Irish Down Bearcats

The officiating was bad, the shooting was ugly, and the defensive rebounding was God awful. When Cincinnati took a 34 - 27 lead going into halftime, it looked as if the Irish could not rebound from the beating they took against Marquette last weekend. However, the home crowd (which included Heisman winner John Lattner) and the Leprechaun Legion were able to wake up some echoes in the second half, during which ND scored 64 points to overcome the Bearcats of Cincinnati.

The key momentum swing in the game happened with about 18 minutes left in the second half, where the Irish sparked an 18 - 4 run over the next four minutes to take control of the game. The run began with a powerful three point play from Harangody. In an attempt to get his team back in the game, Brey switched to a full court press, which paid off minutes later when Ayers intercepted an inbounds pass and laid it in for two easy points. The Irish continued to execute the press well, forcing Cincinnati to turn the ball over on their next possession, capitalizing on their mistake with a McAlarney three. 13 of Harangody's game high 25 points came during the run.

The 91 - 74 victory, coupled with strong performances by McAlarney (22 points, 5-8 3pFGs) and Kurz (17 points, 10 boards) may seem like a very solid win for Notre Dame, but there were a few glaring weaknesses on display last night. Cincinnati's bench outscored the Irish 40 - 16, primarily because Notre Dame only brought 3 players off of the bench the entire game. Peoples, Hillesland, and Zeller all contributed about 10 minutes (and added some timely shooting and change of pace for the offense), but this game illustrated the need for Brey to start developing his freshmen quickly; in the event of an injury, foul out, or overtime, the squad is extremely thin.

Ball handling once again looked like a concern last night. McAlarney had more turnovers than assists, and while Jackson was able to pick up 8 dimes, he did so at the cost of 5 turnovers. All together, ND gave up the ball 15 times; better than their 24 against Marquette, but definitely an area to improve on in the near future.

Lastly, Cincinnati was seemingly able to grab offensive boards at will against the Irish, and the defensive rebounds we did come away with looked awfully sloppy. Especially against bigger teams, Notre Dame needs to learn how to box out and control the paint, or we could be in big trouble against Roy Hibbert and Georgetown on January 19th.