Feb. 22, 2014

Recap | Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery

Notre Dame Men’s Basketball Postgame Notes
Virginia 70, Notre Dame 49
February 22, 2014
John Paul Jones Arena – Charlottesville, Va.

– Today’s matchup was the eighth meeting between the two teams and the second between the two schools this season … Virginia leads the series 7-1 and have won seven straight in the series …this was just Notre Dame’s second appearance ever in Charlottesville … the last time the Irish played at Virginia was on Jan. 18, 1992 (an 83-56 loss).

– Eric Atkins (Sr./G), Pat Connaughton (Jr./G), Steve Vasturia (Fr./G), Tom Knight (Sr./F) and Garrick Sherman (Sr./C) started tonight’s contest … it was the first time this season as a starting lineup for the quintet … this was the 10th different starting lineup that head coach Mike Brey has used … Atkins, Connaughton and Sherman have started all 27 games this season … it was the eighth start of the year for Vasturia and the sixth for Knight … Knight had not been in the starting lineup since the North Dakota State game on Dec. 11 after starting the first four game of the season.

– Senior point guard Eric Atkins started the 101th game of his Notre Dame career … he is just the ninth player in Fighting Irish history to record 100 starts … Atkins has started 93 straight contests.

– Notre Dame’s 14 losses matches the second-most for an Irish team under Mike Brey during his 14-year career … the Irish also lost 14 games during the 2005-06 season.

– The 49 points were the fewest scored by Notre Dame this season and the 21-point deficit was the largest of the season.

– Notre Dame was held to under 50 points for the first time since a 63-47 loss to Georgetown on Jan. 21, 2013.

– Virginia outscored the Irish 40-19 in the second half … Notre Dame led 41-38 with 13:54 remaining in the contest before the Cavaliers went on a 30-2 run … the Irish scored just two points from the 9:51 to 2:32 mark in the contest.

– Virginia’s 63.6% (28-44) shooting percentage was the highest ever by an opponent during the Mike Brey era … the Cavaliers shot 76.2% (16-21) in the second half which marked the highest shooting percentage ever by an Irish opponent in any half under Brey.

– A three-pointer from Pat Connuaghton in the first half upped Notre Dame’s streak of consecutive games with a made three-pointer to 505.

– Notre Dame only committed six turnovers (two in the second half) … it marked the 14th time this season (eighth time in ACC play) that the Irish had fewer than 10 turnovers in a game … Notre Dame has only turned the ball over 19 times in the last three games.

– The Fighting Irish had season-low totals for free throws made (2).

– The Fighting Irish are 1-7 this season when wearing blue uniforms.

Pat Connaughton (Jr./G-F) – Was the only Irish player in double figures with 11 points. – Reached double-figures in points for the third straight game and the team-best 22nd time this season (45th time of his career) … has netted double-figures in 12 of 15 ACC games.