| ACC Tournament: | #12 NOTRE DAME (12-19, 7-13) |
|---|---|
| ACC TOURNAMENT CENTRAL: | CLICK HERE |
| WHERE: | WASHINGTON D.C. | CAPITAL ONE ARENA |
| TICKETS: | PURCHASE ONLINE |
| LISTEN: | NOTRE DAME RADIO NETWORK | CLICK HERE |
| SOCIAL: | @NDMBB | #GOIRISH |
| 1ST ROUND: | #13 GEORGIA TECH | TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2 PM ET | ACCN |
| 2ND ROUND: | #5 WAKE FOREST | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2:30 PM ET | ESPN |
| QUARTERFINALS: | #4 PITT | THURSDAY, MARCH 14 , 2:30 PM ET | ESPN/2 |
| SEMIFINALS: | #1 NORTH CAROLINA/TBD | FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 7 PM ET | ESPN/2 |
| FINALS: | TBD | SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 8:30 PM ET | ESPN |
NOTRE DAME NOTES | CLEMSON NOTES
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – One last regular season game for the Notre Dame men’s basketball squad and Glenn & Stacey Murphy head coach Mike Brey. One last opportunity to play spoiler to a team near the top of the ACC standings and seeking a double-bye in the conference tournament. One last opportunity to build momentum before bussing to Greensboro to compete in the ACC Tournament. The Fighting Irish (11-19, 3-16) travel to (RV/RV) Clemson (19-7, 13-6) for a Saturday night matchup inside Littlejohn Coliseum. Tip is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
ND VS CLEMSON
A series that didn’t begin until Notre Dame was an ACC member, Notre Dame has found much success against Clemson. The Irish lead the series, 8-2, with a 4-1 mark inside Littlejohn Coliseum. The Irish are on a three-game win streak against the Tigers and last defeated them 76-61 at Clemson on Feb. 12, 2022. Dane Goodwin exploded in that game with 20 points. Cormac Ryan also finished in double figures with 12 points.
A LITTLE IRISH MAGIC LEFT
It was Senior Day for both Notre Dame’s six graduates and Head Coach Mike Brey. And that group of resilient Irish made sure to go out on a high note in their last game inside Purcell Pavilion, knocking off No. 25 Pitt, 88-81, tying their season high in points scored. ND controlled most of the game, jumping out to a 14-point lead at halftime and a lead as large as 20 points in the second half. Pitt made it a little interesting, cutting the lead to five, but the Irish held on as Cormac Ryan put the exclamation point on the game with a slam dunk with 14 seconds left.
And what a moment it was for a senior group that’s had its ups and downs. Ryan and Marcus Hammond co-led the team in scoring with 20 points each, as it marked a season high for the latter. All-in-all, 5 grads finished in double figures and even Robby Carmody provided solid minutes down the stretch.
“We wanted it bad, for a variety of reasons,” Ryan said. “At no point, have we ever given up. I think there was starting to be a little bit of a narrative like, the guys don’t want to win. People are ready for spring break. Nobody wanted it more than the guys in that locker room. To send Coach out with a win means everything to us.”
“Call me crazy, but I feel the same way about this group as I did when I was talking to you guys in June,” said Ryan. “I feel the same exact way. It hasn’t gone our way. I’m telling you, I wouldn’t want to play us in Greensboro.”
THE DIFFERENCE A FEW POSSESSIONS CAN MAKE
How unlucky have the Irish been this season? Just in ACC play alone, they have lost 11 games by single digits. Of those 11, a whopping eight have been by five points or less. Plus, an incredible five has been decided by one possession.
If those eight that were decided by five points or less went a different direction, aka the difference of 2-3 possessions, the Irish could easily be sitting at 11-8 and in the middle of the pack.
Taking a deeper look at six of ND’s last eight losses – excluding both Wake Forest games – the Irish have lost by a combined margin of 21 points over those 6 games, which equates to a 3.5 average margin of defeat.
UNLUCK OF THE IRISH
The Irish battled Duke, No. 7 Virginia and North Carolina to the final minute. All three – Unluck of the Irish.
At Duke, the Irish Trailed by 10 in the 2nd half and rallied to make it a one-point game at 62-63 with 36 seconds left. The comeback was fueled by Dane Goodwin, who scored 17 straight points from 12:35-4:29. Goodwin finished with a season high 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting. ND thought they would have a chance for at least the tie at the end if it wasn’t for the heroics of Duke’s Mark Mitchell, who had one field goal at that point in the game. He then hit a corner three with 12.0 seconds left.
A few days later in Charlottesville, the Irish thought they had a miracle at the buzzer. Down two with three seconds on the clock, Trey Wertz was on the free-throw line with one to shoot. He then shot a ‘perfect miss’ as the ball found its way back to him. Wertz calmly dished to Dane Goodwin who was wide open for the game-winning three. It hit off the rim as ND fell at the buzzer 57-55.
A few days later at home vs North Carolina, it was 57-56 UNC with one minute remaining. 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 the Tar Heels 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. ND ultimately fell 63-59.
THREAT FROM THREE
Notre Dame’s offense may struggle from time to time, but you can’t argue with the team’s three-point shooting ability. The Irish rank 3rd in the ACC in made three-pointers per game and 43rd in the country, converting 8.8 per game. Their 8.8 threes per game would crack the program’s all-time top-10 list- the program record is 9.7 set by the 19-20 squad.
Career Three-Pointers Made
Goodwin – 227
Laszewski – 232
Ryan – 208
Hammond – 248
Trey Wertz – 192
Between those 5 players, a whopping 1,107 career three-pointers made.
MARCH MARCUS
Just something about the month of March. After going thru Senior Day festivities on March 1, Hammond had his best game of the season vs #25 Pitt, co-leading the team in scoring with 20 points. Hammond sunk 4-of-6 from three and drained 8-of-11 overall.
VEN-ALLEN – THE STARTER
Ven gets the award for most-improved Irish player down the final stretch of the season. He’s moved into a starting role and has posted five double-digit scoring performances over the last eight games. He’s averaging 9.0 points and 5.3 rebounds since returning from injury on Feb. 8.
Lubin recently posted a career high 19 points at Wake Forest (2/25), where he went 9-of-13 from the field. He had a near double-double with 8 boards and tied his career high of 3 blocks.
WERTZ WATCHER
Trey Wertz is 8 threes away from 200 in his career and 17 assists away from 500 — If he can get to both, he’d become just the 3rd Irish player to achieve 200 made threes + 500 career assists since 1996. The other two: Chris Thomas and Prentiss Hubb.*Note that not all of Trey’s threes and assists happened at Notre Dame
Trey is finishing the season strong. His last 3 games, all in double figures, tie his season-high stretch. He’s produced at least five assists in three of the last four games – 18 assists total.
RYAN PEAKING
Cormac Ryan got hot in March in 2022 in the NCAA Tournament. He’s starting to peak again down the final stretch this year. He’s recorded 9 double-digit scoring games over the last 11 contests. That’s included a career best 6 straight games in double figures which ended at Duke on Feb. 14.
He just earned his 3rd 20-point game of the season in ND’s upset win over #25 Pitt – 6th of his career. Lastly, he’s averaging 15.3 ppg over the last 3 games.
— ND —