The above is obviously a bold overstatement.  Michael Beasley has played a grand total of eight collegiate basketball games, all of them with most of his teammates just as young as him and still getting used to getting the big guy the ball in the best positions for him to score.  Luke Harangody has an entire season under his belt and is playing with two very capable point guards and a front court with solid passing skills.  Regardless, it was great to see  Harangody as the Big Man in the Garden last night, leading the Irish to victory.

It's clearly a statement to the talent of Beasley that he pulled in 19 points and 13 boards and we're trumpeting our successes, but hey, those were both below his season averages.  Using a 2-3 zone that was pretty active most of the time, the Irish constantly had multiple defenders around Beasley, using the very effective "Tree in the Wind" inside defense tactic so as not to get in foul trouble.  The Wildcats couldn't shoot Notre Dame out of the zone, going 3-for-20 on the night.

Michael Beasley: This is your life for the next four months.

The Irish weren't much better from beyond the arc, going 5-for-19 and only hitting 1-of-11 in the first half, but a quality effort on the glass made up for it in the first half.  Harangody was a one man clean-up crew, dragging in seven offensive boards, while Zach Hillesland added five (nine total rebounds) in only 22 minutes of play.  When you consider how awful Tory Jackson distributed most of the game (seven turnovers) and how long it took Kyle McAlarney to find his shooting touch, the Irish's nearly wire-to-wire victory (it was back and forth to start and there was a brief K-State lead in the second half) is even more impressive.

McAlarney shook off some early shooting troubles and hit a variety of shots down the stretch, including a nice little floater coming in from the short corner, a pair of threes and all of his free throws.  In a game where Jackson struggled and Jonathan Peoples did little or nothing to benefit the team (if there's ever another offensive set that consists of Peoples dribbling for twenty second then firing up a contested three with no one else touching the ball, I'd hope Mike Brey addresses that), McAlarney coming through down the stretch was huge.  I've said it, along with everyone who follows college hoops: without quality guard play, you might as well pack it up for the season.  Hopefully Jackson's regression was a one-night aberration instead of a season-long trend, as most of the time he just tried to get too cute with his passes.

Tory's night consisted of forced shots, offensive fouls and turnovers. K-Mac helped his backcourt mate out.

On a less enthusiastic note from last night, Brey again went to the stall-iso sets with a lead far too early.  Having Tory dribble at the top of the key while everyone else stands around then drive to try and create something is not an offense the Irish should ever be running.  Just because you're trying to run time off the clock doesn't mean you can't make cuts, get everyone involved and try to spring an open lay-up.  I'm not sure Brey understands this concept, and as much as I want to fully support him, these consistent end-of-game blunders make it very difficult to.  If his teams could execute down the stretch, the Irish would have made the NCAA tournament the last five years, defeated Winthrop last season in the first round and be undefeated right now with close wins over Baylor and Georgia Tech.

Also, it's a good thing Luke Zeller knocked down a couple of threes, as he contributed little else of note in his ten minutes of play: one rebound, no assists, no blocks, no steals, no fouls, no turnovers.  It's like he didn't even participate in the game beyond standing around at the arc waiting for someone to get him the ball, which seems like a pretty accurate description, all things considered.  I think he still has a place in the game for limited minutes as a match-up problem as long as he's not out on the floor with both Harangody and Hillesland on the bench, because there's no way we can rebound against quality teams with Zeller leading the efforts.  

Luke Zeller's dream.

All-in-all, a great effort from the Irish in containing Beasley and securing our first, and only, quality non-conference win of the season.  Bill Walker started popping off in the second half, and if he gets healthy and the outside shooters can hit some threes to alleviate the triple teams on Beasley, this team could be tough.  As it is, the Irish played a game where they shot well below average from three and had their point guard lose the ball seven times and still hold an almost-comfortable lead in the final minutes.  A nice win as we head into the bakery for the rest of December for some delicious cupcakes.  

For all the Irish basketball fans out there, your new second favorite team is the Kansas State Wildcats, as we need them to look very good to buff up our resume.  Bookmark this and pay attention when they hit the teeth of Big XII play.