SB Nation Notre Dame Basketball
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For more on Notre Dame, check out One Foot Down. Seton Hall info can be found at South Orange Juice.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish couldn't possibly feel better about themselves right now after a huge victory over the formerly undefeated and first ranked Syracuse Orange. Despite a mediocre 12-8 overall record, they've still managed to bump themselves into the picture in the tight Big East with a 4-3 conference record and have a shot to boost themselves even farther as they face the Seton Hall Pirates Wednesday night at the Prudential Center at 8 PM EST.
Seton Hall have the same conference record as Notre Dame but got there with a much better overall record. Though they don't boast any wins against the likes of Syracuse, they did defeat defending champions UCONN earlier in the season. They're currently riding a two game losing streak but with both of the losses on the road. At home in the Prudential Center it should be a slightly easier ride for the Pirates.
The winner of the game will be launched up into a tie for sixth place in the Big East with a 5-3 conference record along with Cincinnati and South Florida.
For more on Notre Dame, check out One Foot Down. Seton Hall info can be found at South Orange Juice.
Notre Dame Vs. Seton Hall: Irish Defense Smothers Pirates 55-42
If you tuned in to see the Big East match-up between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Seton Hall Pirates hoping to see offense, you probably turned the game off within the first 10 minutes, as the two teams couldn't make any shot early on, whether they were guarded or not. The Irish, however, found their shooting touch early in the second half, pulled away from the Pirates, and held them off for a 55-42 win on the road Wednesday night. It was just the second win away from Purcell Pavilion in nine games for the Irish.
How ugly was the offense early? The game was still scoreless at the first media timeout, with the teams combining to shoot 0-9 and turning the ball over eight times. It didn't get much better, as they only had six points combined at the next timeout with 11:22 remaining in the half. The Irish went on a 10-2 run to take a 17-13 lead with just under two minutes remaining in the half, and led just 19-18 at intermission. The teams were a combined 13-50 shooting in the first half, and just 2-14 from three point range. It was very ugly.
Notre Dame came out in the second half outscoring Seton Hall 19-7, building a 38-25 lead over the first eight minutes, and never looked back. The Pirates never got closer than 9 the rest of the way. Overall the Irish shot 35% from the floor, but were 24-32 from the foul line, including 21 of their last 25 in the win. They also held SHU to just 26% shooting from the floor, 2-14 from beyond the arc. They were also just 10-19 from the free throw line.
The Irish were led by Jerian Grant with 15 points and four assists, while Eric Atkins had 14 and Jack Cooley added 13 points and 11 rebounds, his sixth double-double on the season. Alex Dragicevich also added 9 off the bench, including two big three pointers at the start of the second half to lengthen the Irish lead. Seton Hall was paced by Jordan Theodore with 11 points, but had five turnovers. Aaron Cosby had 8 points, while Fuquan Edwin had 7 points and 12 rebounds in the loss. Herb Pope, the Pirates leading scorer at nearly 17 points per game, had just 5 on the night on 2-16 from the floor.
Notre Dame moves to 13-8 on the season, and 5-3 in the Big East, while Seton Hall drops to 15-5, 4-4 in the Big East. The Irish will try to make it three wins in a row Sunday when they travel to Storrs to take on the Connecticut Huskies, a team they lost to just 11 days ago by 14 at home.
Jan 25 10:44p by Matt Grecco