Notre Dame Slams Georgetown; 78-64

When Notre Dame All-American Luke Harangody went down with a knee injury on February 11th, it appeared that any hope of making the NCAA tournament disappeared as well. Apparently someone forgot to tell the resurgent Irish, who are playing better basketball now than they have all season. Recent history was not in Notre Dame's favor heading into a matchup against #11 Georgetown at the Verizon Center Saturday. The Irish had not beaten Georgetown in Washington D.C. since 2003 and came into the contest just 1-6 in road games this season.

Perhaps the most surprising storyline of the game was that Notre Dame struggled from behind the arc, making just 8 of 22 three-point attempts. Traditionally, Mike Brey's Notre Dame teams have lived and died by the three point shot, but not today. With Georgetown spread out to defend the perimeter, Notre Dame took advantage with 10 offensive rebounds and several follow-up dunks. From the guard position, Ben Hansborough penetrated the Georgetown defense off the dribble, and converted on a handful of acrobatic layups, which were necessary to avoid the long arms of the Hoya defenders.

Hansborough led all scorers in the game with 21 points, followed by his Notre Dame teammates Tim Abromaitis and Carleton Scott, who scored 19 and 17 respectively. Scott, in particular, shined on Saturday afternoon, playing the best game of his career. In addition to his three-point shooting, where he nailed three of four from downtown, he used his long arms to contest Georgetown in the paint and collect nine rebounds. Easily the highlight of the game was Scott's rebound-slam in which he flashed into the lane after a Tory Jackson miss, grabbed the ball in mid-air and slammed it home with his left hand.

Lost in the stat book were two solid performances by Notre Dame's Tyrone Nash and Tory Jackson. Nash recorded eight points and six rebounds for the Irish, but also aggressively challenged Georgetown around the basket. Jackson scored nine points, but more importantly had five steals on the afternoon. His pesky defensive play kept Georgetown from getting in rhythm in the half court.
Georgetown was led by Craig Monroe who proved unstoppable in the block. Monroe scored 15 points in the loss and connected on 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. However, unlike Rick Pitino and Louisville, Georgetown chose not to continually pound the ball inside, where Notre Dame's lack of depth is particularly vulnerable. Georgetown was also without Austin Freeman, who played in the game but was far from effective as he was battling illness and had little energy in his legs, as evidenced by a handful of air-balls.

The win moved the Irish to 8-8 in Big East conference play with two games remaining. More importantly, the win added a key road win against a ranked opponent to the Notre Dame NCAA tournament resume. Up next for the Irish is a date with UConn on senior night at Notre Dame, followed by a season-ending road game to Marquette. As improbable as it sounded back on February 11th, a couple of wins by Notre Dame could have the Irish dancing come March.

Sources: ESPN, Notre Dame v. Georgetown , Box Score

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