SOUTH BEND — Challenged throughout the week to get back to being the blue-collar guy around the basket, Notre Dame All-American power forward Luke Harangody delivered Thursday against Cincinnati.

Able to work more near the rim than step out and shoot jumpers from assorted spots, Harangody had a game- and season-high 37 points to go with 14 rebounds as Notre Dame rolled to its most lopsided Big East win this season, 83-65, at Purcell Pavilion.

“Things were just dropping,” Harangody said. “I kind of got myself a couple easy ones to get myself going. When I get myself going and get a little momentum, that’s where I can kind of carry off it.”

Having struggled with the size and length of the Bearcats the first time around, Harangody had hit only five of his 20 shots from the floor. So efficient that he had registered his school record 62nd double-double for points and rebounds by halftime, Harangody fell into a groove down low and connected on 15-of-25 attempts.

He hit little flip shots near the rim. He hit baby jumpers from the baselines. He dunked. He even dusted off his patented reverse, which leaves opponents wondering exactly how he can move like that.

Harangody was the main reason why Notre Dame scored 38 points in the paint. Cincinnati, which had all the size and the depth, managed 26. In one sequence, Harangody gathered an entry pass in the low post, and was immediately met with a double team. A third defender then arrived. Harangody simply shrugged off the pressure, carved space, tossed up a shot that fell and drew the foul. His scoring run midway through the second half helped bust open a close contest, albeit one in which the Irish never trailed, and establish a 20-point lead.

A good week of practice, which included a day of two-a-days, helped Notre Dame rediscover the toughness that it apparently forgot to pack in losses last week at No. 2 Villanova and Rutgers.

“We’ve been a little soft,” Harangody said.

“We’ve had some intense practices,” said fellow senior tri-captain Tory Jackson. “Guys have been getting after each other. Guys got hurt more in practice than we did in games.”

Tim Abromaitis added 22 points and four assists. Ben Hansbrough, with his older brother, Tyler, in the stands behind the Irish bench, continued to toy with the school’s second career triple-double. He had 12 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.

Notre Dame had 25 assists, its highest in league play, on 29 baskets.

“Sometimes you find out about yourself through adversity,” Hansbrough said. “We’ve got to keep getting tougher and not be satisfied with this win.

“This is the first game that we played for (a full) 40 minutes.”

Irish coach Mike Brey agreed.

“I think that was really thorough; obviously, we needed it,” Brey said. “I thought we set the tone rebounding the basketball right away.”

Out-rebounded by 19 the first time against Cincinnati, Notre Dame never let that stat really matter. The Irish had a +9 advantage (41-32).

“We won the backboard battle,” Harangody said. “They kind of pushed us around down in Cincinnati a couple weeks ago.

“We kind of felt like they thought they could come in here and do it again and we said, “No, this is our place.’”

Able to get going back in the right direction after losing four of its last five, Notre Dame improved to 16-7 overall, 5-5 in the Big East. Cincinnati had won three of its last four prior to Thursday, but slipped to 14-8, 5-5.

“You talk all you want about defense and Luke Harangody,” said Bearcats coach Mick Cronin. “But when you get outrebounded the way we did, miss 34 shots and only get eight rebounds. That's the game. Everything else is semantics.”

Jackson finished with one point, but it was his toughness that helped the home team believe that everything about this night would be different than in the previous two league losses. Jackson was able to dig in and come up with nearly every loose ball. In one sequence late in the first half, the 5-foot-11 Jackson outmuscled Yancy Gates, at 6-9, for a long rebound. He then forced a jump ball by tying up 6-8 Steven Toyloy in the paint and capped it by taking a charge on a runaway Gates down the lane.

“Guys fed off that,” Jackson said. “That right there kind of gave us a spark to go even harder.”