Irish Player Notes: Long Beach State

Our post-game recap of each Irish player's performance vs. the athletic Long Beach State 49ers.

IrishEyes on-the-spot, individual player game notes for tonight‘s matchup vs. Long Beach State, an 82-62 Irish victory.

Luke Harangody

• Misses open deep wing 3 from Tory Jackson
• Works for layup crossing lane on good post feed from Tyrone Nash
• Breakaway bucket courtesy of Jackson, nice board by Nash to start break
• Larry Anderson blows by him for layup. Luke then loses ball to Anderson for 1 on 2 break and bucket (18-16 ND)
• Nice post move using backboard as screen for reverse layup
• Took charge (bad call) on next play vs. T.J. Robinson.
• Strong rebound position draws over the back.
• Missed layup after a pretty move underneath
• Missed another in-close that he usually hits
• Sticks with it and hits beautiful reverse layup. Time for the low-post torture chamber all day. No more J’s for Harangody
• Good effort to free himself for last shot/aw foul at the end of the half but didn’t get the call.

2nd Half:

• Flops to start half (no call)
• Fought for tough bucket and foul (no call)…Scores and ALL MAN bucket after asking for the ball in the low block . There had been a lot of chippie contact over the last two possession. This was back to sophomore year Harangody…just wants it more underneath.
• Another great effort for defensive board, tipping to himself
• Another defensive rebound in traffic but turns it over trying to lead break (that 3 straight turnovers attempting to run the break (including Monday vs. St. Francis)
• Spinning 3-footer when defender tried to draw charge. Nice footwork
• Bad cross court pass stolen (had Tim Abromaitis open underneath)
• Pushed off for easy layup underneath to extend lead back to 10
• Terrible D on pick and roll vs. Robinson (layup)
• General Observation: Best defensive rebounder at the school since Laphonso Ellis (1992)
• Leaves pretty reverse layup short on give-and-go from Nash
• Strong finish for bucket and foul on feed from Nash underneath
• Fought for offensive board and a patient finish (shot fake) underneath
• Another reverse layup (right hand side). Has dominated on the low block today using the backboard to shield defender. The aggressive, low-post oriented Harangody was back tonight at the Purcell Pavilion.

Tory Jackson

• Assist to Jonathan Peoples on a wing 3
• Assist to Luke on the break
• Drains corner 3 on feed from Harangody
• Patient move on break but misses two-footer (caught between the old bank/straight away conundrum in mid-air)
• Nice driving layup after shot fake
• An “all will” drive by Jackson for hoop
• Missed pull-up free throw J after a good move in half court set
• Fighting Anderson for post position (very aggressive vs. the 49ers best player)
• Fights big men for offensive board (and earns 2 FT) after Harangody misses just inside the three-point line (or as Rick Pitino calls it: the worst shot in basketball
• Misses open wing 3 on nice drive and dish from Ben Hansbrough

2nd Half:

• Nice move to get to hole but misses layup short on the front rim
• Good cut for open bucket (across the lane) from Abromaitis
• Goes hard to basket to draw foul on next possession (1-2 from line)
• Loses ball (jump ball) against high trap
• Steals fast break opportunity from LBS (leads to Harangody bucket on possession)
• Steal-score to Peoples, who nearly missed the layup (no backboard)
• Sweet pass (underhand) to Luke for the layup and 77-60 lead

Ben Hansbrough

• Drive and kick for open corner 3 but Jackson misses short
• Draws 49ers athlete Larry Anderson against him on defense
• Fights Anderson for board and draws jump ball
• Missed deep 3
• Nice calm lob to Harangody on 2-1 break after beating press
• Hits Abromaitis on drive and kick for a left wing 3
• Works for short curl jumper on the baseline (pass from Abro)
• Called for (baloney) charge with Irish down 21-20
• Grabs defensive board in traffic with Abro and Harangody helping underneath
• Huge hustling, leaping offensive board and subsequent quick pass to Nash, who wasn’t looking, or he would have had an easy layup. Hansbrough went down very hard on his back in the process (Officials timeout)
• Pretty drive and dish to Luke for uncontested layup. LBS (stinks) on D, by the way. 36-35 ND.

