Boston College Pulls Numbing 73-72 Upset At Notre Dame
One post on Rockne’s Roundtable that turned up about halfway through the first half of Notre Dame’s surprising 73-72 upset loss Saturday to Boston College perfectly summed up the entire afternoon at Purcell Pavilion.
“ND basketball is in trouble…wow”
The Irish entered this game winners of 13 straight over BC and 18 of 19 dating back 20 years. On the other side, BC came in losers of four straight games, including blowout losses to Richmond and Belmont.
Didn’t matter. The Eagles (5-5, 2-0 ACC) took advantage of a lackluster Irish effort in the first half and never trailed in the victory, even though BC tried to give this one away late by blowing an 11-point lead over the last five minutes of the game.
A furious Irish comeback coupled with some sloppy BC ball-handling brought the Irish back to 73-71 with 2.9 seconds left and Irish senior guard T.J. Gibbs on the foul line shooting two shots to tie. He missed the first, made the second and Notre Dame (6-3, 0-2) never had another legitimate chance to tie or win.
“I love how we, on a tough afternoon, we figure out a way to almost put the thing into overtime,” said Irish head coach Mike Brey, who took this loss very personally. “We had no business, no business, being there. I give our guys credit for that.”
BC didn’t look the part of a team that entered the game near the bottom of the ACC in field goal and three-point shooting.
During a seven-minute stretch of the first half, BC parlayed 9-of-10 field-goal shooting into a 24-12 run and a 31-19 lead. The Eagles finished 11-of-23 three-point shooting for the game.
The two teams played between eight and 11 points throughout most of the rest of the game until the late Irish run.
Gibbs scored a season-high 22 points and added a team-high six assists. Senior forward John Mooney added 16 points and a season-high 18 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season and his third in the last three games. No other Irish scored in double figures.
“They put it on us in the first half,” Mooney said. “We fought back, I thought we made plays down the stretch. We gave ourself a chance, the ball just didn’t bounce our way the last couple of minutes. Definitely got to get off to a better start so we’re not playing from behind.”
Two Versus Five
Plagued by inconsistent shooting this year, the emergence of Gibbs was a welcome site for the Irish, especially after Gibbs posted an 0-for-11 shooting night Wednesday in a 21-point loss at Maryland.
Gibbs scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half and finished 6-of-11 shooting, 3-of-6 three-point shooting and 7-of-8 free-throw shooting. Unfortunately, it was that one missed free throw that was on Gibbs’ mind after the game more than any of his made shots.
Brey was quick to tell Gibbs not to put this loss on one missed foul shot.
“Get outta here,” Brey told Gibbs. “If it wasn’t for you, we’d of lost by 18.”
Gibbs was joined by Mooney in what became a two-man offensive show for the Irish.
Through a 12-minute stretch of the second half, Gibbs and Mooney combined to score all 25 of Notre Dame’s points.
The second half scoring looked like this: Gibbs and Mooney 30 points, everybody else 14 points.
Gibbs was especially lethal in the second half when he made 3-of-4 three pointers.
“I think the second half we kind of got into a flow, a rhythm of the game,” Gibbs said. “And we just got to keep fighting. We fought until the very end. We got to keep pushing and use that as a learning moment.”
Taking The Blame
In a candid post-game press conference, Brey took full blame for the outcome against BC, calling this his “worst week as a coach here at Notre Dame.” Brey was referencing his team’s “feel sorry for ourself” attitude after the 72-51 defeat at Maryland where the Irish lost a game and the services of sophomore guard Robby Carmody for the rest of the season with a knee injury.
“Absolutely my worst week,” Brey said. “I don’t think I did a very good job preparing us for Maryland and even in the game. And then we come back Thursday, and we’re moping a little bit because we got our butts whooped and we got a guy down, and I didn’t push it or address it. I don’ think I had a really good week helping our guys.”
So Much For Ball Care
Notre Dame entered the Boston College game ranked first in the country with a 1.72 assist/turnover ratio. But uncharacteristically, the Irish finished with a season-high 15 turnovers with 16 assists in the league loss.
Eleven of the Irish turnovers came in the first half. “We were throwing the ball all over the place,” Brey said.
This effort coming after Notre Dame managed just 10 assists against 11 turnovers versus Maryland.
Up Next:
Notre Dame rekindles what used to be a longstanding rivalry when Detroit Mercy comes to Purcell Pavilion Tuesday (7 p.m.).
This series dates back to 1912. The Irish lead the series 41-12 but the two teams have played only once since 1991. That was in 2011, a game Notre Dame won 59-53.
Detroit Mercy, of the Horizon League, finished 11-20 last year and is off to a difficult 1-7 start this season that includes four straight losses.
ESPN basketball analyst Dick Vitale spent five seasons coaching Detroit Mercy in the 1970s.
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