NOTRE DAME FALLS IN NIT SEMIFINALS

April 1, 2009


by Ray Floriani


NEW YORK CITY – Notre Dame battled back from a poor first half but it wasn’t enough. The Irish fell to Penn State 67-59 in the semifinal of the NIT. Penn State moved on to the championship game to face Baylor, a 76-62 winner over San Diego State.
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The final numbers….

…………………….POSS…………. PPP…………. eFG…………TO Rate
…Penn State…………66……………1.02………….46……………9…….
…Notre Dame……….66……………0.89…………..40……………11…..


The keys to the contest…

The start. Notre Dame shot 8 of 35 (22%) in the first half. At the break the Irish trailed 31-18 and were truly fortunate the deficit wasn’t twenty. Penn State defended as Luke Harangody (2 of 10 for four points) and Kyle McAlarney (1 of 7 for two pts) struggled on the offensive end.

Defensively Mike Brey’s club was getting beat in transition and Penn State guard Talor Battle proved to be a tough matchup on the break or in half court with his penetration.

The second half Notre Dame found the range. And what threatened to be a twenty point deficit was whittled to a three possession game with just under eight minutes to play. Harangody, bodied down low to the point of frustration was now getting effective and scoring. The Notre Dame full court pressure and half court traps caused problems. With the Irish down four and just under four minutes to go, Penn State’s Jamelle Cornlery hit a big , hotly contested, jumper in the lane to give the Lions some breathing room. Penn State went on to seal it from the charity stripe.

The Irish, paced by Harangody’s 17 points, ended the campaign 21-15. Battle led Penn State with 17. A crowd of 11,352 was on hand.

Notre Dame went through the NIT with a good mindset. Often teams not getting an NCAA invite approach the tournament with a little disappointment and are eliminated first round. The Irish, who finished as NIT runners-up on four occasions, planned to be around a while. “After we lost in the Big East Tournament coach (Mike Brey) told us in the locker room, we’ll be back here,” said ND assistant Anthony Solomon. “All along we worked and pointed to getting back to New York.” They did but the stay was a game shorter than hoped.

Harangody, as noted was frustrated by the physical play. He did setrlle down and play a big part in Notre Dame’s run the last eight minutes. Consencus of NBA scouts on hand, is he would best be served with another year in South Bend. “In the NBA he (Harangody) will see bigger defenders who are quicker and stronger than what’s he’s seen tonight.”

Joe Pa, Penn State’s legendary Joe Paterno, entered MSG with 6 minutes left in the first half to a rousing ovation from the Penn State faithful.