Notre Dame fared slightly better against Connecticut in the teams' second meeting of the season.

The Irish were still blown out, falling 76-51 to the No. 1 Huskies (30-0, 16-0 Big East), but at least this time they stayed with UConn to start the game.

The game was tied at 6 about 4 ½ minutes in, and Notre Dame was within 16-15 midway through the first half.

But things fell apart quickly, as Connecticut went on a 10-0 run after the Notre Dame pulled within on and the blowout was on.

"Last game, we weren't in it at all. So I guess, if we were in it 10 minutes tonight that's improvement," Irish coach Muffet McGraw said. "There are definitely more highlights for us in this game."

Notre Dame was held to 31.1 percent shooting, and its five starters went 6 of 34 from the floor. No Irish starter scored in double figures compared to all five Huskies starters hitting double digits.

"They forced us to dribble more than we wanted to. We are more of a passing team than a dribbling team," McGraw said of the struggles on offense. "They forced us to put the ball on the floor. We didn't do a good job using our screens."

Notre Dame often had to rush shots at the end of a shot clock as the Irish consistently let the clock wind down on offense.

Taking possessions deep into the shot clock was not part of Notre Dame's plan, according to McGraw.

"Our plan actually was to run," McGraw said. "Our plan was to run in transition, to run our stuff and try and get down and get a good look. If we didn't have a good look then we would run our offense.

"In the second half, for some unknown reason, we decided to hold the ball. It was really frustrating."

Notre Dame will be the fifith seed in the Big East tournament, which begins Friday in Hartford, Conn.

The Irish will have one bye, and they play the winner of Friday's Louisville-Pittsburgh game at noon Saturday.