March 22, 2008
Low, Washington State clamp down on Irish
DENVER (Ticker) -- Luke Harangody and No. 5 seed Notre Dame found out first hand what Winthrop and the rest of the country already know: Washington State can play defense.
Derrick Low scored 18 points and the fourth-seeded Cougars clamped down on the Big East Player of the Year en route to a 61-41 victory over the Irish in the second round of the NCAA Tournament East Regional on Saturday.
The Cougars (26-8), who are headed to their first regional semifinal since 1941, will face either top-seeded North Carolina or Arkansas in Charlotte on Thursday.
Kyle Weaver added 15 points for Washington State, which punched its ticket to the "Sweet 16" with another dominating defensive performance.
The Cougars, who are third in the nation in scoring defense, held Winthrop to 11 second-half points in a 71-40 win in the first round on Thursday. In this one, they outdid themselves by holding the Fighting Irish (25-8) to just 24.5 percent (13-of-53) from the floor and their lowest scoring output in the NCAAs in school history.
Notre Dame's previous low in the NCAA Tournament came in a 51-50 loss to Brigham Young in 1981.
Harangody, who averaged 20.7 points coming in, scored just 10 points on 3-of-17 from the floor. He did manage to grab a career-high 22 rebounds, due in part to the Irish's offensive futility.
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