Old Dominion Stifles Notre Dame, Harangody for Upset

NEW ORLEANS -- Somewhere deep down inside, Old Dominion forward Kenyon Carter wanted to begin his celebration prematurely Thursday.

But he refrained himself as Notre Dame's Carleton Scott fired off a desperation 3-pointer from the corner for the tie in the waning moment of their NCAA tournament first-round game in the South Region. As soon as Scott's shot rimmed out, Irish forward Luke Harangody was left to score a meaningless putback as the buzzer sounded in the New Orleans Arena.

The first upset of the day and one of many to come in these next few weeks had been realized.

No. 11 Old Dominion, 51. No. 6 Notre Dame, 50.

"Oh, I said, 'Here we go again,'" Carter recalled as he watched Scott's failed 3-pointer make its way toward the rim. "Those guys made a lot of clutch threes."

But it wasn't to be for the Irish on Thursday as Old Dominion tried on the label of Cinderella. The Monarchs, the champions of the Colonial Athletic Association's regular season and conference tournament, won their first NCAA tournament game since beating No. 3 seed Villanova in 1995.

Old Dominion will now take on No. 3 Baylor on Saturday for the right to head to Houston for the Sweet 16.

"I think it reflects the magic of March, the way the two teams battled," Old Dominion coach Blaine Taylor said of Thursday's game in which the score was tied twice and the lead changed nine times. "One of the officials turns to me at the two-minute mark and said, 'It's been a heck of a game.' I really think it was."



Share After trailing Notre Dame 28-22 at halftime, the Monarchs made their move early in the second half, trading the lead a few times before pulling ahead for good in the final moments. Carter hit two big free throws with 9.2 seconds remaining to give ODU a 51-50 lead that forced the Irish to have to make a 3-pointer as time expired to force overtime.

"Basketball is a game of runs, and this man to my right [Carter] always told me that one," said Old Dominion forward Frank Hassell, who led his team with 15 points and nine rebounds. "We knew they were going on a run, they are a good team. All teams in the tournament are good teams.

"We knew we'd have our time. We just had to buckle down and play hard."

The difference was Notre Dame didn't make enough shots when it needed to and, as a result, that's one stunning loss for the Big East. The Irish never figured out the Monarchs' various mix of zone and man, and most damaging, never tried to attack them.

Old Dominion's zone was of particular consequence to Harangody in the middle. The 6-foot-8 forward couldn't find his way through it, scoring just four points on 2-of-9 shooting. He was held scoreless while taking one shot and picking up two fouls in the first half which seemed to set the tone for the day.

"Yeah, it was tough," said Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, whose team was a surprise No. 6 seed despite winning six straight games to end the regular season in the ultra-competitive Big East. "He got the two fouls and I thought he could never really get into the flow."

Hassell insists there was no game plan in place to limit Harangody in particular. It just worked out that way.

"We really weren't worried about them or Luke," Hassell said. "We were worried about us. We came out and played our ball and we knew we were going to be OK."

But not getting much production from Harangody certainly affected Notre Dame. That forced guards Ben Hansbrough and Tory Jackson to try to become penetrators against the Monarchs' zone. None of the Notre Dame players were very aggressive against the zone as evidenced by the Irish's 2-of-3 shooting from the free-throw line for the game.

"That's one of the things me and Tory have been able to do, especially when teams have been guarding us man to man," Hansbrough said of attacking the basket. "But then in that zone, that three-two zone, they kind of took us away from that. Every time we'd catch they would be right there."

As a result, the Irish are headed home a round earlier than most expected.

"I'm very proud of our group," Brey said. "I'm extremely proud of how they finished the season. It's just amazing how fast it can end. You know it comes to a quick end.

"But Old Dominion made more plays than us."