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After 45 straight wins at home, it seems there is some correction taking place. The Fighting Irish dropped their second straight home game, this time 71-64 to Marquette. More problematically, it was their fourth straight loss overall. The opponent may be different, but the same game plan applies. Play Luke Harangody straight up. He's going to score and rebound, so to some extent you concede his double-double. Then don't lose Kyle McAlarney -- ever. Stay tight on him, don't let him get a screen. Just keep him from getting clean looks on a jump shot. Either McAlarney will defer or he will be putting up a lot of contested shots. After that, you dare anyone else for Notre Dame to beat you.
Marquette executed that strategy perfectly. Harangody had an impressive performance with 29 points and 17 rebounds. Kyle McAlarney, though, was held to nine points on 3-for-12 shooting, and only 1-for-6 from behind the arc. That put the onus on the other players to provide the offense. That just did not happen -- again.
The Irish bench provided nothing, missing all 10 shot attempts. The other three starters provided just 26 points. Despite Notre Dame's reputation as a team that plays offense first and defense with little zest, the Irish have been killed on offense. The lack of a reliable, consistent third scoring threat has taken a toll on them in conference play.
Marquette, on the other hand, has no such problem with scoring options. Jerel McNeal led the way with 27 points and was absolutely devastating. Yet, Wesley Matthews, Dominic James and Lazar Hayward all finished with double-digit scoring. There was never a point where the Golden Eagles looked concerned or felt they had to force the ball to one player. Even as the game stayed tight the entire second half, and Notre Dame was at home with the crowd, it seemed that Marquette was not in any real danger and had the confidence to do what it wanted when it needed to.
Marquette has reached a 7-0 start in Big East play to sit atop the conference with Louisville. Marquette may have plenty of questions regarding their bench production, lack of size, a first-year head coach, and a rather soft start to the conference slate. So what? They are winning. It's all they can do.
And right now, it's a heckuva lot more than Notre Dame is doing.
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