Despite off night by Harangody, Irish hold off Rutgers
It took a while, but Notre Dame's Luke Harangody finally wore down Rutgers' Hamady Ndiaye and Gregory Echenique.
Harangody scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half to lead Notre Dame to a 70-65 victory over the visiting Scarlet Knights despite a 9-0 run late by Rutgers that cut the lead to 3 points.
"Even though Harangody got his numbers, he had to take 25 shots to get his 20 points - and some of those came at the free-throw line down at the end," Rutgers coach Fred Hill said. "Our whole goal was they had to work for everything they got."
While Hill and Notre Dame coach Mike Brey credited Ndiaye and Echenique for knocking Harangody off his game a bit, as he went 2 of 12 from the field in the first half, Harangody said that wasn't the case.
"I just couldn't catch a break tonight," he said. "You're going to have nights like this and I just had to battle through it."
The Irish trailed by as many as 11 in the first half, but they opened the second half on an 11-2 run. When time was called during the midst of the run, Brey ran out on the floor and encouraged the crowd to get into the game, pumping his arm and yelling: "C'mon! Let's go!"
"It was one of those nights where everybody was a little bit flat, including the team," Brey said. "I was just trying to get them going, get them up and get them rolling."
Mike Rosario, who led Rutgers with 20 points, said Brey was a key to the win for the Irish.
"With their season on the line, their coach brought them in at halftime and pumped them up and got the place rocking," he said. "That gave them an opportunity to win this game."
The Irish led 65-53 with 4:56 left when Tory Jackson, who scored 18 for the Irish, sank a pair of free throws. Then Rosario hit a 3 to ignite the 9-0 run by Rutgers.
But Rosario missed a pair of free throws with 41 seconds left that would have cut the lead to 1. He also missed a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left and was called for the foul. Harangody made both free throws to put the game away.
"We just couldn't make a play down the end," Hill said.
Brey thought the Irish (16-11, 7-8 Big East), who still have hopes for a third straight NCAA Tournament berth, came out and played tight against a Rutgers squad that had nothing to lose.
"They're playing loose and knocking down some jump shots. We can't get into our offensive rhythm. We get a little bit frustrated, because we know there's a lot on the line," Brey said.
UConn 93, Marquette 82: Jim Calhoun's 800th career victory came thanks in large part to senior guard A.J. Price, who scored a career-high 36 points as No. 2 Connecticut beat No. 8 Marquette 93-82.
Calhoun became only the seventh coach in Division I history to win 800 or more games. Stanley Robinson added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies (26-2, 14-2 Big
East).
Jerel McNeal scored 26 points for the Golden Eagles (23-5, 12-3), who played most of the game without guard Dominic James who broke a bone in his left foot in the first half.
Duke 78, Maryland 67: Gerald Henderson scored 19 points, Jon Scheyer hit a key 3-pointer with 1:54 left, and No. 7 Duke (23-5, 9-4 ACC) spoiled host Maryland's (17-10, 6-7).
Evansville 56, Bradley 49: David Collins, with 10 points and 10 rebounds, was the only player in double figures for Bradley (16-13, 9-8 Missouri Valley) in a loss at Evansville.
NIU 78, W. Michigan 63: Darion Anderson scored 26 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead host Northern Illinois (9-17, 4-9 MAC) over Western Michigan (9-18, 6-7). Western Michigan was 2 of 10 from the field in the first half, scoring 11 of 15 points from the foul line.
SIU 56, Drake 55: Southern Illinois (12-17, 7-10 MVC) let an 8-point lead slip away but held on to beat host Drake (17-13, 7-10) when the Bulldogs missed a free throw with one second remaining that would have tied the game.