BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: NOTRE DAME AT LOUISVILLE

January 12, 2009


To nobody's surprise, Big Monday on ESPN features another big conference match-up as Notre Dame travels to Freedom Hall to face Louisville for a 7 PM tip.

Notre Dame extended their home win streak to 45 games over the weekend with a win over Seton Hall. The high-scoring Irish are averaging 79.5 points a game in their 3-1 conference start. They are in the midst of a brutal stretch of games with five of their next seven on the road beginning tonight at Louisville. A road trip to Syracuse is ahead this weekend and then after their home-win streak is challenged by UConn and Miami, it is back on the road to battle Pitt, Cincinnati and a non-conference match-up with UCLA.

Louisville has started conference play with a pair of road wins against South Florida and Villanova. The win against the Wildcats over the weekend was a thrilling victory as 'Nova missed several golden opportunities in the final seconds to win the game. Louisville had led throughout, but needed a driving basket by Terrence Williams with seven seconds left to regain the lead and then held on as the buzzer sounded for a 61-60 win.

Here are some pregame stories and previews from the web this morning:

Irish Need a Better Start Against Cards (South Bend Tribune)
Cards Dive Right back into Long Week (Louisville Courier-Journal)
Irish Face Tough Stretch (Journal Gazette)
Irish Men Hope Maturity Helps Through Tough Stretch (WNDU)
Tory Jackson Has Starring Role as ND's Jump-Starter (chicago Tribune)
Pitino Speaks and More Irish Notes (Chicago Tribune)
Kuric Earning his Cardinal Wings (Courier-Press)


Notre Dame remained on the heels of the league leaders with their 88-79 win over Seton Hall on Saturday. As usual, Luke Harangody pointed the way for the Irish with 30 points and 16 rebounds, which came on the heels of his Big Monday performance last week in a win over Georgetown of 31 points and 11 rebounds.

After a very up and down pre-conference slate, Louisville has opened thei Big East with back-to-back wins with Earl Clark being the catalyst. The 6-foot-9 junior has averaged 18 points and 9.5 rebounds in early conference action.

Last season these teams played a wild affair in Freedom Hall, won by Louisville 90-85. Louisville watched a 20+ point lead dwindle as Luke Harangody was raining down three's as part of his 'gody-like 40 point explosion. Departed senior David padgett led the Cards with 26 points...they have definitely missed him this season.

To win on the road in the Big East you need to rebound and defend. Notre Dame did not do those things against St. John's and the Redstorm made them pay in a 71-65 upset. Have the Irish learned their lesson? Defending the versatile and athletic Cards will be another test of the Irish mettle and show if this is a different team that scored a lot of points in the regular season, only to be bounced early in the NCAA's the last two seasons.

Louisville is a 6 1/2 point home favorite tonight. The Cards will have a very tough time slowing Harangody inside, but look for coach Pitino to sell out stopping the rest of the Irish and come up with the win.


NBE Blogger Prediction:

Louisville 73
Notre Dame 65