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Harangody, Jackson have made Irish much tougher
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Now it's become a role reversal largely due to the addition of a pair of unheralded juniors in Luke Harangody and Tory Jackson.
"Now guys come up to me and tell me how tough we are," Brey said. "It started with Harangody and Jackson and changed when they showed up."
"We always had skilled guys who knew how to play," he added. "But people would get to us. Those two guys upped our toughness."
Just ask Georgetown coach John Thompson III, whose team came up short in a 73-67 loss to Notre Dame on Monday night that extended the nation's longest home winning streak to 44.
"They're tough," he said. "Very tough. There's no question about it."
More importantly for Notre Dame, though, the win avoided a 1-2 start in Big East play.
Just three days ago, Notre Dame went down to St. John's and lost to a Red Storm team hit hard by injuries and one most believed will be battling with South Florida for the cellar dwellars in the Big East.
It was one of those "bad" losses that would keep some coaches up all night. Many, especially in a loaded Big East conference this season, would be frantic about the psyche of his players, but Brey wasn't concerned the least bit.
"These guys do it better than anyone in the league," Brey said about his core group's mental approach. "I know we'll be able to handle the highs and lows and we won't have psychological flameouts."
"We just got beat," he added. "St. John's played well."
Monday could have been a short night for Harangody after he picked up his second foul with 12:01 left in the first half against the No. 9 Hoyas. But instead of keeping him on the bench, Brey had the confidence to throw his star big man and National Player of the Year candidate on the court.
He responded by scoring 15 points and making certain that Georgetown went in the locker room at the break without any momentum.
Brey admitted he rolled the dice but felt as though Harangody has become intelligent and mature enough to handle it.
The Hoyas cut the deficit to 44-38 less than five minutes into the second half when Harangody committed his fourth foul. He returned to the court with 11:45 remaining, wound up logging 33 total minutes and was on the floor when the final buzzer sounded despite battling foul trouble virtually the entire game.
"We knew this was a must-win," Harangody said. "We knew we couldn't go to 1-2 in the league."
Not if the Irish want to go toe-to-toe with the traditional Big East powers and battle for a league crown.
Once again, Harangody put on his hat and walked out of the building to his 2002 white Chevy Tahoe with a victory at the Joyce Center. The last time Brey drove home without a win was late in the 2005-06 campaign back when Steve Novak was still playing at Marquette.
It's been two calendar years of wins for the Irish fans on their home court.
"We're spoiled," Brey admitted.
Brey was smart in how he scheduled. The carousel at the Joyce Center featured IFPF, The Citadel, Winston Salem State and Elon a couple years ago. Last season, USC Upstate and Furman were victims in South Bend.
Fatten up on the cupcakes.
"It gave us confidence to win in the league," Brey said. "Now they really think they're never going to lose here."
It's not as if the Joyce Center is Allen Fieldhouse, Cameron Indoor Stadium or Rupp Arena. It's not a very intimidating building. Sure, it got a little raucous on Monday night, but it's that mentality that Harangody, Jackson and senior guard Kyle McAlarney have brought to a program badly in need of some mental and physical fortitude which has enabled South Bend to lay claim as one of the most difficult places to win these days.
It's not the building. It's those who play in it.
If the Irish knock off Seton Hall on Saturday, it would set up a chance to win a record 20 consecutive Big East home games when UConn comes to town Jan. 24.
Since Harangody and Jackson arrived a little more than two years ago, they have yet to lose a home game. The season before they got to South Bend, the Irish lost five games at the Joyce Center.
"When me and Tory came in, we talked about needing to change the culture," Harangody said. "Making us tougher."
"People used to beat us up," Jackson added.
People also used to call them soft.
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