Harangody, Irish too much for Mountaineers
He may be built like a tight end, but the hardwood suits Luke Harangody just fine. Harangody had a monster game against West Virginia, scoring 29 points and grabbing 16 rebounds as Notre Dame defeated West Virginia 69-56 on Thursday night.
Notre Dame (11-2, 1-0) won their ninth game in a row and 29th straight at home, holding West Virginia to their worst shooting night of the year, coupled with their lowest point total of the year. The Mountaineers were held to just 32 percent shooting in the game. They were 11-of-31 from the field in the first half (35.5 percent).
The Irish trailed 14-11 early in the first half, but a ferocious 22-8 run put them up 33-22, and took a 37-28 lead into halftime. Harangody, along with Ryan Ayers and Zach Hillesland, combined for 16 of the 22 points during their run. Harangody was on fire in the first half connecting on his first seven shots, finishing the first half 7-of-8 from the field. Harangody finished the game 11-of-16.
Alex Ruoff led West Virginia with 18 points and was the sole player in double figures for Bob Huggins. While their 32 percent overall field goal percent may not have been pretty, it was their 3-point shooting that was hideous for the Mountaineers. They didn’t see many three’s that they didn’t like, and they also didn’t connect on many of them either. Overall, West Virginia shot a putrid 5-of-25 from beyond the arc, good for 20 percent shooting. They were 3-of-13 in the first half and 2-of-12 in the second half.
While Notre Dame is on a roll, West Virginia has struggled the past two games with their shooting and interior defense. In their overtime loss to Oklahoma, Blake Griffin and Longar Longar beat up West Virginia inside, combining for 40 points and 20 rebounds (16 rebounds by Griffin). Tonight it was Harangody that killed West Virginia with 29 points and 16 rebounds. Their 3-point shooting has been dreadful in their past two losses, shooting 10-of-49 from beyond the arc. West Virginia was also outrebounded again in the loss to Notre Dame as well. It’s a pretty simple philosophy in basketball at any level; if you don’t shoot well and you don’t win the rebounding battle, you’re not going to win. An ideal the Mountaineers have painfully learned the last two outings.
The Mountaineers are now 10-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play. They’ve dropped their last two games after having won their previous eight in a row. West Virginia will look to avoid their third straight loss this Sunday afternoon when they host No. 11 Marquette at 2 p.m. For the Fighting Irish, they’ll put their nine-game win streak and 29 straight home victories on the line when they host Connecticut at 9 p.m.
Tags: Big East Basketball, Luke Harangody, NCAA Men's basketball, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, West Virginia Mountaineers