NOTRE DAME FALLS TO 3-5 IN BIG EAST

January 27, 2009

Marquette continued their run through the early portion of their Big East schedule with a victory at Notre Dame last night in ESPN's Big Monday telecast.

The Golden Eagles are a team Seasoned Right (Journal Sentinel) led by their senior guard trio. Last night, Jerel McNeal scored a team-high 27 points with Jerel McNeal added 16 and Dominic James contributed 15 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and helped direct an offense that turned the ball over just three times all game. Lazar Hayward closed the MU scored with 13 points (that is right, just four Golden Eagles scored) in the 71-64 victory.

Luke Harangody had 29 points and 17 rebounds for the Irish as Notre Dame Loses Second Straight at Home (nwitimes.com) after UConn broked their 45-game win streak at the Joyce Center on Saturday night. It was the fourth loss overall for ND, dropping them to 3-5 in the Big East as the Irish are Losing Grip on the Season (Journal Gazette) that began with so many expectations on the club.

There was talk of 'relief' that the pressure of the home streak had been lifted with the loss to UConn and a sense of a new beginning, but Notre Dame Suffers Must-Win Meltdown (Chicago Tribune) as their line-up shuffle failed to provide the spark and an Anemic Offense Leads to Fourth Staright ND Loss (Post-Tribune).

Jonathan Peoples and Luke Zeller were inserted into the starting line-up to replace slumping seniors Zach Hillesland and Ryan Ayers. The move failed to provide any sort of a 'spark' as Ayers-Hillesland combined to go 0-10 in the game and the Irish got zero bench points.

Tory Jackson had 10 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists for the Irish, who will travel to Pittsburgh to face the Panthers on Saturday. At 12-7, with the date with Pitt and road games with Cincinnati and UCLA to follow immediately afterwards, the Irish Feel a 'Sense of Worry' (South Bend Tribune) about a season on the brink.