Tim Abromaitis is a Connecticut native, and the son of former UConn standout, Jim Abromaitis, who had 1084 career points as a Husky.
The 12-2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish come into Saturday’s match up riding a three game winning streak. The Irish are lighting up the scoreboard to the tune of an impressive 84.4 points per game…good for 4th best in the Big East.
Looking at their schedule, they’ve yet to post an impressive win. The best opponent they’ve faced thus far is a surprising Northwestern team, who they lost to, 72-58. Northwestern is 10-2, with a loss to Butler, and an overtime loss to Illinois. Who knew?
The Irish’s other loss is an absolute head scratcher…Loyola Maramount. LMU is just 8-7 on the season. Remember Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble? To be fair to Notre Dame…aside from the LMU loss, they’ve taken care of business. They have won their 12 games by an average margin of 18.5 points. Most recently they knocked off Providence, 93-78.
The Irish are once again being led in scoring by senior Luke Harangody. He’s averaging 23.8 points and 10.1 rebounds. Last year he averaged 23.3 and 11.8…consistent. His shooting percentage is up from .459 to .510, but his three point shooting is down from .368 to .250…but he is taking way more threes this season. He took 38 all of last year, but has already taken 40 thus far…as if he needed another weapon…
Notre Dame’s second leading scorer is Connecticut native Tim Abromaitis, a product of Farmington High School. Tim is the son of former Husky basketball player Jim Abromaitis (1975-80), who is a member of the UConn Basketball All-Century Ballot, UConn’s 1,000-point scoring club, and is currently a UConn Trustee. Tim, a junior, is averaging 16.2 points per game, and shooting a ridiculous .519 (40-77) from behind the arc. He’s a big kid too, 6’8″, 235 lbs. To think how badly UConn needs a three point sharp shooter…
The Irish’s third leading scorer is a new face to the Big East…but you may recognize the surname…Ben Hansbrough. Yep, Tyler’s little brother. Ben’s a 6’3″ guard, who transferred from Mississippi State. Hansbrough is averaging 12.7 ppg, and is also shooting an impressive .483 from deep (28-58). He is averaging 5.3 assists to just 1.6 turnovers.
Senior guard Tory Jackson is fourth in scoring with 8.4 points. Jackson is averaging 5.1 assists to 1.3 turnovers. He is shooting .366 from three, and .400 overall.
Starting to see a theme here? The Irish are unselfish, and don’t turn it over much. Their 18.9 assists per game is second only to Syracuse (21.8), and they lead the lead the league is Assist to Turnover ratio (1.7). The Huskies rank 8th in assists with 15.9, and 7th in A/T Ratio with 1.2.
Notre Dame shoots the ball extremely well, their team shooting percentageof .508 is again only second to SU (.547). They lead the Big East in three point shooting percentage with a .426 mark. The Huskies team shooting percentage of .459 ranks 6th, and their .365 three point shooting percentage ranks 5th.
Where the Huskies clearly have the advantage is on the defensive end. The Huskies are 2nd in the Big East in team fg% defense with .367, while Notre Dame ranks dead last with .436. UConn of course has a huge advantage in the blocked shots department, the Huskies are tops in the Big East with 9.4 per game…Notre Dame is 13th with 3.6. UConn is averaging 7.2 steals per game (10th) to the Irish’s 5.9 (14th).
Notre Dame leads Connecticut in rebounding margin…the Irish are +7.9, the Huskies are +4.4.
Big game, the Huskies need to rebound from Wednesday night’s dissappointing loss, and avoid an 0-2 start in the Big East.
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