Notre Dame/Marquette Halftime Thoughts

Here are some quick thoughts from first half action of tonight’s Big East Quarterfinal contest with Marquette.

• Considering Luke Harangody played just over 7 minutes in the first half after getting into foul trouble, being up six on Marquette is about as good of a scenario as anyone could have hoped for.
• When Luke went to the bench, ND held just a one point lead but extended it to 6 thanks to a three pointer from Kurz with about 4 seconds remaining.
• Zach Hillesland has been HUGE during the first 20 minutes.  He’s been very active on the offensive glass and stepped up with Luke on the bench.  If only he had connected on that two handed dunk that caused Zeller to crash into media row.
• I have a feeling that McAlarney is just about to get hot from beyond the arc.  He’s made just one three pointer so far, but I think we’ll see much more out of him in the second.
• Back to Harangody’s foul trouble for a second.  His second was a little too ticky tack for me considering this is the Big East Tournament.  Of course, after the UConn-West Virginia game, I guess that is to be expected.
• Losing McNeil would certainly be an enormous loss for Marquette.
• I wouldn’t mind seeing a little more of Ayers in the second half.
• Even with Harangody in the game, we’ve been having trouble working the ball down low.  Jackson’s been his normal self driving the lane, but no one else is having much success.
• Zeller gave some pretty good minutes after Harangody went to the bench.
• Both teams have been pretty active on the offensive glass so far.  ND is going to have to do a better job preventing Marquette from getting second chance points.

All in all, not a bad first half at all.  If Harangody can keep himself out of foul trouble in the second half, we should be in good shape here.