Villanova Hands Notre Dame A Big Loss

Yesterday’s bog discussed the importance of the Fighting Irish to shut down ‘Nova’s Scottie Reynolds. Well, Reynolds was a big thorn for the Fighting Irish. Scottie Reynolds scored 23 points, Dante Cunningham added 18 and eight rebounds to lead the Wildcats (24-6, 12-5) and Shane Clark added 13 points.  Reynolds made all four 3-pointers he took in the second half, finishing 6-of-7. With the Fighting Irish up by four points, the Wildcats took control with runs of 10-2 and 16-1 in the second half to win 77-60 on Monday night and keep alive their hopes of getting a double bye in the first round of the Big East tournament.  The Wildcats held Notre Dame to 36 percent shooting in the second half, holding the Irish without a field goal for nearly seven minutes. Talk about big defense!

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Ryan Ayers led the Irish with 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 7-of-10 from 3-point range. Luke Harangody added 18 points and seven rebounds. But the Fighting Irish couldn’t pull a victory. The loss ensures the Irish (16-13, 7-10) will finish with a losing league record and will likely need to win the Big East tournament to earn a third straight NCAA tournament berth.

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