Notre Dame-Rutgers Preview

2/16/2008 1:48 PM

By MIKE LIPKA
STATS Writer

After falling victim to the Big East's hottest team its last time out, Notre Dame will try to bounce back by taking advantage of the league's coldest squad.

The 20th-ranked Fighting Irish look to avoid their first back-to-back losses since November on Sunday when they visit struggling Rutgers, which has dropped five straight and 11 of 13 since the beginning of Big East play.

Notre Dame (18-5, 8-3) had won five in a row before visiting Connecticut on Wednesday, but fell 84-79 to become the eighth straight team to lose to the 17th-ranked Huskies.

Luke Harangody continued his impressive scoring binge with a career-high 32 points and 16 rebounds against UConn, but the Irish shot just 33.0 percent in the second half while being outscored 45-37. They dropped to 2-3 on the road in Big East play.

Kyle McAlarney had 32 points in Notre Dame's 73-67 home win over UConn on Jan. 5, but was held to 12 on 4-of-14 shooting Wednesday.

"They were hugging on Kyle all night," Harangody said. "They did a great job on him and that's going to happen, and someone is going to have to step up in his absence."

Harangody did his best, shooting 13-of-24 from the field while matching his career high in rebounding and registering his sixth consecutive double-double.

"I hit some Js in the first half," the 6-foot-8 sophomore said. "But for our offense to start clicking like it usually does, I need to get the ball in the post and have guys cut off me, and I thought we did a good job of that."

The Big East's leading scorer with 20.8 points per game overall, Harangody is averaging 24.3 in conference play, sparking the league's only offense that averages more than 80 points.

As a result, Notre Dame is tied for the fewest losses in Big East play and is just a game out of first place.

Last-place Rutgers (10-16, 2-11) entered the weekend with the league's worst offense, averaging just 62.9 points. The Scarlet Knights have especially struggled during their current five-game losing streak, averaging 59.4 points and shooting 36.0 percent from the field.

Leading scorer J.R. Inman has averaged 9.7 points in conference play - more than three below his season average.

The Scarlet Knights lost 81-63 at West Virginia on Thursday, shooting 46.9 percent but turning the ball over 17 times while forcing just four turnovers. They allowed West Virginia to grab 10 offensive rebounds in the first half, when they were outscored 42-27.

Despite the slide, coach Fred Hill has stayed positive with his team.

"Whenever you are going through a tough time, especially late in the season with five games to go, I wanted to talk about the confidence, about the good things we did, how we have to continue to work hard and fight through tough times," Hill said. "I think you learn a lot about yourself when you get knocked down, in terms of how you get back up."

Oddly enough, Rutgers' only two wins in conference play this season came against ranked teams. The Scarlet Knights beat then-No. 18 Villanova on Jan. 23 and knocked off then-No. 13 Pittsburgh on the road three days later.

The Irish have won their last two games against Rutgers, including 73-66 on the road in the teams' only meeting last season. Harangody, however, had just 10 points in that game on 4-of-13 shooting.