St. John's snaps #18 Notre Dame's 9-game winning streak at MSG, 61-58

I knew it would happen. I had a bad feeling when I woke up this morning about the front end of this east coast Big East weekend wrap-around road trip for the Fighting Irish and I should have put my money where my thoughts were. Notre Dame's nine-game winning streak came to a hault on Saturday at New York's Madison Square Garden to the St. John's Red Storm, 61-58.

Notre Dame shot poorly throughout the game and it honestly haunted them and kept the Irish from fully overtaking the Red Storm in the second half. ND reverted to their old style of basketball, living and dying by the three, where they were 4-of-31 (13%) in Saturday's game at Madison Square Garden. St. John's, however, was a little more picky when it came to their three-point shot selection (3-for-11), but still only shot 27% from outside the arc.

The homestanding Red Storm outrebounded Notre Dame 34-29 and capitalized when it needed to down the stretch to keep the Irish from taking the lead and extending their winning streak to ten games. If Notre Dame would have been able to keep up with St. John's in transition and stop them on fast breaks, it could have been the difference and a factor that may have helped Mike Brey's team get a huge road win at MSG. Instead, SJU had 13 fast break points to Notre Dame's 4, an obvious difference in the game's outcome.

A group of five freshmen start and lead the way for St. John's. It's something that's unheard of in college basketball or any sport, for that matter. Moe Harkless (18 points, 9 rebounds), D'Angelo Harrison (15 points), Amir Garrett (11 points), God'sgift Achuiwa (5 points, 6 rebounds, and yes, that's his real first name!) and Sir'Dominic Pointer (4 points, 8 rebounds) are five of the six that contribute to the Red Storm on a normal basis. They don't have much depth at all, one bench player saw the floor today. The win moves them to 13-16 (6-10 Big East) and they also have good program wins over Cincinnati and West Virginia.

Notre Dame was led by both Scott Martin and Jack Cooley, who dropped in 18 points a piece. The two also combined for 17 of the Irish's 29 rebounds and also 16-of-24 from the floor between them. Unfortunately, they didn't received enough help from their teammates to make a difference in their bid for a comeback win. Pat Connaughton, Alex Dragicevich, Eric Atkins, Jerian Grant and Tom Knight produced the other 22 Notre Dame points. The Irish only turned the ball over 7 times, compared to 16 turnover for St. John's. Notre Dame also seemed a little tenative on the offensive end as well. They were only 4-of-7 from the charity stripe, while St. John's was 14-21 from the foul line.

This game was hopefully a wakeup call for Brey and the Irish. They will play Monday at #11 Georgetown (21-6, 11-5 Big East) at 7 p.m. Georgetown might be ranked eleventh, but they are one of the more overrated teams this season in college basketball, to be honest, they usually are. Senior Night for Notre Dame is next Friday vs. Providence (14-15, 3-13 Big East). Those games are a great way to tune up for the upcoming Big East Tournament that will be back at Madison Square Garden.

The Irish (20-9, 12-4 Big East) have themselves in a great spot. They were picked to be 9th in the Big East this year and were pretty much considered a losing team when they lost sharp-shooting Tim Abromaitis in the sixth game of the year. They've proved critics wrong and will continue to do so, as long as the media keeps stacking the deck against them and making them the odds-on underdog.

Irish win school-record 9th Big East game in a row, scorch West Virginia, 71-44

On Wednesday night at the Joyce Center at Purcell Pavilion, the #18 Notre Dame men’s basketball team had one thing in mind. Winning and doing whatever it took to do it. Playing at home, where they’re now 15-1 on the year was a big help.

The Irish led by just two at halftime, 30-28. Mike Brey’s team shot 60% in the 2^nd half and held the Mountaineers in check, outscoring them in the second frame 41-16, for an eventual blowout, 71-44.

