Notre Dame Stumbles Against St. John's

Maybe it wasn't a total shock that St. John's beat Notre Dame, 71-65, today. After all, as the upset began to take shape, an ESPN graphic pointed out that two of the teams' past three meetings had been decided by three points or less.

Still, that was misleading since ND beat St. John's handily last year. The prior year, the Irish were playing their first game without the suspended Kyle McAlarney. That third game in the nifty graphic was in 2005.

The reality is that this was a huge upset.

Sure, it was technically a road game for Notre Dame, and away from the comfort of the Joyce Center the Irish have not been particularly impressive. This was at Madison Square Garden, and for at least the first half, the game had the feel of at least being a neutral site game. As the game hit the second half, and Notre Dame continued to struggle, the large contingent of Irish fans grew much more quiet and pensive.

St. John's had lost three straight to teams not supposed to be as good as Notre Dame and had their best player, Anthony Mason, Jr., lost for the season early. Malik Boothe, the team's starting point guard, was out with a broken thumb. There just wasn't much going right for St. John's.

The Irish by contrast, were 10-2 and had only lost to Ohio State and UNC. There was no reason to believe they wouldn't blow out St. John's.

Well, except for the fact that Notre Dame only has one real player inside, and if they aren't making perimeter shots -- especially the threes -- they are in trouble. That's exactly what happened in this game. Luke Harangody was his powerful self, notching 28 points and 16 rebounds. And while it is not surprising when the other big men supply little, Luke Zeller gave a double zero and Zach Hillesland produced four points and four rebounds.

That put it all on the guards. Tory Jackson was solid, but Kyle McAlarney couldn't hit his shots, going only 1-for-6 on threes and mustering 10 points. Until Jackson hit a three in the final minute to cut the score to 67-65, the Irish had missed seven straight threes and finished the game 4-for-18 on the perimeter.

St. John's got their offense inside. They were solid on threes, but only attempted 11 for the game -- making five. It was St. John's guards and wing forwards attacking the basket that did it. Forward D.J. Kennedy put in 20 points and continually got to the rim. Notre Dame had no one on the outside that could keep him in front. Kennedy also had 10 rebounds and led the Red Storm with three rebounds. Remember, St. John's really doesn't have a point guard at the moment.