SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s basketball team (10-12, 2-9) dominated from start to finish and got a much-needed victory over the visiting Louisville Cardinals on Saturday afternoon inside Purcell Pavilion. Freshman JJ Starling showed up and showed out with a game high 22 points, helping lift the Irish to the 76-62 victory.
Starling had 16 points at the half and ultimately finished one shy of his season high of 23. The New York native was 9-of-16 from the field and grabbed six boards as well.
Nate Laszewski contributed 17 points, five rebounds and three assists, hitting 3-of-4 from deep. Dane Goodwin tallied his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. It marked his sixth double-double of his career. Lastly, Cormac Ryan dished out a career high eight assists to go with his 11 points.
Next, how about this stat – Notre Dame had zero turnovers in the first half and didn’t commit their first until 13:18 left in the 2nd half. They finished with a season low of three.
How It Happened
Four of Notre Dame’s first five made field goals were three-pointers (Starling, Wertz and Lazewski x2) as they jumped out ot a 16-9 lead. The Irish ultimately recorded a 19-4 scoring run in which they made 8-of-9 from the field, which included six different ND scorers. Thus, at 11:32, the Irish were up 26-13.
Defensively, Notre Dame held Louisville to just three made field goals for the final nine minutes of the half. Speaking of ending the first half strong, Starling took over, scoring nine of the team’s final 12 points. Starling finished the half with 16 points.
All-in-all, Notre Dame boasted a 46-24 halftime lead, its highest first half points total this season. The Irish shot 51.4 percent (18-of-35) compared to Louisville’s 33.3 percent (10-of-30).
Next, Starling, Laszewski and Ryan combined for an 8-0 run early as Notre Dame jumped out to a 13-5 scoring start inthe second half. The Irish built their largest lead of the game, up 30, at 59-29 with 17:12 on the clock.
Luckily, the Irish had built such a substantial lead because they then went on a six-minute scoring drought, allowing Louisville to tally a 16-2 scoring spree.
Starling ended the drought from the free-throw line and got the offense back on track as Laszewski answered with a three shortly after, followed by a driving layup by Goodwin. As a result, the Irish lead that was cut as low as 14, ballooned back up to 19 at 71-52.
Laszewski put the final exclamation point on the game with a dunk at 1:38 as the Irish cruised to the 76-62 final.
Up Next
The Irish will ride into the bye week on a win and resume play next Saturday, Feb. 4, with Wake Forest at home. Tip is set for 1 p.m. ET on RSN.
— ND –