BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: CONNECTICUT @ NOTRE DAME

January 5, 2007


Capping off our first Saturday of conference action will be Notre Dame and Connecticut in what should be a very good game in a great atmosphere on the Notre Dame campus in South Bend. Both teams did what they had to in their opening conference games and now they will try to put a stamp on their contending status in the first week of play.

Connecticut earned a road win with a 98-86 win at Seton Hall behind Jerome Dyson's 27 points. Unlike against Seton Hall, the Huskies will have to contend with an inside horse that will put some pressure on the UConn bigs around the basket.

Notre Dame held serve at home with an impressive win over West Virginia Thursday night. Luke Harangody dominated the paint against WVU with a 29-pt, 16-rebound performance. He will find the competition stronger (in Jeff Adrien) and taller (in Hasheem Thabeet) against Connecticut than he did against the Mountaineers.

For the Irish, they will need to take better care of the basketball. Against WVU, Tory Jackson did score 12 points, but turned the ball over 6 times in 24 minutes. The Irish had 20 turnovers as a team. Kyle McAlarney did a better job distributing and taking care of the ball, but against UConn they will need him to be able to make shots as a beneficiary of Jackson's ability to break down the defense. The UConn guards, Dyson and AJ Price, are capable of putting a lot of pressure on the ball defensively, so this is a match-up to watch.

For Connecticut, they need to stay in control. Jim Calhoun wants his team to push, push, push on offense, but against SHU they seemed to get into a contest where they were more concerned about running and forgot to play defense. Notre Dame will unliekly be able to turn the game into such a ragged affair, but Connecticut also needs to realize where their advantages are and try to go to the boards and score inside.

Notre Dame needs to be dialed in from 3-pt range in this game. McAlarney, Ryan Ayers and Rob Kurz all hit the long ball at a very high percentage and they will need to be knocking them down to draw the Husky defenders out of th elane to isolate Harangody inside. Harangody uses excellent foot work and technique inside that he could find the Huskies in foul trouble if he is given space to operate. But, if ND is not making UConn come out of the paint, Harangody could struggle against the bigger Huskies.

I am not sure why, but I see Connecticut stealing a game on the road in this one. I just think their size inside is going to make things very tough on Harangody and they have enough athleticism to cover the 3-pt shooters of the Irish. It probably will come down to the last few possessions, so the maturation of the Huskies will dtermine if they can win this or lose it. I am thinking they have enough improvement to come up with an impressive win against a good Notre Dame team.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Connecticut 80 Notre Dame 78