SB Nation Notre Dame Basketball
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The Fighting Irish need a win to keep themselves afloat in the Big East, and Rutgers is the easiest game they'll see in a while.
The Notre Dame basketball squad aren't half bad so far this season and have put together some pretty good victories over Louisville and Pittsburgh. Unfortunately they've also dropped an unfortunate amount of big games including losses to UCONN, Indiana and Gonzaga, all of whom were ranked at the times they creamed the Irish. With a harrowing matchup against the big Orange machine in Syracuse coming up later in the week, the Irish need to pick up any wins that they can, and today's match against Rutgers is a perfect chance.
The Big East is very tight this season so far, and Rutgers is only a game behind Notre Dame thanks to the losses that the Irish picked up against the inter-conference teams. The Irish score slightly more than Rutgers -- the difference is just about a single point per game -- but the Scarlet Knights are far better at rebounding so it's hard to say there's a clear winner in this one. The game is at Rutgers, which doesn't help matters.
After Syracuse, the schedule doesn't let up with battles against UCONN and Marquette again soon after. Winning against teams like Rutgers are going to be what makes or breaks the season for the Fighting Irish.
For more Irish coverage, check out One Foot Down.
Notre Dame Vs. Rutgers: Irish Fall On The Road 65-58
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish looked a lot more like they did in their first six games away from South Bend Monday night than they did nine days ago at Louisville, as they were defeated by the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 65-58 at the RAC. The loss moves the Irish to 3-3 in Big East play, and was their second straight loss, after losing handily at home to Connecticut Saturday.
The Scarlet Knights played a very aggressive defense throughout, causing the Irish offense to look erratic at times, but did allow the occasional easy basket under the hoop. The biggest difference, however, came at the free throw line, where Rutgers was 10-14, while the Irish were just 5-13, 38.5%.
The Irish were led by Eric Atkins, who had a game-high 15 points and 4 assists, and Scott Martin, who was 5-9 from the floor, a big improvement as he’s been struggling with his shot, and finished with 11 points. Jack Cooley had 9 points and 9 rebounds, while Jerian Grant had 9 points and 7 assists.
Rutgers came out red-hot from three point range, hitting five of their first six attempts, but cooled off, finishing 7-15 on the game. They were led by Eli Carter with 13 points and Jerome Seagears with 10. Dane Miller was the defensive star, as he finished with 8 rebounds, four blocks, and three steals.
The road doesn’t get kind any time soon for the Irish, as they host undefeated and top-ranked Syracuse Saturday in South Bend, before hitting the road three of their next four games, with a visit from 22nd ranked Marquette in between. The 3-1 conference start, which gave Irish fans promise, is slowing becoming what everyone thought we’d see from the young Notre Dame squad.
Jan 16 11:39p by Matt Grecco