Irish Roll; Seton Hall Clings to Hope

FanHouse Big East senior writer Brett McMurphy is in New York breaking down every game of the Big East tournament.

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NEW YORK -- Was Notre Dame's 68-56 victory against Seton Hall an NCAA elimination game? Nonsense, said Notre Dame coach Mike Brey and Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez.

"How about this being promoted as a [NCAA] play-in game?" Brey said.

"You know what? Right now nobody is going to talk about Seton Hall. Just give it a few days. Keep Seton Hall on the board. Just keep Seton Hall on the board. I know everybody knee-jjerks. Give it two days and come back and look at the big picture."

Gonzalez also was happy to politic about his club's NCAA tournament resume.

"I know that for some reason there's all these gurus and experts that listen to what everybody else says," Gonzalez said. "And they say, 'Well, if Notre Dame wins, they're in. If Seton Hall wins, they're out.' "

Gonzalez then went on to point out Seton Hall has a better RPI than Notre Dame, played a tougher schedule and had fewer bad losses.

"I think we should be on the board," Gonzalez said. "I think all this talk about the bubble has burst and now we're out and we're done and we lose and that's it and it's over, I don't think people know what they're talking about.

"I don't think they have a clue. I think they listen to what everybody else says and they repeat what they hear."

While all the talk off the court was about each team's NCAA hopes, the main storyline on the court was a familiar and a recently forgotten face. Luke Harangody -- remember him? -- came off the bench for 20 points and 10 rebounds in only 24 minutes.

Harangody had 15 points and nine rebounds in the first half in what was easily his best game since suffering a knee injury last month and missing five games.

"I played 24 [minutes] tonight, I feel pretty good," Harangody said. "I feel pretty good. I think Coach is smart about how many minutes he got me tonight. My body feels great right now.

"I think he got me in and out of there at times that I needed to get out of there. I think every day it's going to get better. I'm just going to ride the momentum off today and into tomorrow."

Seton Hall, which rolled up 109 points in Tuesday's win against Providence, had 56 points against Notre Dame -- one more than it had in the first half against Providence.

"I talked to our guys about ... that if we could impose our style of play, you know, we can beat them," Brey said. "We're going to have to do that. We certainly did that. Field goal percentage, defense was great. We limited them of their possessions. It was our tempo."

Jeremy Hazell had 15 points and Herb Pope had 14 points and nine rebounds for the Pirates, who missed 14 of 16 3-pointers and shot 34.5 percent from the field.

BIG DANCE PLANS

Notre Dame is in the NCAA tournament. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Well, at least I think so. And Mike Brey did so before beating Seton Hall. Now the Irish should eagerly be awaiting Selection Sunday. The same, however, can not be said about Seton Hall -- no matter what Gonzalez believes.

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK

Seton Hall now awaits a bid to the NIT. The Pirates rolled up 19 victories, the most in Gonzalez's four seasons at the school. The Pirates still haven't reached the NCAA tournament under Gonzalez, but next season could be his breakthrough year. Seton Hall loses only two seniors Eugene Harvey (8.2 points) and John Garcia (3.1 points, 3.4 rebounds) from this year's team..


STAT OF THE GAME

24-3: Notre Dame's bench outscored Seton Hall's bench by 21 points.

SOUNDBITE

"The microwave was ready to go tonight." -- Notre Dame coach Mike Brey about Luke Harangody coming off the bench for 20 points.

NEXT UP

Notre Dame plays No. 2 Pittsburgh (24-7) in Thursday's quarterfinals at 7 p.m. ET (ESPN). Notre Dame won the first meeting at South Bend 68-53 on Feb. 24.

Contact FanHouse senior writer Brett McMurphy at brettmcmurphy@gmail.com