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Final Minute Haunts Irish Again in 63-59 Loss to UNC

Irish have now lost eight ACC games by five points or less this season

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SOUTH BEND. – For the third straight game, the Notre Dame men’s basketball squad (10-18, 2-15) had an opportunity to capture victory in the final minute but came up on the short end, falling 63-59 to the visiting North Carolina Tar Heels (17-10, 9-8). Down one with 11 seconds on the clock, the Irish were a second away from a UNC shot-clock violation and big defensive stand, but the Tar Heels nipped the rim and killed the shot-clock, forcing the Irish to foul. 

North Carolina’s height advantage and ability to rebound to garner more shots was the difference maker down the stretch. The Tar Heels collected nine offensive rebounds in the final four minutes of the game. They collected 23 total in the game, which resulted in 23 second-chance points. 

The Fighting Irish have now lost eight ACC games by five points or less this season. In addition, excluding the Wake Forest game, six of the team’s last seven losses have come by a combined margin of 21 – that’s an average of 3.5 points per loss. 

Three Irish finished in double figures: Cormac Ryan (14 points), Trey Wertz (13 points) and JJ Starling (10 points). Nate Laszewski led in rebounding with nine to go with his six points. 

Notre Dame outshot North Carolina, 39.7 percent to 33.3 percent. The Tar Heels only shot 18.5 percent in the first half. UNC finished with 52 rebounds to ND’s 33. 

How It Happened

Pete Nance scored nine of North Carolina’s first 11 points as the Tar Heels took a slow 15-10 lead at the 8:05 media. Then the Notre Dame offense started to churn. Hammond, Goodwin and Wertz hit back-to-back-to-back three-pointers which gave the Irish their first lead of the game at 19-15. 

The Irish rode that momentum into a 17-4 scoring run which they rode into the half, hitting six of their last 11 from the field. Hammond in particular ignited the run, scoring all nine of his first-half points in that stretch. ND shot 10-of-32 (31.3 percent) in the half. 

With the score 27-19 at the half, Notre Dame held North Carolina to its lowest first-half score total of the year. The Tar Heels shot 5-of-27 from the field (18.5 percent), which was their lowest shooting percentage in a half since 1980. Their five field goals were the fewest in a half in over a decade. 

Unfortunately, Notre Dame’s lead was short-lived as North Carolina made seven of its first 12 shots in the second half to produce a 15-4 scoring run. Notre Dame needed an offensive spark and they got one with Starling, who scored six of the team’s next eight points to reclaim the lead at 39-36. 

Eight minutes and five lead changes later, it was 55-54 UNC with two minutes remaining. During that stretch, no team led by more than three points.

The Tar Heels crashed the boards to get on the board. One possession, in particular, saw them miss three shots and garner three offensive rebounds before finally converting the layup. 

Down on the offensive end, Goodwin quickly answered, prompting a Coach Brey timeout, now just down 56-57 with a minute to go. UNC’s Davis took his defender 1-on-1 and converted a tough jumper just beyond the free-throw line, extending the lead to 59-56. 

The Irish put the ball in Starling’s hands and the freshman beat his defender with a driving layup down the right side of the paint – now 59-58 UNC with 30.3 seconds left.

Next, the offensive boards helped UNC again as they got two shots off but no rim. Notre Dame was a second away from a huge defensive stand and on UNC’s third shot of the possession they hit the front end of the rim as the rebound was knocked out-of-bounds. It stayed with UNC with now just nine seconds on the clock, shot-clock off, which meant ND had to foul. 

The Tar Heels made both free throws and then fouled Notre Dame so they couldn’t shoot the three. Starling made the first and intentionally missed the second, but the Irish couldn’t come up with the board and ultimately fell 63-59. 

Up Next

With three games remaining in the regular season, Notre Dame hits the road to challenge Wake Forest in Winston-Salem on Saturday, Feb. 25. Tip is set for 7 p.m. ET on ACC Network. 

— ND –