Another Notre Dame Rally For The Ages

On the anniversary eve of the most famous Notre Dame’s men’s basketball victory — Jan. 19, 1974, 71-70 versus UCLA to end the Bruins’ NCAA-record 88-game winning streak — the Fighting Irish women added their own chapter on Jan. 18, 2018 with their own “greatest ever” standard.

Trailing by 23 points to No. 6 Tennessee, No. 5 Notre Dame used a scintillating, inspired second-half performance to defeat the Volunteers 84-70 on Thursday night at Purcell Pavilion.

It was the largest comeback ever from a deficit in school history, topping the 18-point margin it rallied from in a victory versus Duke on Nov. 26, 2011.

Like against UCLA in 1974, when the Irish scored the last 12 points in the final 3:32, the Irish women used a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter to turn a 65-58 deficit into a 70-65 lead, and continued to be relentless and aggressive while flummoxing the shell-shocked but talent-laden Volunteers.

Spearheading the rally was junior guard Arike Ogunbowale, who finished with a game high 27 points to go with eight rebounds (also a game high), four assists and two steals. Ogunbowale started the night 1-of-7 from the field but was 8-of-13 thereafter, including 3-of-4 from three-point range.

Junior guard Marina Mabrey played every minute and tallied 20 points to go with game highs in assists (7) and steals (4). Sophomore guard Jackie Young tallied 18 points and junior forward Jessica Shepard 12.

Tennessee came out blazing while converting an astounding 17 of its first 23 field-goal attempts (.739 percentage). The Volunteers led 27-10 after the first quarter, built the cushion to 37-14 with 7:03 left in the first half and was still cruising at 39-17 before Notre Dame ended the half on a 10-0 run — eight points from Ogunbowale — to pull within 39-27 at the intermission.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better comeback,” Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said.

The late surge in the second half kept Notre Dame within striking distance and inspired.

“We were talking about how we weren’t executing, we weren’t really doing anything: we weren’t guarding them, we weren’t rebounding, we weren’t running anything on offense,” said McGraw of the halftime talk. “At halftime we just tried to get organized.”

The Irish still trailed by 10 after the third quarter (60-50), but then closed with a 34-10 explosion in the fourth quarter while converting 12-of-20 field goals, including all three from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, the Irish defense ratcheted up the intensity to help generate a remarkable 28 turnovers.

“We got smarter today,” said McGraw of the defense that propelled the 57-31 Irish advantage in the second half. “I think that was the biggest improvement. We were active defensively, we guarded a little better, especially in the second half. It shows tremendous fighting spirit and a lot of heart.”

“Once we got a few stops and we started scoring we were a little more motivated to get another stop and keep inching back,” Mabrey said. “I think we started talking more and communicating … When Arike gets going it makes everyone else going. She’s super motivating.”

The Irish actually fell behind 61-50 at the start of the fourth quarter. The 12-0 spurt to make it 70-65 came in the course of just 2:31. Tennessee pulled to within 70-68 with 3:57 remaining, but a Mabrey drive for a lay-up and a three by Ogunbowale ignited another 14-0 run to for the coup de grace during a memorable night in front of an attendance of 8,733.

Three-Point Play

1. Turnabout Is Fair Play

A year ago at Tennessee, Notre Dame was the No. 6-ranked team and led 62-52 entering the fourth quarter — and were up by as much as 15 earlier in the second half — before losing to the Volunteers 71-69 in a dramatic fourth quarter. Tonight, it was nearly an identical situation as the Irish entered the fourth quarter tailing No. 6 Tennessee by an almost identical 60-50 margin.

“We had that on our mind a little bit — at least I did,” McGraw said of the similarity.

2. Speaking Of Similarities…

In last week’s loss at then No. 3 Louisville, Notre Dame trailed by 17 in the first quarter (33-16) while the Cardinals shot a blistering 14-of-18 from the field (.778). One week later the Irish sputtered out of the gates again and trailed by 17 at the end of the first quarter (27-10) while the Volunteers were 13-of-19 from the floor (.684). This time it was a far happier ending … although the slow starts are likely to be addressed.

3. Top 5 Timber Again

The stunning meltdown at Louisville last week prompted some skepticism about whether the Irish were once again a bona fide Final Four contender, or more of a solid top-10 or top-15 team. The first quarter versus Tennessee indicated the latter. The final three quarters, especially the last, proved Notre Dame can still be the former. Sustaining such intensity consistently is never easy, but the heart, hustle and talent demonstrated the Irish won’t be an easy out for anyone and they can legitimately vie to make a return to the Final Four if they remain healthy.

----

• Talk about it inside Rockne's Roundtable

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.

• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD, @BGI_DMcKinney and @BGI_CoreyBodden.

• Like us on Facebook