Irish Down Central State 76-54 In Exhibition Matchup
Behind 17 points from junior guard TJ Gibbs, Notre Dame took down Central State University 76-54 on Thursday in an exhibition game to close out its preparations for the 2018-2019 season.
Blue & Gold Illustrated recaps the game from start to finish along with some quick thoughts on the Irish heading into the new campaign.
FIRST HALF
Like many would have anticipated, it was a little rough start for both teams in the first half shooting. The Irish started the opening four minutes 3-of-11 including 0-of-4 behind the arc, but did hold Central State to 2-of-7 overall.
Junior forward John Mooney scored four points and grabbed three rebounds to help the Irish to an early 6-5 advantage at the 15:59 mark.
Notre Dame continued its solid defensive effort over the next four minutes building a 15-7 lead behind three-pointers from Mooney and Gibbs during the stretch (11:58). Senior forward Elijah Burns, freshman guard Robby Carmody and freshman forward Nate Laszewski were the first subs into the game for Mooney, freshman guard Prentiss Hubb and sophomore wing DJ Harvey.
Freshman guard Dane Goodwin along with junior guard Nik Djogo entered during the stretch as well for Gibbs and senior guard Rex Pflueger.
The sloppy play continued over the next several minutes, which included a stretch of three turnovers for the Irish over a 1:29 period. Former Connecticut forward transfer Juwan Durham entered the game for the first time and got some action with the starting group minus Mooney.
Notre Dame held a 22-15 advantage with 7:41 left in the half on 7-of-20 (35 percent) shooting overall and 3-of-11 (27.3 percent) behind the arc. Entering the under-8 break, Notre Dame had not fit a field goal in almost three minutes.
A quick 4-0 run after two free throws from Harvey and a fast-break layup via Gibbs pushed the Irish lead to 26-15.
However, freshman guard Dorian Crutcher from Central State knocked down three triples in just over a minute to help cut the Irish lead to just 28-24 with 4:56. Goodwin ended the Marauders run with a three-pointer of his own to make it 31-24 Notre Dame at the under-4 media timeout.
Notre Dame found more of a rhythm to close out the half going on a 14-2 run to close it out and take a 42-26 advantage into the break.
Gibbs led all Irish scorers with nine points while Carmody, Harvey and Mooney each add seven points. Notre Dame shot 13-of-29 (44.8 percent) overall during the opening 20 minutes including 6-of-17 (35.3 percent) behind the arc.
The Irish held Central State to 10-of-32 (31.3 percent) shooting and 5-of-15 (33.3 percent) on three-point attempts.
SECOND HALF
Notre Dame hit four of its first five shots of the second half to build a 50-30 lead behind baskets from Gibbs, Mooney, Goodwin and Pflueger consecutively with 17:03 left. The Irish scored six points over the next six minutes going 2-of-10, but still led 56-34 with 11 minutes remaining.
At that point, Gibbs had 14 points for the Irish with Mooney up to nine and Carmody at eight.
The Irish carried over its defensive efforts into the second half forcing Central State to make just one of 12 attempts at one point to help Notre Dame keep the Marauders at bay.
Mooney reached double-figures during the stretch with a nice baseline jumper, which was followed by a layup in transition from Goodwin to extend the Notre Dame lead to 65-39 with 7:04 left. Through the first 13 minutes, Notre Dame was 10-of-23 from the floor while Central State was just 4-of-18.
Notre Dame’s next four buckets came via dunk including a fast-break one from Goodwin and three via Durham (one off a nice feed from Pflueger). Durham’s outburst put him up to eight points and six rebounds with just two minutes remaining in the game.
It was an uneventful final couple of minutes as the Irish finished off Central State 76-54 to close out its preparations for the 2018-2019 season.
Gibbs finished with a team-high 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting (3-of-8 behind the arc). Mooney was right behind with 11 points and five rebounds while Goodwin came in as the lone other double-digit scorer at 10 points (4-of-5 shooting overall). Carmody and Harvey added nine and Durham stayed at eight points and six rebounds.
Harvey led the Irish in rebounding with eight and Pflueger notched seven to go with his two points.
Overall, Notre Dame shot 28-of-64 (43.8 percent) from the field and just 8-of-29 (27.6 percent) behind the arc. The Irish held Central State to 30.6 percent shooting (19-of-62) including 9-of-30 (30 percent) on their three-point attempts.
QUICK OVERALL THOUGHTS
With it being just an exhibition, there is no need to draw definite conclusions about this particular Irish team one way or another.
Here are some quick thoughts I had throughout the game and what could be ahead.
— It is going to take some time with this team as expected. Having at least five new faces playing solid minutes will make it tough on any team as it tries to craft its identity. There were times the Notre Dame offense looked like what most are used to seeing in a Mike Brey team then there were occasions you could hear the staff yelling “Move!” throughout when ball movement became stagnant. Growing pains will be part of the process for this group in terms of turnovers and struggles at times offensively, but the potential is there. As Brey has preached this offseason to himself, patience will be key.
— I continue to like what I see out of the freshmen group. Goodwin played the most consistent of the group and did well on both ends of the court. Carmody will make an impact on both ends of the court and isn’t afraid to take it to the hoop. Laszewski (1-of-6 from three-point territory) didn’t shoot it well, but that won’t be the case every night with his shot. With his first real game action in over a year, it wasn’t a surprise to see Hubb not come out of the gates hot. He didn’t play well offensively in terms of getting his shot, but he had a nice assist in transition and drove to the basket to help free up others. We’ll see if Brey keeps in the starting rotation with his desire to start games with the ball in Gibbs’ hands more. Doherty didn’t play enough during the game to get much of a look as the others.
— Mooney was the second leading scorer tonight, and I think that may be a revolving door for most of the season. That’s not a bad thing, but this Irish team will evolve during the season and I think that role will too with that.
— No need to go more in-depth than that at this stage until the games actually count. Again, the potential is there for this team to reach the NCAA Tournament. But, the ultimate finished product won’t come in November.
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