Jerian Grant led all scorers with a game-high 20 points, knocking down 4-of-5 from the three-point arc. Scott Martin also lit up the nets, hitting on 3-of-4 treys for 15 points. Jack Cooley was a force that propelled Notre Dame to its first leads in the first half and wound up with 13 points and 6 rebounds. Eric Atkins did his job as the point guard and filled up his line of the stat sheet. The sophomore captain tallied 13 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals to his credit. Alex Dragicevich chipped in 8 points in 20 minutes off the bench, drilling a couple 3’s of his own. Pat Connaughton hasn’t been scoring much lately, but that doesn’t really seem to matter, with others picking up his share when defenses keep the freshman from scoring. Connaughton did, however, grab 5 rebounds, dished out 4 assists and had 2 of Notre Dame’s six team steals.

The visiting Mountaineers were stymied by the Irish defense shooting 17-for-54 (31.5%) overall and were even colder from three-point range going 1-11 (9.1%). Seniors Kevin Jones and Darryl “Truck” Bryant were the only two to reach double-figures for WVU. Jones led West Virginia with 15 points and 8 rebounds (5 offensive) and Bryant with 10 points, 3 boards, 4 assists and 3 steals. Those two seniors had very little help elsewhere, with Deniz Kilicli tossing up four of his unorthodox style hook shots for 8 points. The loss dropped Bob Huggins’ squad to 17-11 overall and 7-8 in the Big East.

Things keep looking better for Notre Dame…

Team concept is what this team is doing to keep winning games. It doesn’t matter who leads the Irish in each stat category night in and night out. It matters that they do whatever it takes to win and win at all costs. This Notre Dame team was considered out of any post-season play when leading scorer Tim Abromaitis was sidelined with a torn ACL in the second half of ND’s match-up with Georgia in the consolation game of the Progressive CBE Classic in Kansas City, Missouri. With Abro out for the season in just his second game back from a four-game suspension, Notre Dame was said to be falling to the bottom half of the Big East, with no hope at all. 

Clicking on all cylinders, Notre Dame is now 20-8 overall and 12-3 in Big East play. They’re now tied for second in the Big East with Marquette. If the regular season ended after tonight’s game, Notre Dame would be the #2 seed and have a double-bye in the upcoming Big East Tournament (March 6-10) at New York’s Madison Square Garden. They hold the tiebreaker over Marquette from the Irish’s dominating win in South Bend a couple weeks ago, 76-59 over the Golden Eagles.

Notre Dame has a very good chance at finishing the regular season on a 12-game winning streak, if they can win both games of a wrap-around road trip this coming weekend and next Friday’s final home game of the season against a struggling Providence team.

St. John’s (12-16, 5-10 Big East) could turn into a “trap game” this Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Hopefully the Red Storm doesn’t catch the Irish off-guard. I’m guessing that Notre Dame will show up and win for their tenth in a row in a preparation game for the Big East Tournament in a week and a half.

More than likely, #8 Georgetown (20-6, 10-5 Big East) will drop out of the Top 10. They lost Monday night at Seton Hall, 72-55. Georgetown is the most overrated team in college basketball, not just this season, but most years this is the case. They’re like a “flash in the pan” kind of team. They have two or three players that contribute on a consistent basis, but the Hoyas won’t make any noise in the NCAA Tournament.

Providence College (13-15, 2-13 Big East) has struggled in Big East play for quite some time. This could be looked at as another “trap” game for the Irish. Odds of this happening are probably pretty small, considering that this is the final home game of the season and for fifth-year senior Scott Martin.

Time will tell what Notre Dame’s fate will be for the Big East and NCAA Tournaments. They’ve defied the odds that have been placed against them thus far. What says they can’t keep this pace going? With the way that Mike Brey’s team has been playing, it looks like a great possibility that we could see them shock the college basketball world during the month of March. Brey also won National Coach of the Year honors last season for his third of that award in 11 seasons. At this point in the season, there really isn't another coach in Division I basketball that deserves the award as much as the Irish head coach does. It would be remarkable if he earned his second in a row and fourth in 12 seasons at Notre Dame.