By TOM NOIE South Bend Tribune Staff Writer WSBT-TV

7:21 p.m. EST, February 14, 2012
Binkies, blankets and bottles may have been of some solace the last
time it was such a struggle for the Notre Dame men's basketball team.

Winners of six consecutive Big East games since that long night up and
down the New Jersey Turnpike 30 days ago, the Irish insist it's
something a little better effort and a whole lot of maturity can fix
the second time around Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPNU) against Rutgers
(12-13, 4-8 Big East).

The first matchup in Piscataway wasn't much of one. Notre Dame (17-8,
9-3) fell into an early hole, trailed by as many as nine points in
both halves and played catch-up the final 32:04 in a 65-58 loss.

It wasn't really that close. Coach Mike Brey could see it in his
team's collective body language during the early television timeouts --
slumped shoulders, distant stares, indifference in attitude and no
fire.

The Irish basically were in a hole the minute they stepped off the
bus. Instead of scrambling out as the night unfolded, they dug a
deeper one.

"We lost being really young and we moped a little bit," Brey said. "We
had no poise. No poise.