Notre Dame’s Mike Brey had little sympathy for Georgetown with leading-scorer Austin Freeman battling a stomach virus.

The Irish coach was without his top scorer and rebounder Luke Harangody for the fourth game in a row but notched his second-straight win over a top-15 opponent as Notre Dame upended No. 11 Georgetown, 78-64.

“It was even because we didn’t have [Harangody]. It’s a push,” Brey said. “But there’s no question that Freeman was not himself today. . I’m a firm believer in survival of the fittest in this very cruel league.”

Freeman did not start for the first time since his freshman season and scored a season-low five points in 23 minutes for the Hoyas (19-8, 9-7 Big East). With Harangody nursing a right knee bruise on the bench, junior forward Carleton Scott got the start and scored a career-high 17 points for the Irish (19-10, 8-8), who beat No. 12 Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

“If I were to say today was a disappointment, that would be an understatement,” Head Coach John Thompson III said.

Notre Dame quickly built a seven-point edge with Freeman, who received an IV before the contest, on the bench to start the game, and the Irish held a lead for the rest first half. Behind balanced scoring from the starting five, which included freshman Hollis Thompson in place of Freeman, the Hoyas went into halftime down 31-27.

The Hoyas had overcome a six-point halftime deficit at Louisville on Tuesday, but transfer guard Ben Hansbrough exploded out of the locker room. Held to two points in the first half, Hansbrough hit four consecutive shots to extend the Irish lead to 41-30 at the 17:20 mark.

“Hansbrough’s plays at the start of the second half were in many ways deflating because we came out excited and ready to play,” Thompson said. “You can’t play from behind always. That’s not necessarily the script we want to keep following. You have to do a better job early.”

The 6-foot-3 Hansbrough took advantage of mismatches when the Hoyas’ big men were guarding him because of defensive switches. Matched up against center Greg Monroe, Hansbrough drove by him for two straight layups. When he had forward Julian Vaughn defending him, Hansbrough pulled up for two three-pointers over Vaughn. The brother of the former North Carolina star scored 19 in the second half.

“We rode Ben for a while because he was in the zone,” Brey said.

Down by 12 with just over 10 minutes to play, the Hoyas went on a run behind a three-pointer from sophomore Jason Clark, a short jumper by Vaughn and a three from Thompson.

Thompson, who finished with 12 points, cut the deficit to 50-46 with 8:37 to play and brought the crowd to life for the first time all afternoon.

But Notre Dame, which shot 71.4 percent from the field in the second half, had an answer. The Irish had five straight three-point possessions to push their lead to 16 with four minutes to play.

“We made big shots to hold them off,” Brey said.

After the two teams traded turnovers, senior point guard Tory Jackson hit a three-pointer following an offensive rebound that opened the flood gates. Scott hit his third three of the day on the next possession, Hansbrough hit a triple and followed that with an old-fashion three-point play, and then forward Tim Abromaitis hit all three free throws after drawing a foul from beyond the arc as the shot clock expired.

“They moved the ball well as a team, and they have pretty good shooters,” Clark said. “When you lose one man, he’s able to knock down the three.”

Not only did Notre Dame shoot better than Georgetown, the undersized Irish held a 29-20 rebounding advantage including a 10-1 edge on the offensive glass in the first half.

onroe led the Hoyas with 15 points, but the biggest man on the floor took just seven shots and grabbed four rebounds. Clark (12 points) and junior guard Chris Wright (10 points) each hit double figures, doing most of their damage from beyond the arc.

Now sitting at seventh in the Big East, the Hoyas have a quick turnaround before a Big Monday game at No. 8 West Virginia.

Tipoff in Morgantown is set for 7 p.m.

*Further Coverage: [Defensive Lapses Doom Georgetown](https://www.thehoya.com/sports/defensive-lapses-doom-hoyas/)*

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