Pat Connaughton is on fire. A night after hitting 6-of-8 three-pointers en-route to a season-high 21 points in Wednesday's win over Rutgers, Connaughton canned 6-of-10 treys to score a game-high 21 points in Thursday's Big East Tournament quarterfinal 73-65 win over Marquette. Connaughton missed his first two long range shots and then made 6-of-8 the rest of the way.

Marquette made three of its first four shots to jump out to a 7-0 lead two minutes into the game. Jerian Grant hit a layup coming out of an Irish timeout to get his team on the scoreboard.

The Irish continued to struggle to find their shots in the early going, shooting just 2-of-16 (12%) from the field overall and 0-for-6 from three-point range to fall behind 17-4. They missed 11 consecutive shots after Tom Knight's layup at the 16:25 mark.

Grant finally ended a six-minute drought with a layup after the second media timeout. Pat Connaughton, who was coming off a season-high 21 points in Wednesday's win over Rutgers, then connected on a three-pointer to make it an eight-point game.

For a second straight night Grant did not shoot well, but still managed to finish in double figures. Grant was 3-for-10 for 11 points Wednesday against the Scarlet Knights. He was 4-for-15 with 17 points against the Golden Eagles.

Not this time. After playing one of the most thrilling 25 minutes in recent history in last month's five-overtime game in South Bend, the build-up was big going into Saturday's rematch between Notre Dame and Louisville in the Derby City. Last time, Notre Dame rallied at the end of regulation to send the game to OT, but this time the Cardinals prevented the rally to prevail 73-57 in the regular season finale for both teams.

Last time, Notre Dame's top two scorers, Jack Cooley and Jerian Grant, had big games before eventually fouling out, but this time was different. Cooley and Grant, who averaged 12.8 and 14.6 points, respectively, where all but absent in the loss, which prevented the Fighting Irish (23-8, 11-7 Big East) from securing a double-bye in next week's Big East Tournament.

Grant, the hero at the end of regulation of the 5 OT game with 12 points in the final minute, missed his first four shots, all in the first half. He finished with just eight points after his first bucket came with 9:10 remaining in the game. Grant was 2 for 12 from the field, including 1 for 7 from three-point range. He hit 3 of 4 free throws.

Cooley, who also averaged 10.7 rebounds entering the contest, was held to seven points and seven boards in the final regular season game of his career. Cooley was 3 for 9 from the field. Cooley had 11 points and 11 rebounds a month ago today in the win over the Cardinals (26-5, 14-4).

With one of the nation's top players sitting on the bench due to illness one of the nation's top home court advantages was too much to overcome as the Notre Dame basketball team fell 72-64 at Marquette Saturday afternoon in Milwaukee.

Jack Cooley, Notre Dame's leading scorer and rebounder at 14.4 points and 11.1 boards entering the game, was shutout for the first time this season and limited to just one rebound due to illness. Cooley averaged 30.4 minutes, but played just 15 in the loss. He received IV fluids in the school infirmary earlier in the week.

Cooley's limited role helped Marquette (21-7, 12-5 Big East) jump out to an 18-6 lead to start the game. The big man missed the only shot he attempted in the first half.

The Golden Eagles own the nation's second-longest winning streak at 25 games. Including the win over No. 20 Notre Dame (22-7, 10-6), six of the wins have come against ranked opponents. Marquette has also won 17 consecutive home games over Big East foes, while Notre Dame falls to 4-4 on the road this season. The win also clinched a double bye for Marquette in the first round of the Big East Tournament.

While Cooley was struggling due to illness, Marquette unsung big man Chris Otule nearly had a career day with 16 points on 8-of-8 shooting from the field. The 6'11 fifth-year senior was three points from his career-high. He was 6-for-6 with 12 points in the first half. Jamil Wilson led the Eagles with 19 points.

The Irish trailed by 14 points at halftime, while shooting just 10-for 27 (37%) from the floor. The Fighting Irish starting five of Cooley, Tom Knight, Eric Atkins, Pat Connaughton and Jerian Grant combined for 22 of those points. Marquette shot a blistering 64% (18-for-28) in the game's first 20 minutes of play. Connaughton finished the day scoreless as well, going 0-for-4 from the floor and missing all three 3-point tries.

The Irish managed to make a game of it midway through the second half after seemingly treading water most of the afternoon at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. A 5-0 spurt chopped their deficit down to 10 with 9:22 remaining after a Tom Knight put back. They clawed to a single-digit deficit at 56-47 two minutes later after Grant hit 1-of-2 free throws. It was ND's first single digit deficit since 9:30 to play in the first half.

Notre Dame has now trailed by at least 15 points in each of its last four road games. They are 2-2 in those contests.

Grant led the Irish with 21 points. He was 6-for-11 from the floor and 3-for-7 from three-point range. Eric Atkins scored 16, while Zach Auguste added 15 points off the bench.

Notre Dame plays its final home game Tuesday night against St. John's. Senior Day tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET.

A night that started sloppy and sluggish ended on a high note as the Notre Dame basketball team beat Pittsburgh 51-42 at the Peterson Events Center in the Steel City. The Panthers' 200th all-time game in their home arena was just their 22nd loss in the building and marked Notre Dame's fifth consecutive win over Pitt.

The Irish (21-6, 9-5 Big East) scored the first point of the game, but Pittsburgh (20-7, 8-6) then used an 11-0 run to go up 11-1 in the game's opening minutes. Notre Dame suffered dreadful early shooting, missing on its first 12 field goal attempts before Tom Knight finally hits the team's first shot of the night with 10:49 on the first half clock.

Pitt would use an 8-0 run though to go up 19-3 before the Fighting Irish started to show signs of life. Pat Connaughton connected on three-pointers on consecutive trips down the floor to key a 16-3 run to close the half and pull the Irish to a 21-19 halftime deficit. The pair of important treys were the only ones ND hit in the first half and would be the only shots Connaughton hit all night.

A technical foul called on Irish head coach Mike Brey preceded the run and seemed to be the spark the Irish needed. It was just the second time he has been whistled for a technical this season.

Notre Dame was an abysmal 1-for-19 from the field with three points over the first 13 minutes of the first half, but went 5-for-8 from the floor with 16 points over the last seven minutes to close the half. The 19 points in the first 20 minutes of the game is still the second-worst first half in Brey's 13 seasons as Irish head coach. Their 17 points against UConn on March 2, 2010 remains the mark for first half futility.