Notre Dame might not be staying in the Big East, but the Irish bought themselves another day in the Big East Tournament, rallying for a 73-65 victory over Marquette last night at the Garden.
“We were men the whole night. The game didn’t start well for us, but we fought back. … We made such big plays at key times,’’ said Notre Dame coach Mike Brey. “We’re thrilled to be playing in our fourth straight semifinal. Nobody else has done that. We wonder what it’ll be like to play on Saturday, because our program has never played there.’’
It was a fitting end to a day of Big East quarterfinals. Down by 13 points early in the first half, the Irish stormed back and won their way into tonight’s semifinals, facing Louisville at 9:00 after Georgetown plays Syracuse at 7.
“Look at the matchups today, they blow away any other league,’’ said Brey. “Coming out for the semifinals, it’s electric. I know it’s the last time and we’re trying to get our money’s worth out of this thing.’’
Notre Dame (25-8) never has reached the Big East final, and with the Irish heading for the ACC — along with two of the other three semifinalists, marking the end of the Big East as we know it — this will be their last chance.
Pat Connaughton scored a game-high 18 points, while point guard Jerian Grant — Harvey’s son — had 17 and six assists.
“Coach challenged us. He asked us if we were scared, and we took that personally,’’ said Grant. “The guys came out and said either you play now or you go home, and we weren’t ready to go home.’’
Regular-season co-champion Marquette (23-8) jumped out to a 17-4 lead, Todd Mayo’s layup sending Brey scurrying for a timeout. Whatever he said worked, because the Irish closed the half on a 25-8 spurt. Their 2-3 zone forced Marquette into 11 first-half turnovers, and Notre Dame took a four-point lead into the break.
It was tied at 50 with six minutes left before Garrick Sherman’s putback put Notre Dame ahead. After Marquette’s Junior Cadougan threw the ball away, Connaughton drilled a right-wing 3-pointer to put the Irish ahead 59-52 with 3 1/2 minutes left.
The Irish outlasted Louisville 104-101 in the game of the year, a five-overtime classic on Feb. 9. But the Cardinals mauled them 73-57 in the rematch to close out the regular season.