Hoops: Notre Dame No Match In 72-51 Loss At Maryland
Notre Dame learned the hard way Wednesday night that beating a good team on the road takes good play on both sides of the court, and taking advantage of every opportunity provided.
The Irish failed in both categories in a 72-51 loss at No. 3 Maryland in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, especially during a 15-minute game-deciding run in the first half.
As it has all season, Notre Dame got what it needed defensively through much of the first half, holding the Terps to only four makes on their first 19 shots, including 0-for-10 three-point shooting, which provided a great chance for the Irish to build an early lead.
The Irish went only 8-of-28 shooting in the first half, which included 1-of-11 three-point shooting and two separate four-minute scoring droughts. After scoring nine points in the first 4:30 of the game, Notre Dame managed only 11 points the rest of the first half, which aided a 21-7 Maryland run to finish the half — including a 10-0 run — and led to a 32-20 halftime deficit for Notre Dame that it was not able to overcome.
“They kind of smothered us. I don’t think it was us missing shots, we didn’t get many clean looks,” Brey said. “They are really gifted defensively and they smothered us. It almost demoralizes you playing against that because it’s hard to get a clean look.”
Any thoughts that the Irish held at halftime of cutting into the Maryland lead were quickly dashed when the Terps started the second half on an 8-2 run to open a 40-22 lead that was never threatened and only expanded.
“That was varsity versus the JV tonight, we were the JV. The varsity toyed with us tonight,” Brey said of the dominating Maryland defensive effort. “Hopefully we can rebound a little bit because we have a league game (vs. Boston College) on Saturday.”
Senior forward John Mooney had 17 points and 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double this season, that’s about all there is to report offensively for the Irish.
Sophomore point guard Prentiss Hubb added 13 points, but most of those came during mop-up duty. Senior forward Juwan Durham had nine points and five rebounds.
Insult To Injury
With less than a minute remaining in the game, Irish sophomore guard Robby Carmody landed awkwardly on his right knee when he was fouled on a dunk attempt.
The injury looked bad and could become a big problem for a team already thinned out this week by the transfer of sophomore forward Chris Doherty.
Brey won’t fully know the extent of Carmody’s injury until further evaluation back home but it’s safe to speculate Carmody will miss some time, likely the rest of the season. Carmody was taken off the court after the game in a wheelchair with tears in his eyes and his mother by his side.
Notre Dame Basketball Radio Network conveyed that Carmody emotionally said, “I tore it, I tore it,” on his way off the court.
Carmody missed most of last season with a shoulder injury.
Quiet Double-Double
Had it been known before Wednesday’s game that Mooney would finish with his fourth double-double this season, a 21-point Irish loss would not have been expected.
But with little support — arguably none — from his teammates, Mooney’s effort went unrewarded.
The all-ACC Player of the Year candidate did all he could, finishing 5-of-12 from the floor shooting, including 3-of-6 from long-range.
His teammates combined for 4-of-19 three-point shooting and went MIA in essentially every other statistical category.
Speaking of no support, Irish guards T.J. Gibbs (0-11 all/0-4 threes) and Hubb (5-15 all/3-8 threes) combined for 5-for-26 shooting, and that’s not gonna win many ACC games.
Turnovers/Assists?
The Irish entered the game leading all Division I teams in assist-turnover ratio at 1.82.
It’s unlikely they left College Park, Mary., still on top of the NCAA heap.
To a man, Notre Dame was uncharacteristically careless with the ball, and finished with just 11 assists versus 10 turnovers, just another line item to an overall miserable performance.
Up Next:
Notre Dame plays at home (Saturday, 2 p.m.) in its second ACC game against a Boston College team that the Irish have dominated for the last 20 years.
In this all-Catholic “rivalry,” Notre Dame has won 17 of 18 games, including 13 in a row.
Even last season when the Irish won only three conference games all season, two of those came against the Eagles.
Overall, Notre Dame is 21-10 in the series.
The Eagles are off to a 4-5 start this season, but has lost four straight and five of six, which includes a 100-85 home drubbing to Belmont and an 82-64 blowout loss Tuesday to Northwestern in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
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