Notre Dame

Chris Thomas knows what Notre Dame needs to be able to do defensively to beat Kentucky Sunday. "Everybody has to play within 15 feet of the basket except on (Gerald) Fitch and be ready to guard and block out," said Thomas, a senior point guard at Notre Dame. Then Thomas, who had 23 points Tuesday in Notre Dame's 74-63 win at Virginia Tech, admitted stopping Kentucky was easier said than done because forwards Erik Daniels and Chuck Hayes are legitimate interior scoring threats.

OMAHA, Neb. - Whenever he had a chance, Kentucky's Patrick Patterson always tried to watch Luke Harangody of Notre Dame play this season. "I have seen a bunch of games with him. I saw when the played Louisville. I saw all the Big East games when they were on TV," said Patterson. "I am just fascinated by him. " Wednesday he'll be more than fascinated. He'll likely be paired against Harangody, the Big East Player of the Year last season, often when the Cats take on Notre Dame in a third round National Invitation Tournament game.

Kentucky coach John Calipari insisted he wanted to continue playing in Freedom Hall and that he wanted to play a marquee opponent that fans would want to see. He got his wish, too, as UK will face Notre. Dame on Dec. 8 at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN in the second game of the SEC/Big East Invitational at Freedom Hall. The first game will pair Seton Hall against Arkansas, which is coached by Kentucky native John Pelphrey. There was a time when a Kentucky-Notre Dame game in Freedom Hall was an annual event.

Notre Dame coach Mike Brey thinks it will “be fun night and great atmosphere” when the Irish host Kentucky on Thursday night in the Big East/SEC Challenge. “For our players, it's the game they talked about all summer,” said Brey. “It will be a Big East atmosphere. The atmosphere of Syracuse last year. We have not played in that atmosphere at home this year. I will have to talk to our guys not to get out of character in the crazy atmosphere. We have got too excited before and I will have to address how to handle that, but these guys have played in some great home atmospheres.” One advantage Notre Dame could have over UK's freshman-dominated roster is experience.

LOUISVILLE — When Kentucky lost to Connecticut in the Maui Invitational, coach John Calipari thought it was the “slap in the face” his team needed. When Kentucky lost Saturday to North Carolina, though, the coach said it “ripped my heart out” because he knew it was a game his team could have won. However, the UK coach feels much better about his team because it has learned from both losses — and proved that when it beat Notre Dane 72-58 here Wednesday night in the Big East/SEC Invitational in the blue-tinted Freedom Hall.

LEXINGTON - John Calipari says that freshman Archie Goodwin has solidified himself as Kentucky's point guard, but he will play sophomore Ryan Harrow at Notre Dame tonight to gauge where he is after missing the last five games due to illness and personal issues. “He's done good in practice, but to say that he's ready for that (against Notre Dame), I don't know yet. We'll see. I may throw him in that Notre Dame game just to see where he is. We're still learning. It's November. But we'll see,” Calipari said.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - By the time Jodie Meeks got going for Kentucky, Notre Dame was all but packing its bags for New York. The Irish were up by 15 points before Meeks made his second basket, on just his fourth shot with 12:18 left in the game, and the Irish survived a 17-5 run late by the Wildcats to end a 10-game losing streak to Kentucky with a 77-67 victory Wednesday night to advance to the National Invitation Tournament semifinals....

Prior to West Jessamine's game against Notre Dame on Nov. 3, the last time West Jessamine had known defeat was Oct. 6, nearly a month before. Since that 1-0 loss in the regular-season finale against Tates Creek, the Lady Colts had rattled off six straight wins in do-or-die situations. Last Thursday, the Lady Colts' (19-7-2) run for a state championship came to an end in the cold rain at Dunbar High School in the semifinals of the girls' soccer state tournament. West lost to Notre Dame, 4-1. The Lady Colts' lone goal came in the 53rd minute.

SOUTH BEND - Advocate sports editor Larry Vaught was interviewed on South Bend's NewsTalk 960 WSBT prior to the University of Kentucky's NIT quarterfinal round game at Notre Dame Wednesday. Click here to hear the audio from that interview.

LEXINGTON - Boyle County sixth-grader CeCe Witten won her first match of the state tennis tournament this morning, beating Villa Madonna's Julia Volpenheim 6-0, 6-2. Witten plays the winner of the match between Whitney Butcher of Ashland Blazer and Notre Dame's Sarah Roebker at 1:30 p.m. today. If Witten wins, she'll play at 9 a.m. Friday.