Advertisement
basketball Edit

Irish Cruise With Efficient Offense In 92-49 Win Over Seattle

Notre Dame (2-0) caught fire on offense in the early stages of the first half and didn’t look back cruising to a 92-49 blowout victory over the Seattle Redhawks (1-2).

The ‘Big 3’ of senior wing VJ Beachem (16), junior forward Bonzie Colson (16) and senior guard Steve Vasturia (13) led the way again for the Irish accounting for just under half of the team’s total, but the trio received a bit of help with junior point guard Matt Farrell adding 13 and double-digits from freshman point guard TJ Gibbs (11) and sophomore guard Rex Pflueger (12). Gibbs also had five assists.

After finishing the first half blazing hot going 19-of-35 (54.3 percent) from the field including 10-of-18 (55.6 percent) from the three-point line, the Irish couldn’t keep up the torrid pace, but shot 32-of-65 (49.2 percent) from the field and 15-of-34 (44.1 percent) from deep.

The Irish continued to move the ball and find the open man dishing out 23 assists on 32 made basketballs. Against Bryant, the team had 15 assists on 30 made baskets. Four players recorded four assists in the game with Gibbs leading the team with five and Vasturia, Farrell and Pflueger each with four. Notre Dame also forced 21 turnovers which included 12 steals.

Junior big man Martinas Geben scored his only basket on a put-back dunk with 16:57 left in the first half to tie the game at four apiece before the Irish went on a 33-14 run over the next 10 minutes to take control of the game.

Though Notre Dame’s shooting cooled off a bit in the second half dropping to 43.3 percent (13-of-30) from the field and 31.3 percent (5-of-16) from deep, the Irish buckled down on the defensive end allowing only 24 points to keep Seattle from cutting the lead down.

IRISH HOT FROM 3

Notre Dame shot 34 3-pointers against the Redhawks, more attempts than the Irish had in any game last season. They connected on 15 of the attempts.

Beachem finished 3-of-6, Farrell 3-of-7, Vasturia 3-of-4, sophomore wing Matt Ryan 3-of-8 and Pflueger 2-of-3. Gibbs also hit one.

“We can shoot. We can definitely shoot,” Farrell said with a grin. “That’s something we’ve always been able to do. If people are going to zone us, it helps when we get in there and attack and kick it out. If we’re taking good shots and people are wide open, there’s a good chance it’s going to go in.”

Farrell especially was a bright spot from behind the arc. He missed both of his attempts from 3 in the opener against Bryant and said he wanted to come out shooting.

“I’ve been getting extra reps and I wanted to come out (shooting),” Farrell said. “Everyone’s been telling me, ‘Shoot it, shoot it,’ so I wanted to come out and shoot the ball with confidence.”

Last season, Notre Dame finished 46th in the country in 3-point field goal percentage, making 37.4 percent of its attempts. In 2014-15, the Irish hit on 39 percent of attempts, 24th in the country.

As Notre Dame’s schedule toughens, Mike Brey said he expects the shooting to still be there.

“That’ll be interesting to watch,” Brey said of his team’s shooting touch. “I always hang my hat on, we know what a good shot is and we pass and move and screen for each other. We know how to play on that end of the floor. We’re going to have to work harder against better teams to get good shots, but I’m confident we can get good shots against teams.

“Many teams will come out and really play us and take away the 3, and we have the ability to put it on the floor. Like the first game, we put it on the floor, got hand checked and got to the foul line a lot. You’re ready to adjust as the game goes.”

BENCH HELP

Against Bryant it was the trio of Beachem, Vasturia and Colson who stole the show and dominated the game. It will be expected each and every game for the ‘Big 3’ to lead the team and will the Irish to victory. But, they can’t do it alone like they did against Bryant. The trio scored 61 of the team’s 89 points against the Bulldogs for 68.5 percent of the total.

It was a much more balanced effort against Seattle combining for 49 of 92 possible points (53.2%). Of the nine other players, six points scored was the highest total. That changed against the Redhawks with Pflueger, Farrell and Gibbs all scoring double digits to take the pressure of the ‘Big 3.’ Ryan added nine points off the bench as a three-point specialist essentially. The play of Farrell and the rest of the bench will determine the ultimate success of the program during the 2016-2017 season.

MAKING A MOVE

Brey discussed the importance of starting the year off strong especially with the Legends Classic next week. Even though the talent of the first few games don’t compare to the ‘move’ the Irish made last season toward the end of the year, Brey believes it is comparable in terms of setting up success in the long-term.

“This is a week to make a move,” Brey said. “I compared it, and it doesn’t have the strength of the schedule, the move we made last year in the ACC regular season when we beat North Carolina, Clemson and Louisville. Done, in, we’re in. It’s not that level of competition, but as we get to Brooklyn, we could really make a statement and make a move here early in the season if we keep handling our business.”

A strong start could do wonders for a team and its confidence especially one like Notre Dame which will be faced with two potential top-20 matchups in early-to-mid December against Villanova and Purdue.

Notre Dame will host Loyola (Md.) Friday at 7 p.m.

Matt Jones also contributed to this report.

Advertisement

----

Talk about it inside Rockne’s Roundtable

Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.

• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD,

@BGI_MattJones, @BGI_DMcKinney and @BGI_CoreyBodden.

• Like us on Facebook.

Advertisement