ND-Connecticut Post-Game Notes

Even before he landed, Tory Jackson thought about former Villanova guard Allan Ray. His eye had just been the poking toy of Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet and all Jackson felt was pain.
And he remembered Ray being poked in his eye -- almost to where the eye came out of the socket -- against Pittsburgh two years ago.
"My teammates joked about it when we came back at halftime," Jackson said. "I kind of closed my eye. When it happened I had flashbacks of that. I was like 'Damn, I don't look like him.'
"So I grabbed my face, checked my face and it kept my hopes high but that was a lot of pain to go through."
When he fell under the basket, he immediately grabbed his face. He composed himself and was escorted to the lockers by trainers.
Remarkably, Jackson returned and played all 20 minutes in the second half and had 11 assists.
But how did it happen? Jackson himself thought there should have been a foul called even though there wasn't.
"I was going for the pass and he just like pulled me down," Jackson said. "When he pulled me down he grabbed me. I thought the referee called foul, too. I really thought he called foul. But my eye was hurtin.
"His fingers got in my eye and scratched the bottom of my eye. At the same time it was a punch, too, so my eye swelled up and everything. I couldn't see for a while."
Notre Dame coach Mike Brey thought about taking him out and even had Zach Hillesland at the scorer's table to replace him, but Jackson begged off and ended up helping the Irish to their 30th straight home win.
Jackson made sure to reiterate that Thabeet did stop by to make sure Jackson was all right after the play. When it happened, though, Brey said he also recalled Ray.

"I did think of that when I ran to him," Brey said. "I said to Skip 'is there blood?' I thought he got hit and cut. He said no, there is no blood, he just got scratched in the eye.
"When I saw him and he came from the doctors and they said 'OK, he can go,' I'm looking at him like 'I don't see how he can play.' "

Big Crowd, Happy Brey
On Thursday, Brey had practically used a recruiting pitch to have fans come out for Saturday's game against Connecticut. It worked, as 10,505 showed up and players and coaches both mentioned how important the crowd was Saturday.
"The crowd was great tonight," said Kyle McAlarney, who scored a career-high 32 points. "That was such a fun game to play in."
Brey agreed as -- in a rare Joyce Center moment -- the Irish crowd was loud almost the entire game.
"You've got to come see these guys," Brey said. "They were good, probably got a good nap today and got out. But come on, this is a heck of a group to watch."

This and that
McAlarney's 32-point night was the first 30-point game for a Notre Dame player since Russell Carter scored 32 against St. John's on Jan. 23, 2007. Coincidentally, it was the game after the team found out McAlarney was suspended for the remainder of the 2006-07 season by the school. ... Both Rob Kurz and Luke Harangody finished with identical double-doubles of 14 points and 10 rebounds. ... Connecticut missed all eight of its three-point shots in the first half.

-By Michael Rothstein of The Journal Gazette