2nd Half:

• Worked over his defender for bucket in lane. Very nice drive and score (knowing where he was on the floor, too).
• Great, great drive and dish to Nash (had to work to get to hole) and Nash finished with the flush
• Drills 3 on fast break after bad pass from Nash (Hansbrough was headed toward the basket)
• Scrappiness underneath gets the ball back for ND
• Hansbrough answers Anderson trash talk with driving layup in his grill (met at the basket), then keeps a board alive for Luke on the other end. Harangody turns it over on the break but BH steals it back under 49ers hoop (all of this in a 20 second span)
• Another drive, pull-up and great look to Carleton Scott for layup (54-41 Irish).
Turned ankle at 11:41 (55-46)
• Anderson goes right by him at 9:53 (ankle?). Or maybe Anderson is just an old school scorer. I’m going with a little of both.
• General Observation: Hansbrough is a solid positional defensive rebounder as well
• Noticeably gimpy the rest of the game
• Willed a drive (using off hand to slap defender’s hand away, for another layup down the right side.
• Abromaitis enters for BH at 2:05 to end his night

Tyrone Nash

• Hits set out of bounds plus the foul on nice feed from Peoples
• Travels on post move - but it was an aggressive move
• Misses 3-footer after a post-move
• Loses board with Hansbrough to defense (same team situation)
• Starts break to Jackson with defensive board that leads to Harangody bucket
• Battles for board in traffic
• Battles again and Jackson corrals his tipped defensive board
• Good aggressive D after post-feed
• Big defensive board vs. Robinson and Anderson (Luke there too) on ensuing play

2nd Half:

• Getting outplayed by Robinson (who had 11 first half boards and another here)
• Finished an open dunk on great feed from Hansbrough (Nash does have a high basketball IQ)
• Nice help D for steal but a bad outlet pass (Hansbrough drains a 3 anyway)
• Nice cut on out of bounds to draw foul. Hits 1-2 free throws
• Pretty pass to Luke (just missed reverse) then causes turnover with hands on defense. Possession leads to needless foul on sloppy screen (first foul of the contest for Nash though)
• Next possession (busy man) hits Luke with a bounce pass in the paint for bucket and foul

Jonathan Peoples

• Matches up vs. Anderson defensively to start the game
• Drills a wing 3 from Jackson (6-4 ND)
• Fights for offensive board and saves possession
• General Observation: Will have solid year if he continues with this level of aggressiveness and plays within himself
• Turnover against 1-3-1
• Turnover out of bounds under own basket. So much for playing within himself
• Open 3 rims out on pass from Nash
• Big rebound near end of half and draws a foul (bonus). Hits 1 of 2.

2nd Half:

• Somehow got driving 8-footer to go then fights for defensive board on next play
• Solid perimeter D vs. Anderson in a one-on-one leads to Nash steal
• Terrible entry pass should have been turnover. Follows with nice feed underneath out of bounds to Nash for 2 Fts
• Saves turnover (cross court pass) with impressive leaping catch vs. Anderson
• Avoided all-time embarrassment when uncontested no-backboard layup somehow stayed in the cup. (He originally braced for the dunk).
• Down the pike drive for basket under 2:00

Tim Abromaitis

• Entered at 14:31 for Nash. Immediate weak foul on break after steal of in-bounds pass leads to Long Beach State bucket and foul
• No match for Anderson defensively. Someone switch….
• Huge aggressive board for bucket in traffic after Luke missed jumper. Wow.
• Attempted to help weak side defensively (not quite high enough, if you know what I mean). Good effort though and Anderson missed the shot to boot
• Solid transition defense to help Jackson seal the lane (Credit Irish coach Mike Brey for actually calling it out prior to Abro’s switch).
• Patiently works for a moving (fading from the wing) 3-pointer from Harangody off the double team

2nd Half:

• Checks in at17:00
• Haven’t noticed him and its 12:30
• Aggressive drive after out of bounds but running bank shot rattles out
• Good hard board after missing the first one, then hits Jackson for a layup across the lane (which drew a smile from both)
• Drains open garbage time 3-pointer (calmly, I might add) from Peoples

Carleton Scott

• Enters for Peoples at 14:26
• Called for reach-in guarding Robinson on the drive
• Sloppy post entry leads to turnover

2nd Half:

• Enters at 15:36 timeout.
• Beneficiary of great feed from Hansbrough for layup
• Attempts lightly contested corner 3 on next possession (miss) and Brey immediately gets Harangody off the bench to remove Scott…I guess Carleton hasn’t earned the green light just yet…

Joey Brooks, Mike Broghammer, Jack Cooley

Entered under 1:00.

Note: A full game recap will appear tomorrow morning prior to the ND/UConn game preview and prediction.