Notre Dame's NCAA tournament hopes were dealt a blow Friday with
news that forward Luke Harangody will miss Sunday's game against
St. John's with a bone bruise to his right knee, and he could be
out longer.
Harangody was injured in the 90-87 loss at Seton Hall on
Thursday. An MRI performed Friday showed there was no ligament or
cartilage damage, Irish coach Mike Brey said. He called it good
news, saying he feared the injury could have been much worse.
"A bone bruise is something you can deal with. There's
nothing torn in there," he said. "It just takes time and it's not
going to be ready Sunday."
Harangody, who is third in the nation in scoring (24.1 points
per game), did not talk with the media Friday. He appeared to walk
without much of a limp when he arrived at the Joyce Center, but
later practiced walking with crutches. The crutches should help
speed the healing by taking pressure off the knee, Brey said.
Brey believes Harangody likely will be a long shot to play at
Louisville on Wednesday but he's hopeful Harangody will be ready
when the Irish (17-8, 6-6 Big East) play No. 25 Pittsburgh on Feb.
24.
Brey is hoping the Irish can rally around the adversity.
"You know what is so interesting in sports is that when key
guys are out, it's funny how key guys step up," he said.
With Harangody out, the Irish are going to need more
production out of Tyrone Nash, who is averaging 7.7 points and 5.4
rebounds.
"He's probably not going to get you 28, but we still need
that low-post presence when he's in there," Brey said.
Brey said he likely would start guard Jonathan Peoples (4.3
points and 2.1 rebounds a game) in Harangody's place. Carleton
Scott (3.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg) and freshmen Jack Cooley, Joey Brooks and
Mike Broghammer likely will see more playing time. Guard Tory
Jackson said the other Irish players are going to have to step up.
"This is a team. It's not just built around one person," he
said. "We have a lot of great players around here. It's college
basketball. Things happen."
The injury also will make it harder for Harangody to become
the Big East's all-time leading scorer. He has scored 1,324 points
in league games. He needs 65 points to pass Troy Bell of Boston
College for second and 82 points to pass Syracuse's Lawrence Moten
as the league's all-time scorer. The Irish have six Big East games
remaining.
He needs to 136 points to pass Austin Carr as Notre Dame's
all-time scorer.
