March 8, 2009
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Irish junior Luke Harangody (Schererville, Ind.), who became the first player in BIG EAST history to lead the league in both scoring and rebounding in consecutive seasons, has been honored as a first team all-BIG EAST selection for the second straight year. He averaged 25.2 points and 12.8 rebounds en route to winning the scoring and rebounding titles.
Pittsburgh’s Sam Young joined Harangody as the only repeat first team selections from a year ago. Also named to the first team were Hasheem Thabeet (Connecticut), Terrence Williams (Louisville), Jerel McNeal (Marquette) and DeJuan Blair (Pittsburgh).
Named to the second team were A.J. Price (Connecticut), Wesley Matthews (Marquette), Jonny Flynn (Syracuse), Dante Cunningham (Villanova) and Da’Sean Butler (West Virginia). The third team was comprised of Dewonta Vaughn (Cincinnati), Jeff Adrien (Connecticut), Earl Clark (Louisville), Levance Fields (Pittsburgh) and Jeremy Hazell (Seton Hall).
The BIG EAST Honorable Mention team consisted of Weyinmi Efejuku (Providence), Dominique Jones (USF), Scottie Reynolds (Villanova) and Alex Ruoff (West Virginia).
Six players — Yancy Gates (Cincinnati), Kemba Walker (Connecticut), Greg Monroe (Georgetown), Samardo Samuels (Louisville), Mike Rosario (Rutgers) and Devin Ebanks (West Virginia — were named to the league’s all-rookie squad.
The 6-8, 255-pound forward became just the third Irish player to earn first team recognition on multiple occasions. Pat Garrity, who earned BIG EAST Player of the Year accolades in 1997, earned first team accolades in ’97 and 1998, while Troy Murphy, a two-time BIG EAST player-of-the-year honoree, garnered first-team honors in 2000 and 2001.
Harangody was selected by a vote of the league’s 16 head coaches who were not permitted to vote for their own players. His selection marks the ninth straight year that Notre Dame has placed an individual on one of the all-conference teams and the fourth consecutive season that an Irish player has been selected to first-team accolades. In addition, Notre Dame players have earned first-team honors on 12 occasions.
Both Harangody and Murphy are the only two players in the history of the BIG EAST Conference to lead the league in scoring in the same season. Harangody averaged 23.3 points and 11.3 rebounds during his sophomore campaign, while Murphy led the conference in scoring and rebounding during his sophomore season in 1999-2000 when he netted 21.7 points and 10.3 boards. Murphy also led the league in scoring during his junior season in 2000-01as he averaged 22.8 points per game. Garrity led the league in scoring in 1997-98 when he netted 24.1 points.
In addition to Harangody, Murphy and Garrity, Notre Dame’s other first-team all-BIG EAST honorees include Russell Carter (2007), Colin Falls (2007), Chris Quinn (2006), Matt Carroll (2003) and Ryan Humphrey (2002).
In 18 conference outings, Harangody scored in double figures in all 18 of those contests, registered 15 double-doubles, scored 20-plus points in all but three games and topped the 30-plus point mark on four occasions. He registered a double-double in the first 12 conference outings and scored 20-plus points in the first 10 BIG EAST contests.
Harangody became the second Irish player to top the 1,000-point mark in BIG EAST games. In 52 conference regular-season contests, he has scored 1,036 points for a 19.9 scoring average. Only three players in the history of the league, Connecticut’s Ray Allen and Richard Hamilton and Notre Dame’s Pat Garrity, have scored more than 1,000 points in three seasons.
The Conference also announced its weekly award winners and Harangody garnered honorable mention honors for the fifth time this season after averaging 24.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in the Irish’s loss to Villanova and win over St. John’s. Notre Dame earned the No. 10 seed in the upcoming 2009 BIG EAST Championship that begins on Tuesday (March 10) at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The Irish finished the regular season with a 17-13 record and 8-10 mark in conference play and will take on No. 15 seed Rutgers (11-20, 2-16.).