Notre Dame/Marquette Post Mortem

Well, if the first half went about as well as we could have hoped, the second half went about as badly as it possibly could for us.

• After getting a gift steal on the heels of a McAlarney 3 to cut the lead to 6 with 45 seconds remaining, Tory Jackson and Luke Zeller threw up threes from the corner that weren’t even close.
• McAlarney was not much of a factor until the final two minutes when he hit a couple 3’s to keep the game close and give the Irish some hope.  He wasn’t able to get open for the large part of the game though and it hurt the Irish offense.
• Despite having a good size advantage over Marquette, the Golden Eagles straight up owned the glass in the second half.  This wasn’t more evident than during a 1:15 long possession where Marquette got back to back offense rebounds before finally putting it in the basket.
• Tory Jackson played tough all game and was the only reason we stayed in the game over the final 10 minutes.  He was the only one able to drive and dish to create some open shots.
• The first game after being named Big East Player of the Year, Harangody had his most disappointing performance of the season.  Foul trouble early took him out of the game and in the second half he just couldn’t get it going outside of a 2:40 stretch where he hit 4 straight shots.
• Maurice Acker’s back to back 3’s were really the dagger for the Irish.  They took the life out of Notre Dame.
• ND’s loss means the only team with a bye advancing in the BE Tournament is Georgetown.
• Very disappointing trip to New York for Notre Dame who now could be looking at a 5 seed.