South Florida-Notre Dame Preview: Irish Look to Take Bulls by the Horn

South Florida Bulls (8-15, 3-8) at Notre Dame Fighting Irish (13-10, 4-7)

Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009 – 2:00 p.m. EST

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, fresh off their stunning annihilation of the Louisville Cardinals, play host Sunday afternoon to the South Florida Bulls.

Prior to Monday’s contest versus the No. 5 ranked Cardinals, Notre Dame had been in a free fall. The Irish had dropped their last seven contests, six of which were league games, and the most recent loss was a 26-point drubbing at the hands of UCLA.

With their season sinking, and having already lost an overtime affair to Louisville at Freedom Hall, the Irish resurrected their tournament hopes.

Luke Harangody, the reigning Big East Player of the Year, is a walking double-double. He averages 24.6 ppg and 12.8 rpg.

The big man also shoots 79.7 percent from the free throw line and, though he’s only taken 19 of them, he buries three-pointers at a 36.8 percent clip.

What makes Notre Dame’s offense so dangerous is that the Irish have the outside shooters to match Harangody’s inside production.

Kyle McAlarney—16 ppg, 3.6 apg—converts threes at an astonishing 45.2 percent. Not far behind McAlarney is senior Ryan Ayers—10.6 ppg—at 42.7 percent from behind the arc.

In addition to McAlarney and Ayers, junior point guard Tory Jackson—11 ppg, 4.9 rpg, and 5.7 apg—shoots 35.6 percent while Luke Zeller converts at 35.2 percent.

The Bulls, currently thirteenth in the Big East, have had plenty of time to dwell on their 15-point home loss to Providence this past Tuesday.

Prior to that, the Bulls got their biggest win of the season when they handed Marquette its first conference loss of the year in a thrilling one-point victory at the Sun Dome.

South Florida has lost four of its last five, but a win over the Irish would be another step in the right direction.

Though they only have three conference wins—two against lowly DePaul and the other against Marquette—the Bulls haven’t been the automatic push over that they have in the past.

They lost single-digit games to Syracuse, West Virginia and Villanova, and their 14-point home loss to Louisville was more competitive than the score indicates.

Their offense revolves around scoring whiz Dominique Jones, who averages 18.6 ppg to go along with 5.1 rpg and 3.9 apg. At 6’-4”, Jones leads the team in rebounding.

Senior guard, Jesus Verdejo, is second on the team at 13.7 ppg.

Augustus Gilchrist, a blossoming 6’10” freshman, is a future star for the Bulls. The frosh contributes only 9.8 ppg but had a high of 22 this season. Although, Gilchrist needs to improve upon his 4.7 rpg.

For South Florida to pull an upset, Jones and Verdejo will have to light up the scoreboard and Gilchrist, along with Alex Rivas Sanchez and Eladio Espinosa, will have to contain Harangody inside.

The Irish and the Bulls will meet for the only time in the regular season.

Current line: Notre Dame -13.5

Notre Dame is only 5-11 overall against the spread with a mark of 4-6 as the favorite.

South Florida is 8-9 overall against the spread with a record of 5-7 as an underdog.

With Notre Dame riding high after their victory over Louisville, this contest appears to be a classic trap game. But given that Notre Dame is in a dog fight to earn an NCAA berth, the Irish won’t have a letdown and they’ll get the job done.

Steve’s pick: Notre Dame -13.5