SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When the strength of a team becomes a 40-minute liability, there’s nothing pleasant about the end result.
Or the thought of what might lurk ahead.
Defenseless against an Elon men’s team (3-2) that came to Purcell Pavilion Friday night a 14-point underdog and picked in the preseason to finish 12th in the 14-team Coastal Athletic Association, Notre Dame (4-1) was dumped, 84-77, in front of a crowd of 4,475.
“On the defensive end, that’s not how we play defense,” said Irish center Kebba Njie. “That’s not what I feel like Coach Shrews (Micah Shrewsberry) built this program to be about. I think offensively, we played pretty well, but there’s a lot of our defense that didn’t show up really too much tonight.”
Through the first four games, Notre Dame had allowed an average of 64.5 points and 35% shooting.
But with the Irish defense seemingly out of sync and a step behind all night, the Phoenix finished 32-for-56 from the field (57%), including 7-for-15 on threes (47%).
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No halftime chats or adjustments helped — Elon, which finished 13-19 last season, shot 60.7% from the field in the final 20 minutes.
“We didn’t start the game very good defensively and they got comfortable,” Shrewsberry said. “They were comfortable coming in here because of the way they played the other night (75-48 win over Northern Illinois on Wednesday).You need to try to break their rhythm early and they had, what, 15 points before the four-minute mark (actually seven-minute mark)? Our defense let us down tonight.”
The performance wasn’t much of a surprise to Elon head coach Billy Taylor, the former Irish player and captain (1991-95) who saw his third Elon team building credentials and some confidence during the two losses, actually. Elon held a brief lead in the second half against North Carolina in the first game of the season (a 14-point loss) and had its chances in a one-point loss to Gardner-Webb.
“Our guys are hungry,” Taylor said. “They obviously believe that we’re a really good ballclub and now it’s up to us to continue to challenge them, to take steps to improve because we’re going to get our opponents best after some of the things we’ve accomplished so far this season.
“We’re not going to surprise or sneak up on anybody.”
Taylor acknowledged the high personal emotions of the evening.
“Obviously, I believe in Notre Dame through and through,” he said. “I root for his (Shrewsberry) team and watch all their games. So to be able to come in here and win in front of family and friends — I’m just incredibly proud.”
Taylor reconnected with Digger Phelps during the visit. It was Phelps who recruited Taylor to Notre Dame and the former Irish coach had a few words for the Phoenix prior to the game.
Notre Dame was able to do enough offensively to get by Elon in the first half.
It led 46-41 at halftime, but allowed the Phoenix to hit six of its first eight shots of the half and five minutes into the second half it was tied at 54.
Facing mostly a zone in the second half, the Irish shot only 36.7% from the field.
Elon’s Nick Dorn, a 6-foot-7 sophomore averaging 15.5 points a game coming in, found plenty of space on the perimeter and dropped in five of six 3-point attempts. He finished 8-for-10 from the field with 24 points.
Twins TK Simpkins (17) and TJ Simpkins (16) were right around their averages and 6-10 Sam Sherry hit the Irish in the second half with 10 of his 13 points.
There were 13 lead changes and seven ties — neither team led by more than eight — and the Phoenix finally started to edge ahead over the final 90 seconds.
The second of a couple of give-and-go easy layups by Dorn and Isaac Harrell produced a 78-75 Elon lead with a minute to go.
A drive to the bucket by ND’s Markus Burton was blocked with 50 seconds to go and, following a layup by TJ Simpkins to make it 80-75, Burton missed another drive to the basket with 20 seconds to go that basically ended it.
TJ Simpkins hit four straight free throws over the final 10 seconds.
Burton finished 10-for-18 (4-for-7 on threes) for 25 points, and Braeden Shrewsberry went 7-for-13 overall and 5-for-11 on threes for his 22 points. Notre Dame shot 41.4% on threes and 47.5% from the field for the game.
Elon, with a height edge that included 7-4 center Matthew Van Komen for 24 minutes (five rebounds, four blocks), outscored Notre Dame 38-24 in the paint and outrebounded the Irish 35-24, 10-7 on the offensive boards.
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Micah Shrewsberry took issue with the officiating that saddled the Irish with 10 fouls to Elon’s two in the first half and fouled out forward Tae Davis after 21:54 on the floor.
The 6-7 Davis came in averaging 14 points and six rebounds but finished with just five points and three rebounds.
“We started the game boxing out and they were calling fouls,” Shrewsberry said.
“It was eight to two. They’re saying it’s because of our box-out. So we’re being physical. So we’re not allowed to be physical? What the (expletive) are we supposed to do?”
“We’re gonna keep hitting (blocking out) — I don’t care what the whistle says … It shouldn’t be eight to two on the glass when we’re playing physical, right?
“I thought that was stupid, so we’re gonna keep hitting people (blocking out). If we foul, we foul, but we’re one of the least fouling teams in the country, and I thought that was crazy to start the game.”
Shrewsberry tried some different combinations and transfer Burke Chebuhar saw his first major minutes (13:20) and freshman Cole Certa played 3:32 in the tight second half as Shrewsberry looked for a spark.
“We needed somebody to make a shot,” he said. “We needed somebody to make a play. I don’t know if it was guys that were scared to make plays. We’re getting the ball to the rim and missing layups. We’re getting the ball at five feet in the paint and we’re not converting those. That changes the game, but it also lets your offense affect your defense.’’
The Irish will play three games in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas next week, starting with No. 24 Rutgers (4-0) on Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. EDT (TBS).
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