Notre Dame handles Hoyas at home

Luke Harangody shot 58% against the Hoyas (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)

Notre Dame secured its NCAA-leading 44th straight home victory on Monday as it held off Georgetown, 73-67.

6'8" forward Luke Harangody led both teams with 31 points and 11 rebounds, while senior Kyle McAlarney's five three-pointers provided the Fighting Irish with the outside shooting needed to keep the interior wide open for Harangody to abuse the undersized Hoya front line.

Greg Monroe finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 3 steals, and was able to use his quickness to blow by Notre Dame's defenders, but was plagued by missed free throws and a lack of consistent support from his teammates. Point Guard Chris Wright was second on the team in scoring with 13 points, but needed 14 shots (and five missed three-pointers) to get there. In total for the game, Monroe's teammates shot a brickly 37% from the field.

To be fair to the Hoyas, who just faced the #2 and #3 teams in the country in consecutive games, Notre Dame shot an anomalous 94% from the free throw line, nearly a 27% boost from their season totaling forays to the charity stripe. This is on top of playing in front of what has to be considered the most influential home crowd in the country, suggesting if these teams met again on a neutral court, under average playing conditions, that the game would be closer than six points.

But a scenario such as the one previously mentioned, relies heaviliy on the Hoyas fixing two major dents in their armor. The first dent is that the Hoyas are at their best when playing with a lead. Their three losses so far have come against teams who have been able to keep pace with Georgetown's customary fast start to each game. The second dent comes in the form of interior defense. This is the second game where the opposing team's high scorer has been a strong low-post scorer. Neither Harangody nor Pittburgh's DeJuan Blair stand taller than 6'8", yet they were both capable of pushing Hoya defenders out of the way. The sooner John Thompson III figures out what to do against strong post players, there will be a bulky glass ceiling separating Georgetown from the elite teams in the Big East.

Next Game: The Hoyas take on Providence on 1/10.