Veteran Notre Dame handles Demons 92-82

As the final hours of 2008 trickled away, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey received a sign that his team could be something special in March.

DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright saw something that makes him optimistic for the Demons' upcoming road trip and perhaps beyond.

Brandishing the experience that comes with having four returning starters from a 25-win team, No. 7 Notre Dame stunted every budding DePaul rally for a 92-82 victory Wednesday night in an intense Big East opener before perhaps 7,000 at Allstate Arena.

The Irish (10-2, 1-0) led by 13 points at the break and never led the Blue Demons (8-6, 0-1) get closer than 8 points thereafter.

"Every time they started to make a run, the crowd got into it a little bit," said Notre Dame All-American center Luke Harangody. "We showed that we were an older team, a veteran team, and we got a good shot every time down the court."

Harangody led five Irish in double figures with 26 points and 16 rebounds, while senior Zach Hillesland added a career-high 17 points and Ryan Ayers (14 points) drilled 3 critical 3-pointers in the second half.

"It's funny how the focus cranks up (in Big East play)," Brey said. "I saw that today in the shootaround: Older guys just locked in.

"I told them if we can continue to do that for the next two months, 2.5 months, we'll be there when the smoke clears. That's something I think we can do better than other teams in this league."

DePaul looks to learn from each opportunity to play the nation's mightiest teams.

Though the Demons (8-6, 0-1) lost starting forward Devin Hill to a sprained left ankle late in Tuesday's practice, they competed like never before this season.

"My challenge to them is they have to play this hard in every game," Wainwright said. "If they play this hard Saturday (at Providence), we'll be in good shape."

Sophomore Mac Koshwal attacked Harangody from the jump and finished with a career-high 26 points to go with 11 rebounds.

Dar Tucker added 24 points while senior point guard Jabari Currie contributed a career-high-tying 15 points to go with 4 assists.

"I think we played real well," Tucker said. "We've just got to work on a few things."