March 3, 2009


Notre Dame has been working at digging out of the hole that a seven-game losing streak had caused. There seemed to be some progress of rebuilding the season from the ruins of a failed top 10 team, but the Irish NCAA Hopes takes Another Hit (Post-Tribune), and this one could be fatal, as it appears the Irish are Likely Headed to the NIT After Bad Loss to 'Nova (South Bend Tribune) on the Joyce Center court Monday night.

Villanova and ND played to a 32-all first half tie as a mountain of Irish turnovers prevented ND from taking a lead at the break.

The second-half was a different story as No. 11 Villanova Pounds Notre Dame (Chicago Tribune), outscoring the Irish 45-28 in the second half on the way for a 77-60 win.

'Nova junior Scottie Reynolds scored 23 points and senior Dante Cunningham added 18 for the Wildcats who shot 45% from the field and committed just five turnovers in the entire game.

The Wildcats, coming off a weekend loss at home to Georgetown, earned their 12th conference win and keeps the pressure on the Big East 'top four' in the race for a double-bye for the 2009 Big East Tournament. The Wildcats will close the regular season with a home game against Providence later this week. Villanova Responds to Beat Notre Dame (Philadelphia Daily News) and looks to regain their momentum into the postseason.