SOUTH BEND – Purcell Pavilion is a lovely refurbished basketball arena.

But Notre Dame’s Tory Jackson hopes he’s played his last game there.

The senior guard scored 22 points as the Irish defeated Connecticut 58-50 Wednesday night, possibly securing a berth in the NCAA tournament.

“I just wanted this to be the best night, and the last night. You don’t want to end up in the NIT,” said Jackson, who had a large portion of his family in the stands – including nine of his 13 siblings – on Senior Night.

Notre Dame (20-10, 9-8) has won three Big East games in a row. The win over UConn (17-13, 7-10) comes on the heels of upsets over No. 17 Pittsburgh and No. 19 Georgetown.

With one regular-season game left at Marquette before the Big East tournament, the Irish might have done enough to earn a berth in the NCAAs after missing out last season.

“We are a heck of a strong candidate now,” said Irish coach Mike Brey, whose team posted its fourth straight 20-win season. “We certainly have a very powerful résumé now. We are going to have to keep working, but in three games, we put ourselves in position.”

Notre Dame made the push back into the NCAA picture without star forward Luke Harangody, who has missed the last five games with a bone bruise on his right knee.

Brey said there is a chance Harangody, who is second in the nation in scoring at 24.1 points per game, could play Saturday.

“I think it is slim, but I’m going to keep that door open,” Brey said.

Notre Dame could have used some of Harangody’s scoring touch Wednesday as it struggled offensively in the first half.

The Irish went 8 for 34 from the floor in the first half, and Carleton Scott hit the team’s only first-half three-pointer with 2:45 to play as it went 1 for 11 behind the arc. Notre Dame didn’t attempt a free throw in the first half.

But after trailing 20-17 at the break, Notre Dame’s lowest first-half output in a Big East game, the Irish went on a 20-6 run in the second half to take a 37-26 lead with 10:18 to play.

“It was huge,” said Jackson, who scored 20 of his points after halftime, of the strong second-half start. “We had them on their heels after that.”

While Notre Dame’s offense was off, there was nothing wrong with its defense.

The Irish harassed the Huskies into 15 turnovers, had 10 steals and gave up only eight offensive rebounds.

UConn finished with a 36-35 rebounding edge but had only 18 points in the paint to Notre Dame’s 26.

Kemba Walker scored 15 points to lead the Huskies, who went 17 for 48 from the field.

“Sometimes games are ugly. As long as you come out on top, we’ll take the ugly ones,” said Scott, who had 12 points and 14 rebounds.

tkrausz@jg.net