Notre Dame @ Syracuse

The Orange sure came out ready to play in this one. Down 12-10 early in the first half, they put a 16-2 run on Notre Dame, and would be in control the rest of the way as the Irish never got closer than five.

The Orange dominated the paint yesterday, outscoring Notre Dame 54-24. Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson played phenomenally on both ends of the court as they combined for 33 points, 18 rebounds, and 7 blocks on 15-22 shooting. The 'Cuse clearly had a game plan to get the ball inside. They have a tendency to ignore the post offensively, but from the tip, Flynn and company were pounding the ball into the post.

It wasn't just offensively that the Orange front was dominant. Luke Harangody went for 25 points, 16 boards, and 6 assists, but he shot 9-28 from the field and, despite the gaudy numbers, did not play a great game. 'Gody has gotten into the habit of shooting tough fadeaways instead of going to the rim when he is posting up. What makes him such a tough cover is his quick feet and mobility. He's a big kid, but he is quick enough that he probably could have gone around Onuaku when he got the ball about 12 feet from the rim. But 'Gody insisted on trying to back down both Onuaku and Jackson, and when that wasn't successful, he began settling for fadeaways.

Another thing the Orange did very well was get out and run the floor. They finished the game with 39 fast break points, getting lay-up after lay-up. Notre Dame just couldn't stop their transition game.

There are a couple of reasons the Orange were able to run like they did. For starters, Notre Dame just played horrific transition defense. What is the first rule you learn when being taught defense? Stop the man with the ball. Notre Dame did not do that. The Irish rely heavily on perimeter jump shots, and when you take long jumpers, those misses tend to have long rebounds. Long rebounds lead to those run outs. The final reason for the number of fast break points is that the Orange picked up a lot of steals (nine in all) by jumping a passing lane, which allowed them to get easy run outs.



The one issue I had with Syracuse is that they would get lackadaisical when they went up big. In the second half, the 'Cuse went up 61-45 after a couple of fast break buckets (one of which was Onuaku taking a rebound coast-to-coast for a lay-up). But the Orange looked tired, and after Eric Devendorf missed a wide open three that would have put them up 19, Syracuse would get lazy (poor transition defense, failing to locate shooters) and let Notre Dame cut it back to eight. The Irish were able to push the lead back to 15, but once again Notre Dame made a run when the Orange got lazy. A 13-3 Irish run would cut the lead to 74-69, but that is as close as it got as the Orange defense would really pick up, holding ND to five points the last 6:12.

Notre Dame just did not have a good game, plain and simple. They shot 35% from the floor, allowed Syracuse to shoot 55% from the floor, made costly turnovers, and took some bad shots in big moments. For example, they got two looks when they were down five, and both were really dumb shots. The first was Kyle McAlarney pulling up from about 28 feet with a hand in his face. Not a terrible shot for him, but still not the look you are trying to get, especially early in the shot clock. The other was 'Gody taking a 19 foot jumper off of the first pass. Again, not a terrible shot for him, but not exactly what you are looking for early in the shot clock.

Jonny Flynn finished with 17 points and 9 assists while Paul Harris added 15, 10, and 5 dimes. Kyle McAlarney ended up with 24, while hitting seven triples.