NEW ORLEANS — Around the third week of February — when many teams are fine tuning for a big stretch run — Notre Dame coach Mike Brey decided to start over from scratch.
With their best player injured, the Fighting Irish were fading fast, so Brey scrapped his offense and installed a more deliberate system he hoped would keep his team competitive.
“Our backs were against the wall a little bit,” Brey said. “We’ve been one of the leading scoring teams in the league through my tenure, but to survive, I felt we had to try to do something different.”
The Irish haven’t just survived with the new approach. They’ve thrived, winning six games in a row before bowing out in the semifinals of the Big East tournament. On Thursday, sixth-seeded Notre Dame will play 11th-seeded Old Dominion in the first round of the NCAA tournament’s South Regional.
“It was a different pace,” guard Tory Jackson said. “I really think it made us a better team. The slow-down offense really helped me as a player. I’ve never seen where a coach can create something like that late in the season like that, and it works.”
Luke Harangody, Notre Dame’s leading scorer, went down with a knee injury on Feb. 11 and missed five games. About a week after the injury, Notre Dame tried out its new “burn” offense, in which the team can be, in Brey’s words, “overly patient” when looking for a shot. The Irish lost to Louisville in double overtime, then didn’t lose again until a 53-51 defeat against West Virginia last week.
About the only problem with the offense is that it might play into Old Dominion’s hands. The Monarchs (26-8) are allowing only 57 points per game. Center Gerald Lee averages 14.6 points, the only Old Dominion player in double figures.
The Monarchs beat William & Mary 60-53 to win the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, and they’d welcome another low-scoring game if that’s what Notre Dame wants.
“They play a style that I think we’re very comfortable with in terms of the way they play and how slow they play and how smart they are on offense as well as defense,” Old Dominion guard Marsharee Neely said. “It reminds us of a team in our conference named William & Mary.”
Old Dominion coach Blaine Taylor agreed with the comparison to a degree, although he was reluctant to go too far in comparing Notre Dame (23-11) to one of his CAA opponents.
“You can kind of say this flavor is like this flavor, but it’s not exactly the same ice cream,” Taylor said.
Especially now that Harangody is back. The 6-foot-8 senior has been limited to about 25 minutes a game recently, but he’s been effective, even posting a 20-point, 10-rebound game against Seton Hall last Wednesday.
Brey said he expects Harangody to come off the bench and play about the same amount against Old Dominion.
“Practice was good these last couple days because it’s getting him back into a rhythm,” Brey said. “We’re open to anything, but that seems to be a good segment of time for him, 24 or 25 minutes.”
Old Dominion isn’t likely to be intimidated by a Big East team after winning at Georgetown in December. The Monarchs haven’t won an NCAA tournament game since 1995, but this is their best seed in almost a quarter-century.
And if all else fails, Taylor might have a few tricks up his sleeve to distract the Irish.
“I just got done dropping Luke and most of the Notre Dame guys off down at Bourbon Street for St. Patty’s Day,” Taylor deadpanned Wednesday. “I told them, ‘Don’t miss the game tomorrow, it starts at 2:30.’”
The game actually starts at 11:25 a.m. local time, and although the Irish are in less of a rush on the court these days, don’t expect them to be late.
“I think we’re pretty confident. We feel we’re playing well,” Brey said. “So I think we come here in a very good frame of mind. We know we’ve got a heck of a challenge, and we prepared for Old Dominion like they’re a Big East team.”
College Sports
Related Photos
-
Patrick Semansky
-
Patrick Semansky
Related Links
Discussion
Notre Dame takes on Old Dominion
New-look Irish set to tip off tourney with Monarchs
- College Sports
-
-
AU men lose, but still clinch spot in HCAC tourney
The Anderson University men’s basketball team lost to Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference rival Manchester College 81-71 on Wednesday night at Stauffer-Wolfe Arena in North Manchester.
-
Hoosiers hold off ’Cats
Tom Crean’s first 20-win season at Indiana came with some fitting benchmarks.
A freshman credited with turning the program around led the way again. An injured senior who survived a six-win season closed it out. And, of course, the Hoosiers had to scrap for another 40 minutes to pull off the win -
Wiles’ heart leads her to Hoosiers
Meghan Wiles took some time to explore her options, but she always kind of knew where she would end up.
She’s an IU girl.
Wiles, a Pendleton Heights senior, signed to play soccer at Indiana University on Feb. 1, the NCAA’s National Signing Day. Her parents, Tom and Mandy, both attended IU. -
Boilers get back on track with win
Robbie Hummel scored a season-high 27 points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds Sunday as Purdue snapped Northwestern’s three-game winning streak with an 87-77 victory.
-
W. Virginia women upset No. 2 Irish
Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said her team had it coming to them. “I thought we’ve been building up to this game now for a couple of weeks,” she said. “We just haven’t played well for a long time.” The second-ranked Irish almost played well enough Sunday, but West Virginia ended their 21-game winning streak with a 65-63 victory.
-
Prahalis lifts No. 10 OSU women past No. 16 Purdue
Samantha Prahalis, the only senior on Ohio State’s roster, has been through a lot of battles on the court. So it figured that when the No. 10 Buckeyes were badly in need of a bucket on Sunday against No. 16 Purdue, it was their most experienced player who supplied a dagger of a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left to pave the way to an 80-71 victory.
-
Ravens soar past Grizzlies
The Anderson University men’s basketball team has been in tournament mode for the past three weeks.
But the Ravens took a big step toward the actual postseason Saturday afternoon with a 79-65 victory against Franklin in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play. -
AU women fall to HCAC leaders
The Anderson University women’s basketball team lost to Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference leader Franklin College 68-43 on Saturday at O.C. Lewis Gymnasium on Senior Day.
-
No. 23 Hoosiers hurry past Illinois 84-71
Illinois played like a desperate team Thursday night. That didn’t matter to Indiana. Cody Zeller scored 22 points and Victor Oladipo and Christian Watford each had 18, igniting No. 23 Indiana’s late charge to get past the Fighting Illini 84-71.
-
Boilers honor Lewis at halftime against IU
Purdue basketball fans took time out Saturday in the middle of a heated rivalry game with Indiana to honor Anderson High School graduate Troy Lewis, whose No. 23 jersey hangs from the rafters at Mackey Arena.
- More College Sports Headlines
-
