Colson, Beachem Lead Irish To 89-64 Victory Over Bryant
Notre Dame got off to a slow start on both ends of the court, but was able to slowly put Bryant away 89-64 Saturday afternoon and open the 2016-2017 season with a victory.
The Irish finished the game at 49.2 percent from the field (30-of-61) and 18.8 percent (3-of-16) from deep. Notre Dame had 15 assists on the 30 made baskets and only had three turnovers while forcing 13.
After being down as much as 14 early in the second half, Bryant cut the lead to 57-49 with 12:21 remaining before Notre Dame went on 13-4 run over the next four minutes to put the Bulldogs away.
The ‘Big 3’ of Bonzie Colson (23), VJ Beachem (22) and Steve Vasturia (16) led the way scoring 61 of the total 89 points. The trio were the only Irish players to score more than six points. Colson also led the team with nine rebounds.
Junior Matt Farrell scored four points and dished out six assists and three steals as the starting point guard and starting big man junior Matinas Geben scored four points and grabbed seven rebounds in 12 minutes of action.
Sophomore Rex Pflueger led the Irish bench players with six points while adding three rebounds and three assists. Freshman guard TJ Gibbs added five points as did sophomore Elijah Burns.
“It was kind of a hard game. Your exhibitions were easy,” head coach Mike Brey said following the game. “Certainly the big three led the way…I thought our bench gave us great stuff in the second half. They weren’t as good when we subbed in the first half, but they gave us some really good stuff.
“It was a half-court game, which I still worry about. Who are we going to be when it becomes a grinding half-court game and it was tonight. Who did we need to have on the floor at two bigs, we spread it out and play small and then they can beat you up inside…I thought we got to the bonus and after movement we started driving the ball and we are smaller.
Colson went 8-of-11 from the field including 1-of-3 from deep while Beachem finished 7-of-12 from the field and 1-of-2 on three-pointers. Both players added a steal to their credit and Beachem finished with three blocks and Colson had two. The duo went a combined 13-of-13 from the charity strike (Beachem 7-of-7, Colson 6-of-6).
“Throw it into that sucker…throw it into him,” Brey said of Colson. “There’s no question he’s amazing guy, isn’t he? Nose for the ball, setting the tone for us.
“Love it,” Brey said when asked about Beachem’s attacking during the game. “We had him on Ware who is a shooter. It’s the first time I thought he’s taking away that guy, which is exhausting chasing shooters through stuff and being up on them and being efficient on the other end. That’s a real step forward for him.”
Outside of the big three leading the charge, here are some of the top takeaways from the game.
BENCH ROTATION
Pflueger was the first man off the bench for Brey in both halves subbing in for Geben both times. Gibbs was the next man off the bench and Austin Torres was the first big man to see the court. Sophomore Matt Ryan saw the floor for 13 minutes.
Gibbs totaled 18 minutes in the victory and Pflueger was right behind with 17. Torres recorded eight minutes of action while sophomore Elijah Burns played for six minutes. Freshman John Mooney saw the court for four minutes. Walk-on Matt Gregory played the final two minutes of the contest.
Based off the two exhibition games and the season-opener, Pflueger and Gibbs will be the first guards off the bench and Torres will be the first big man to enter the game with Burns seeing similar action. Brey mentioned following the game they will continue working Ryan in the rotation and he’ll be on the first couple of guys off the bench.
“He’s fabulous. I love that guy,” Brey said of Pflueger. How about the nose for the ball? That drive and three-point play was a big play. That kind of said okay we’re going to get out of here today. Defensively he’s flying around, moving around, gets his hands on stuff. He’s a winner.
“TJ Gibbs this was a big game for him,” Brey said. “Second half we have in there and nine-point game. He’s playing key drives, getting team fouls, steps through that trap on the press and hits Steve. I thought for him great growth. He forces that turnover right in front of me. There was game pressure on us and he made smart plays for us. I think it’s something to build for TJ.”
“We got him good minutes tonight,” Brey said of Ryan. “He’s moving and we have to get him back. We’re going to need him in New York. No question.”
Big Men
The top three big men of Geben, Torres and Burns totaled 26 minutes in the game. Add in John Mooney’s four minutes and the quartet totaled just 30 minutes. Brey said the game dictated the minutes tonight for them, but liked what he saw in their first regular season action this year.
“It was one of those things I thought he gave us good minutes,” Brey said of Geben. “We went to Torres; we went a little small because they were smaller. I like what Torres gave us, I like what Elijah gave to us. Elijah was another guy to go to.
“There will be nights when John Mooney gets that call. You can’t get to all of them. I liked how he was flying around with Torres and Burns. They big three had to play more minutes and it was good because it was a harder game and they had to play more minutes.”
Inside Defense
Notre Dame gave up 14 layups in the game (seven each half) and helped Bryant linger around longer than many may have expected from the Bulldogs. The game plan for the Irish was to eliminate the outside threat the Bulldogs presented and it led to some easy buckets.
“This is a team that can make double-digit threes and I think we did a pretty good job keeping it to five,” Brey said. “Now you give up some two-point shots, but again there’s kind of the lesson plan of what we’ve done at times where our offensive efficiency is just going to be better.”
Bryant out-rebounded the Irish 37-to-34 and Brey understands this will happen given the amount of time the team will spend in their ‘small’ lineup at times.
“That’s something we’re going to have to keep an eye on all the time,” Brey said. “The one thing I think we could have done better is get to the offensive board. We shot a high clip, but I don’t think we got to the offensive boards. It’s our big guys that should be in there.”
Notre Dame’s presence on the inside offensively and defensively will be something to watch as the season progresses.
The Irish will host Seattle Nov. 16 at Purcell Pavilion in its second contest of the young season.
Mike Brey After Game
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