Record Setting Night In Store for the Irish

Tomorrow night's contest with Northern Illinois will be one for the records as the Irish try to make it 25 consecutive victories at the JACC. After their resume building win over Kansas State last Tuesday, the Irish start the first of a six-game homestand- their longest of the season. ND will roll on Saturday, as NIU is very young and doesn't really have a consistent scorer. In just eight games this season, six different players have led the Huskies in scoring.

As for the Irish, the team has been hitting lights out since their losses to Baylor and Georgia Tech. Notre Dame has shot 119-244 (.488) from the field and 35-80 (.438) from three-point range. Leading the way so far has been Kyle McAlarney and Luke Harangody. McAlarney was brilliant in New York, scoring the final nine points for Notre Dame in their win over Kansas State. The junior guard is averaging 21.8 points in his past four outings, and that's probably why the Irish have rebounded from a 2-2start and reeled off four consecutive victories. The new streamlined Harangody single-handidly took control of the game against the Wildcats by scoring scoring 19 points and pulling down 14 rebounds in front of a national audience.

Harangody leads the Fighting Irish in both scoring (17.5 ppg.) and rebounding (8.9 rpg.). McAlarney is chipping in 14.6 points-per-game, followed by 12.9 points from senior forward Rob Kurz.

Notre Dame 94
NIU 73

Keys to the Game
1) Pressure the young Huskies. NIU has sent out a starting line-up of three freshmen guards over the past two games that includes Darion Anderson, Jeremy Landers and Michael Patton. If the Irish can rattle them early, this contest should be over by half.

2) Run at will! Notre Dame needs to push for an uptempo game. NIU currently has a streak of three consecutive halves of holding their opponents under 30 points. This will be the only streak broken on Saturday.

Notes
~ Notre Dame holds a 2-1 advantage over the Huskies in their all-time series.

~ Northern Illinois is 2-3 all time against Big East opponents. Their last win over a Big East opponent was a 77-68 triumph over DePaul at the NIU Convocation Center on November 28, 2005.

~ Irish teams are 52-17 (.754) all-time versus teams that now comprise the Mid-American Conference.