Feb. 5, 2008

Big East player of the week Luke Harangody leads his conference in scoring and has Notre Dame in the Top 25 for the first time this season.

If he wants his team to stay in the poll, he'll likely have to get the Irish past Brian Laing and surging Seton Hall.

Harangody and the No. 22 Irish (16-4, 6-2) look for their fourth straight Big East win Wednesday when they face Laing's Pirates in a battle of the top two scorers in the Big East.

After averaging 11.2 points and 6.2 rebounds as a freshman, the 6-foot-8 Harangody has taken his game to another level as a sophomore. He's scoring a conference-best 20.4 points per game, and his 10.0-rebound average is second in the Big East.

Harangody has been even better in league play, scoring 24.4 points and grabbing 11.6 boards per contest. In the Irish's last three wins, Harangody is averaging 28.3 points and 12.7 rebounds, including a 29-point, 14-rebound effort in Saturday's 89-80 win over DePaul.

"You can throw four guys at him and he will break their will," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "He has done it to guys in practice, to guys on the other team. He sets a great tone."

Laing is right on Harangody's heels in the Big East scoring race. The senior guard is averaging 19.5 points and has Seton Hall (15-7, 5-4) in the hunt for an NCAA tournament berth following a dismal end to 2006-07, when the Pirates lost 10 of their final 12 games.

In their lone head-to-head meeting, Laing had 20 points and nine rebounds, but Harangody recorded 12 points and five boards in his first career start to lead the Irish to an 88-76 home win Jan. 14, 2007.

Both teams rely on options other than their top scorers.

The Irish are third in the Big East and in the top 25 in the nation with 79.8 points per game. Kyle McAlarney averages 15.2 points and is shooting 44.5 percent from 3-point range. He has two 30-point games in his last six and has hit at least five 3-pointers eight times this season.

At 6-9, Rob Kurz provides support inside for Harangody with 13.0 points and 8.1 rebounds a game.

Seton Hall has leaned on Laing all season, and he's on pace to average more points than any Pirates player since Terry Dehere - the school's all-time leading scorer - averaged 19.8 in 1990-91.

Sophomore guard Eugene Harvey has been a great second option to Laing. He's providing 15.7 points and 4.7 assists per contest.

Laing and Harvey combined to shoot 12-of-24 from the field Saturday, but the rest of the Pirates were 7-of-29 in a 73-61 loss at then-No. 6 Georgetown. The defeat snapped a five-game winning streak.

"I thought offensively we played horrible," Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzales said. "When you only shoot 19 percent (4-of-21) from the 3 on the road you are not going to beat them."

Gonzales' up-tempo attack has the Pirates averaging 64.6 shots per game - among the top 10 in the country - and their 80.9-point average leads the Big East.

One key difference between Seton Hall and Notre Dame has been their success rate from behind the arc. Notre Dame leads the conference by converting 40.4 percent from 3-point range, while Seton Hall is near the bottom of the Big East at 33.6 percent.

Another weakness for the Pirates is rebounding. They're allowing opponents to grab 40.0 per game, among the worst in the country, and were outrebounded 49-21 by Georgetown. Notre Dame averages 42.7, putting it among the nation's leaders.

Notre Dame has won four straight in the series - two of the victories coming at Seton Hall - and seven of the last eight.