Pitt expects Notre Dame to shoot threes
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Notre Dame forward Tim Abromaitis has shot 49.5 percent from three-point range this season.
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One of the great college basketball careers in the history of the Big East Conference will end in a couple of weeks when Luke Harangody completes a record-setting career for the Fighting Irish. But, when No. 12 Pitt faces Notre Dame tonight at the Joyce Center, Harangody will not be in the lineup.
He will miss his third consecutive game with a bone bruise in his right knee. Harangody, a 6-foot-8, 250-pound senior who had been targeting Pitt as his return game, tried to practice Monday afternoon, but lasted only 15 minutes. Afterward, coach Mike Brey told reporters that he would not play against Pitt.
That means Pitt coach Jamie Dixon and his staff must retool their game plan for the Fighting Irish, who lost their previous two games without Harangody and five of their past seven overall. Dixon said Monday that the Panthers were game-planning as if Harangody would play.
• Game: No. 12 Pitt (21-6, 10-4) vs. Notre Dame (17-10, 6-8), 7 p.m. today, Joyce Center, Notre Dame, Ind.
• TV, radio, Internet: ESPN2, WWSW-FM (94.5), WBGG-AM (970), www.pittsburghpanthers.com.
• Pitt: Coming off a 70-65 victory against Villanova, its third victory against a Top-5 opponent this season. ... Has won five consecutive games after losing four of its previous five. ... Sophomore G Ashton Gibbs (16.4 ppg) has scored 20 or more points 10 times this season. ... Junior G Brad Wanamaker (12.3 ppg) has committed 11 turnovers in the past two games. ... Junior F Gilbert Brown (11.1 ppg) has scored 16 or more points in three of the past six games.
• Notre Dame: Coming off 91-89 overtime loss at Louisville. ... Has lost three games in a row and five of its past seven. ... Led by senior C Luke Harangody (24.1 ppg, 10.0 rpg), junior F Tim Abromaitis (17.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and senior G Ben Hansbrough (12.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg). ... Second in the Big East in 3-point shooting percentage (41 percent). ... 15-3 in home games.
• Hidden stat: Notre Dame has attempted 524 3-pointers; Pitt 411.
Harangody, averaging 24.1 points and 10 rebounds per game, was Notre Dame's only serious offensive threat in the post. The Irish are a perimeter-oriented team without their star center.
First Published February 24, 2010 12:00 am
