Engel: Needing To Be Different, Irish Find Just Enough For Important Win
It’s OK to say you didn’t see that coming. Or that you had caved into the momentum and accepted defeat.
Notre Dame’s Saturday venture to Rupp Arena started with an idyllic offensive display and slowly unraveled. It’d be acceptable to admit the stench of the second half reminded you too much of last season’s duels with talented or top-ranked teams. Or this season’s opener at Michigan State. An enduring offensive drought. Empty possession after empty possession. Aimless dribble after aimless dribble. A weary defense.
Again and again. A real-time lesson in how to go about squandering a 22-point halftime lead.
With 12 seconds left, Notre Dame led Kentucky by a point, needing a stop to cinch a win after the prior offensive possession featured no passes, an air-balled 3-pointer and a shot-clock violation. The third turnover of the last two minutes. The 12th of the second half. Notre Dame’s offense floundered for the final 20 minutes.
The Irish defense, which had allowed 1.16 points per possession in the second half and 80 points in two prior games against high-majors, was tasked with bailing it out. Kentucky’s youthful, mistake-ridden offense was finding itself.
As the Wildcats inbounded the ball with 7.6 second left, maybe you even had spades in hand, ready to dig a hole and dump this weird season in it.
Until…
Olivier Sarr’s baseline jumper drew back iron, sealing a 64-63 Notre Dame win, the program’s first in Lexington. The game ended with a dismayed Sarr hunched over instead of Irish players – who were high-fiving on their way off the floor.
Notre Dame (2-2) scored 16 points in the second half and survived because it got one more stop. Because of a few timely baskets. Because it could rebound. Because of its mental fortitude. Notre Dame won a game by keeping the opponent off the scoreboard just often enough and a never-defeated mindset.
“They threw everything they had at us,” forward Nate Laszewski said. “To be able to stay mentally strong, stay together, it’s really exciting for us.”
Added coach Mike Brey: “I love that we had to play defense to win a game.”
Notre Dame made enough winning plays in critical moments. A majority of them on defense. A few on offense, courtesy of point guard and team leader Prentiss Hubb, who awoke from a slumber to score nine of Notre Dame’s final 11 points despite three late turnovers.
It felt like Notre Dame was on the ropes when Sarr made an 18-foot jumper to slice the deficit to four points with 4:44 left. Instead, the Irish put up a quick five. First a Hubb step-back three. Then a Dane Goodwin block on a Terrence Clark drive, which led to a second-chance Juwan Durham dunk.
Notre Dame shot 28 percent in the second half and made one 3-pointer, a halt and a 180-degree pivot from an opening half where it averaged 1.5 points per possession and handed Kentucky its largest halftime home deficit in the history of Rupp Arena.
“Where we grew is when we couldn’t get flowing, pretty offensive stuff like we did in the first half,” Brey said. “We didn’t hang our head and played enough defense and rebounded enough.”
The final defensive possession is worth highlighting above all. Two Notre Dame defenders hounded Kentucky guard B.J. Boston as he juggled and caught a pass on a curl beyond the elbow. He tossed to Sarr, who had screened for Boston and popped out alone in the short corner. He caught the ball with the 6-11 Durham barreling toward him, forcing the shot to instantly go up. Assignment-sound defense all-around that produced a shot Notre Dame can live with allowing.
“I’m thinking as the Sarr shot is in the air, ‘C’mon now, this group deserves one,’” Brey said. I hope it’s a confidence builder for us and maybe an identity builder where if we’re not playing pretty offense, we still can defend and rebound enough to win.”
Even if angst is your lasting feeling from this game, it’s better to be exhaling with unexpected relief than steaming after blowing a big lead. If this win is unsatisfying after a deeper autopsy in the coming days – and it did contain some concerning flaws – it’s still a lot better than the alternative where Sarr’s shot goes in. Especially when looking through the zoomed-out lens.
What remains true is for Notre Dame to return to old heights, beating a few teams above its weight class is a requirement. Kentucky (1-4) is a hodge-podge of new characters and a veritable mess. Notre Dame took advantage of a listless first half and pounced.
Same time, the Wildcats still have a skilled roster and one of the game’s best coaches. Notre Dame is taking this one as a step in that direction and a boost to the psyche that these games against more naturally gifted teams are winnable. That it can win in a place it never had.
“We talked about growing up,” Brey said, “And getting one of these.”
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