Notre Dame never trails in 87-77 win over DePaul

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- When Notre Dame coach Mike Brey got on Luke Harangody for a sloppy turnover with 1:52 left against DePaul, he got a bit of an odd look from the 6-8 forward.

Brey said he didn't realize it was just the second turnover for the Fighting Irish in their 87-77 victory over the Blue Demons on Saturday.

"I didn't know we only had two," Brey said. "He probably should have looked at me weird."

The Irish finished with 22 assists and two turnovers, a ratio Brey called "staggering."

"I don't know if I've ever seen that," he said. "I hope it's not taken for granted how this team plays on that end of the floor. It's beautiful."

Tim Abromaitis scored 30 points and three others finished with double-doubles as the Irish (15-5, 4-3 Big East) led throughout to end a two-game losing streak. It was a disappointing effort defensively for DePaul (8-11, 1-6), which had just ended its 24-game losing streak in Big East regular-season games with a last-second 51-50 victory over Marquette on Wednesday.

"Right now, defense is supposed to be our deal," interim coach Tracy Webster said. "Tonight, for whatever reason, we didn't do a good job."

Will Walker, who led DePaul with a career-high 35 points on 15-of-30 shooting, said Notre Dame's transition game caused the Blue Demons problems.

"We just got discombobulated," he said. "We were thinking too much."

Saturday's game was the 100th meeting between the teams. The Irish have won nine of the last 12 over DePaul and lead the series 56-44.

The Irish started the game with a 7-0 run, and the Blue Demons never got closer than five. DePaul used a 7-2 run to close to 77-71 with 1:10 left on a 3-pointer by Mike Stovall. But Harangody scored on an alley-oop pass from Abromaitis with 58 seconds left, then added two free throws with 48 seconds left to put the game away.

Harangody finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds, moving past Walter Sahm (1962-65) into second place on Notre Dame's career rebounding list with 1,147. He needs 172 to pass all-time leader Tom Hawkins (1956-59). Harangody is tied for third in career rebounds in Big East play.

Tyrone Nash, who had one point and two rebounds in Notre Dame's previous two games, got the Irish going by making the first two baskets. He finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

"I'm really happy for Ty," Brey said. "You want to bounce back. It was a tough week for him."

Ben Hansbrough had 15 points, a career-high 10 rebounds and seven assists, finishing three assists shy of becoming just the second Irish player with a triple-double.

"The balanced scoring was great," Harangody said. "It was a big factor in why we got the win."

Devin Hill scored 15 points for DePaul, and Stovall, who was 4-for-4 from 3-point range, had 14. The DePaul bench outscored Notre Dame's reserves 17-0.

Brey said that didn't bother him, calling bench scoring overrated.

"If I've got three guys that can score 30, they're starting and playing 38 minutes," he said. "It's real simple. The guys that can score start."