just their fourth sellout during that winning streak.

Kyle McAlarney added 17 points on 5 of 13 from 3-point range, and Hillesland finished with 10 points.

Dar Tucker led DePaul with 19 points. Mac Koshwal had 18 points and 9 rebounds, and Burns had 17 points for the Blue Demons.