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Notre Dame aims for much-needed win vs. Villanova

Mar 2, 2009 - 6:03 PM No. 16 Villanova (23-6) at Notre Dame (16-12) 7:00 p.m. EST

SOUTH BEND, Indiana (Ticker) -- With the Big East regular season winding down, Notre Dame is running out of time to improve its NCAA Tournament chances.

The Fighting Irish will have another audition against a quality opponent before the conference tournament Monday when they host No. 16 Villanova.

After losing a hard-fought contest at Connecticut, 72-65, on Saturday, Notre Dame (16-12, 7-9 Big East) will be in search of a marquee win to put on its tournament resume.

It failed to do so against the Huskies, in part because of another subpar performance from Luke Harangody. The conference player of the year candidate followed his 7-for-25 outing in a win over Rutgers by scoring 14 points, nearly 10 below his season average, on 7-of-18 from the field against UConn.

While the Fighting Irish would be well-served to win a couple games in the Big East tournament, a win over the Wildcats would give them a chance to finish .500 in the country's toughest conference.

Villanova (23-6, 11-5) is coming off a 56-54 loss to Georgetown on Saturday, but still has a chance to get a pair of byes in the conference tournament.

Dante Cunningham had 13 points and nine rebounds while Scottie Reynolds struggled to 12 points on just 2-of-10 shooting to drop Villanova one game behind Marquette in the standings.