Notre Dame coach Mike Brey hopes an unexpected change in travel plans caused by the snow will help the Fighting Irish turn around their road fortunes.
The Irish left campus for Seton Hall just before 1 p.m. Tuesday, more than 30 hours ahead of schedule to try to beat the snow that already was piling up in northern Indiana and was heading east to New Jersey.
``Sometimes when you get away you have more focus because you have no distraction of class and things around here,'' Brey said. ``Sometimes you can get focused pretty good when you're away and it's just your group.''
Notre Dame (17-7, 6-5 Big East) needs to do something different on the road if it's going to make a push for an NCAA tournament berth. The Irish have been one of the worst road teams in the Big East during the past two seasons, going 5-13 overall away from Purcell Pavilion and 3-11 in league games. That's a .214 winning percentage, well below the league average of the visiting team winning a third of the games.
The only league teams with fewer wins during that span are St. John's, which has one, and Rutgers and DePaul, which are winless on the road over the past two seasons. On their last road game, another trip to New Jersey, the Irish lost 74-73 to Rutgers, which previously had been winless in the Big East.
Because of that loss, Brey tried to boost the intensity in practice last week, including calling an 8 a.m. practice to try to get his team's attention. The Irish, who responded with a pair of wins over Cincinnati and South Florida, say they think the practices helped them get grittier.
``It did a good job of getting us back to being dirty. A lot of guys that scout us think we're the 'nice guys' - the guys that can score but don't want to play defense,'' guard Tory Jackson said.
The Irish are fifth in the league at scoring at 74.2 points a game and 12th in scoring defense, giving up an average of 73.9 points a game.
The common theme in Notre Dame's three road wins the past two seasons - at DePaul and at Providence last season and at South Florida this season - was a rebounding advantage in each game.
``I think you've heard me day from Day 1, if we can keep the athletic ability out of the lane and off of the backboard enough we can compete with anyone in the league. When we don't, anybody in the league can beat us,'' Brey said.
Guard Ben Hansbrough said the Irish realized after the loss at Rutgers that they have to play tougher, and they showed it in two home wins. Now they need to do it on the road, starting with the game Thursday night at Seton Hall (12-9, 3-7).
``We've got to go in there like it's a do-or-die game,'' Hansbrough said. ``We can be .500 again in the Big East or we can be 7-5. A two-game edge gives you a little lead there.''
The Irish haven't won three straight league games since the final three regular-season games of the 2007-08 season. With about half the teams within a game or two of each other in the middle of the pack, every game is important.
``We're right in the thick of things right now,'' Jackson said. ``To get rolling would be huge for us.''
