Farrell Comes Up Big Late In 70-66 Irish Victory Over Northwestern
Matt Farrell turned a few non-believers in his ability to the lead the Irish to believers tonight after making multiple clutch plays in the final minutes of Notre Dame’s 70-66 victory over Northwestern in the championship game of the Legends Classic.
After controlling much of the game including as much as an 11-point lead, Notre Dame (5-0) found itself down 64-58 to Northwestern (3-2) with just over six minutes to play.
Then Farrell took over. After a basket by senior guard Steve Vasturia cut the lead to four, Farrell recorded assists on the next two Irish field goals with the highlight being an alley-oop to senior wing VJ Beachem to retake the lead 65-64.
Northwestern regained the lead with under a minute to go 66-65 and had an in-bounds pass with 20 seconds left and a chance to steal a win from Notre Dame. The Wildcats threw an errant pass, which was stolen by Vasturia. Farrell got the ball and took it through the lane and converted an and-one to swing momentum completely back to the Irish with a 68-66 lead with 15 seconds remaining.
Farrell rebounded a miss by the Wildcats on the other end and sank two free throws to clinch the victory. The junior guard followed his 20 points against Colorado with 18 against the Wildcats and added six assists to his credit.
“I’ve had some really good ones [at point guard]," Mike Brey said. "When it’s all said and done, now everyone saw it nationally, he’ll be there with any of them. He really is.
"This has been blossoming since March, watching him in the summer. I don’t think the staff or his teammates are shocked. There’s an edge about him and a fearlessness about him. I am just so thrilled he’s really coming out of here a confident guy and knows he has the keys to the car.”
Vasturia also had 18 points and a career-high eight rebounds. Junior forward Bonzie Colson had a double-double scoring 13 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Beachem notched 11 points. No other player scored above 5 points (senior forward Austin Torres). Vasturia's 18 points give him exactly 1,000 in his career at Notre Dame.
Notre Dame finished the game 22-of-53 (41.5 percent) from the field and 8-of-18 (44.4 percent) from the three-point line after starting the game 12-of-24 from the field and 6-of-10 from deep in the first half.
“We’ve been good at getting out the gate early and that’s something VJ and Steve really talked about after the first exhibition game," Brey said. "Since then we’ve been getting off to good starts especially on the offensive end. That’s really helped us. Both second halves we ran into a team that guarded us better and we had to grind and scratch and claw a little bit to win.”
The Irish recorded 13 assists on 22 made baskets and forced 16 turnovers including seven steals.
Northwestern shot 24-of-56 (42.9 percent) from the field and 12-of-22 (54.5 percent) from the three-point line.
Here are a couple of takeaways from this game and the two games in Brooklyn at the Legends Classic.
Farrell
Brey couldn’t have asked for a much better two-game stretch for Farrell scoring a combined 38 points in the two victories. His two assists late in the game gave the Irish life again and he sealed it with his scoring ability.
The junior was a big question mark heading into the season in terms of his ability to replace Demetrius Jackson at point guard. His efforts against Northwestern and Colorado proved what he is capable of and how he can lead Notre Dame in the long run.
Where Is The Bench?
Torres, sophomore wings Matt Ryan and Rex Pflueger and freshman point guard TJ Gibbs combined for a total of seven points in Notre Dame’s 89-83 victory over Colorado on Monday. It didn’t get much better against the Wildcats with the quartet only scoring eight points led by Torres’ five. Ryan added a three-pointer to the total. Only two rebounds and one assist were made by the group.
The inconsistent bench scoring could become an issue in the long run for the Irish, who will look to get more from their bench as the season rolls on and Notre Dame faces more and more talented teams each night.
Northwestern was led by the trio of forward Vic Law, guard Scottie Lindsey and forward Nathan Taphorn. The trio combined for 10-of-14 from three and 44 points of the team total. Lindsey scored 17 while Law added 15 and Taphorn scored all 12 of his points on three-pointers.
Notre Dame returns to action Saturday (Nov. 26) at home to take on Chicago State.
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