Well-rested Notre Dame rolls past Seton Hall

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame hardly needed to sweep away cobwebs on Saturday despite a 15-day layoff.

Instead, the No. 19/21 Irish displayed offensive discipline and efficiency on the way to a 93-74 Big East season-opening victory over Seton Hall in front of 8,523 fans at the Joyce Center.

"Layoffs surely haven't affected us this year," Irish coach Mike Brey said. "I think our offensive efficiency was just off the charts and was the key, and we defended the arc enough where they couldn't hurt us too bad."

Scott Martin scored a season-high 22 points and Jack Cooley collected his 10th double-double of the season as the Irish (13-1, 1-0 Big East) overpowered Seton Hall in the second half for their 11th straight victory.

Martin hit six of seven 3-point tries and Cooley had 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Irish, idle since an 89-67 home win over Niagara on Dec. 1.

Eric Atkins collected 17 points and 10 assists while Jerian Grant added 13 points for the winners.

Seton Hall's Fuquan Edwin, who hit a game-winning basket on Wednesday at DePaul, shared top scoring honors with Aaron Cosby with 21 points. Eugene Teague had 17 as the Pirates (12-3, 1-1) saw a seven-game winning streak snapped.

Notre Dame's 93 points was a season high and its biggest offensive output since a 92-67 win over Chicago State on Nov. 26.

Injury-plagued Seton Hall had only seven scholarship players available for the second straight game. Relatively short preparation time compared to Notre Dame also was a factor.

"We didn't defend very well and they executed very well," Pirates coach Kevin Willard said. "We stuck with a zone. We would have done some different things if we had time to prepare, but we played Wednesday night ... so we had to stick with what we tried."

The Irish started to pull away late in the first half and opened the first minutes of the second with a 10-3 run. Martin had a pair of 3-pointers as Notre Dame's lead reached 54-39. He had his fifth at the 16:57 mark as the Irish lead hit 17 points at 58-41.

Martin got his sixth at 14:28 for a 66-43 Notre Dame lead. Seton Hall never got closer than 15 points the rest of the way, largely against Irish reserves.

The game was competitive early. Notre Dame jumped to an early 8-3 lead, but Edwin hit seven straight points over a span of 1:32 for a 10-8 Pirates lead at the 14:03 mark. The match then settled into a nip-and-tuck pattern with three lead changes and three ties.

But Seton Hall also struggled from the field with 8-of-22 shooting (36.4 percent) and four turnovers though 13 minutes while Notre Dame found a rhythm and opened a 25-20 lead.

The Irish lead hovered in the three- to five-point range until Cameron Biedscheid hit a 3-pointer and Cooley added five points in an 8-2 run that opened a 35-25 advantage.

The double-digit lead was short-lived as Seton Hall hit six straight -- including a Edwin steal and layup -- that trimmed the Pirates deficit to 35-31 with 2 minutes left.

Notre Dame, however, had three of the last four baskets of the half for a 44-36 halftime lead. Atkins had two buckets to close the half with a game-high 14 points.

"Our defensive energy wasn't great in the first half," Brey said. "I think going to zone helped us a little bit because we scored out of that, they missed some shots and we ran and we got a cushion."

For the game, the Irish shot 35 of 62 (56.5 percent) from the field -- including 12 of 18 on 3 pointers. Seton Hall closed at 29 of 64 (45.3 percent).

The challenge stiffens for Notre Dame with three games in an eight-day span starting Monday at No. 14 Cincinnati. The Irish are back home next Saturday against Connecticut.

"We're going to have to be better defensively on Monday to win on the road," Brey said.

Seton Hall hosts No. 4 Louisville next Wednesday.

Notes: Notre Dame leads the all-time series 19-8 and has 10 wins in the last 11 meetings. ... Seton Hall's recent seven-game winning streak included last Wednesday's 73-72 victory at DePaul on Edwin's score with just 7 seconds showing. That conference season-opening win was Seton Hall's first since 2004. ... Notre Dame ranked seventh in the nation in field-goal shooting entering Saturday with a 61.8 percentage from the floor (63 of 102). The Irish were 75 percent (18 of 24) on Dec. 21 against Niagara. ... Cooley, an Irish senior forward, moved into a temporary tie for the national lead with Sienna's O.D. Anosike with his 10th double-double of the season. He's also scored in double figures in nine straight games. ... The Pirates last beat the Fighting Irish on Feb. 11, 2010, a 90-87 decision in Newark, N.J.