Since Louisville joined the Big East, the Cardinals have never been blown out as badly as happened tonight. The Irish started their seven-game losing streak with an overtime loss in Louisville. It ended with Notre Dame seemingly taking out a month of frustration in one game. Notre Dame hacked Louisville into little pieces for a 90-57 win.
During the Notre Dame losing streak, there simply was not enough offense after Luke Harangody. Teams were concentrating on taking away Kyle McAlarney and making a reasonable gamble that no other Irish player could score. This time, both Ryan Ayers and Tory Jackson found their shot.
As Harangody, Jackson and Ayers kept hitting shots, Louisville was forced to start covering them. That finally freed McAlarney, who had been 2-for-6 for the first 25 minutes. Once McAlarney started getting some breathing room, he hit 5-for-7 the rest of the way to finish with 21 points.
The one negative for Notre Dame, was that those four players scored 86 of Notre Dame's 90 points. The Irish just have no reliable help on their bench.
Louisville never shot well. On top of that, the Cards lacked energy and hustle. They were killed on the boards. Notre Dame outrebounded them 46-25. It was an embarrassing effort and their worst game of the season.
Terrence Williams had his second straight poor performance, but this time no one else picked up the slack. As if to compound the misery for Louisville fans, they had to watch this game on ESPN with ex-Notre Dame coach and huge homer Digger Phelps providing color analysis.
