Notre Dame came into the game as the heavy favorite; it wasn't a title fight, it wasn't even a fair one. It was billed to be Mike Tyson vs Marvis Frazier; thirty seconds of entertainment and then the champ would put the underdog down.
St.John's didn't quite see it that way.
The Red storm shockingly jumped ahead of Notre Dame behind he athleticism of St.John's, dancing around their opponent and keeping the Irish to just 28% shooting from the field.
Knowing they were getting bullied in their own building, Notre Dame decided to counter the athleticism with strength and rebounding, and wouldn't you know, it worked.
The Irish shot a whopping 68% in the second half, erasing the deficit and holding the Red Storm to just 14 points for the last 20 minutes.
Jerian Grant and Eric Atkins took over to lead their team on a 66-40 rout of the smaller Red Storm.
"Our guards ran the whole building tonight," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "They probably took tickets, sold popcorn. When our guards are playing like that, I just sit down and shut up and let them do whatever they want. They were fabulous to watch."
You'd have to imagine watching your lead go up in flames is disappointing, but things got carried away as the game was coming to a close.
Notre Dame's Cameron Biedscheid and Sir'Dominic Pointer of the Red Storm got in a fight with 1:46 left in the game. Both players were given technicals and ejected and will sit out their next games.
Brey and St. John's coach Steve Lavin both said they didn't get a good look at what happened, which is understandable since the cameras even caught it after it started. Lavin said his assistants told him the two started talking while JaKarr Sampson of St. John's was shooting free throws seconds earlier. Lavin said Pointer told him "he just lost his cool."
Still, it's nice to see the Irish have a little fight in them after all.
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