Louisville steals ND's thunder, ousts top-seeded Irish from ACC Tourney
What if Olivia Miles had a healthy knee and was running the point?
What if Dara Mabrey was back on the floor tossing in 3s?
Hey, Notre Dame fans, it wouldn’t have mattered.
Louisville (23-10), playing with a purpose and certainly with two previous narrow losses to Notre Dame on its collective mind, overwhelmed Niele Ivey’s No. 10-ranked and top-seeded club in every way for a 64-38 victory in Saturday’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinal in Greensboro, N.C.
The fourth-seeded Cardinals will play third-seeded Virginia Tech (26-4) in the title game Sunday at 1 p.m. EST. The Hokies similarly disposed of 2 seed Duke on Saturday, 58-37.
How bad was it for the Irish?
* Two and a half minutes into the second half, Notre Dame (25-5) had more turnovers (16) than points (15).
* There were no Irish players in double figures in scoring at game’s end, and they went 1-for-10 from the 3-point line.
* One of the best rebounding teams in the country, sixth nationally with a plus-10.7 average margin, was beaten inside, 42-30, including 16-11 on the offensive glass.
“We will learn from this,” promised Ivey, whose team will learn its NCAA seed on March 12. “We've been hit with a lot of adversity, but no matter what there's lessons to learn from moments like this and losses like this. So we'll get back to the drawing board, get better and move forward.”
Mabrey won’t return because of her knee injury and Miles, the only player in the country averaging at least 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals a game, is “day-to-day” — according to Ivey. Miles injured her knee in last Sunday’s game against Louisville and was seen limping when the cameras were on her in Greensboro. How her availability is perceived by the selection committee could be a factor in seeding.
No team would be the same without Miles’ great passing ability, and when Louisville ramped up the intensity and physicality of its man-to-man defense, Notre Dame looked lost.
“I thought that they set the tone from the beginning,” Ivey said. “They went after us, got us in some foul trouble, and pressured us for 40 minutes. We turned the ball over 22 times and didn't get a chance to really get into a flow offensively. Their defense was locked in.”
The Cardinals made life miserable for 6-foot-1 sophomore Sonia Citron, the player who has had to absorb most of Miles’ point guard duties.
With tight, physical pressure, seamless switching on screens and double-teaming when opportunities came, “We didn’t give her any space,” said Louisville star Hailey Van Lith.
Louisville never let up. At times, Notre Dame was getting handoffs to teammates punched away.
Coming into the semifinal, Citron had averaged 19 points over the previous five games. She had 27 in the three-point win at Louisville last Sunday and 28 in Friday’s tourney win over North Carolina State, the latter a season high.
The Cardinals did all they could to keep her from getting into a shooting rhythm, including fouling her three times in a matter of seconds on one first-half possession. Citron (eight points) got off only seven shots, and Louisville basically dared someone else to step up.
And no one did.
Freshman KK Bransford has been solid as a swing player all year, averaging eight points on 50% shooting coming in. She has picked up some of the extra ball-handling duties and was overmatched Saturday, going 1-for-7 for two points and committing eight turnovers.
Cass Prosper, another freshman, was 0-for-3 on 3s, finished 1-for-8 overall for two points and contributed three turnovers.
Notre Dame’s bigs are not big scorers and are struggling even more without the old offense and timely assists from Miles.
Center Lauren Ebo was 1-for-5 and had four points, 6-4 Kylee Watson had five, but managed just four shots, and Maddy Westbeld needed 12 shots to get to nine points for the day.
There was some foul trouble early — Westbeld, Bransford and Ebo had two fouls each and were sitting to start the second quarter. Ivey could afford that for only a few minutes after Louisville went on an 8-0 run to start the second quarter and grab a 20-7 edge.
It was 29-15 by halftime and Louisville’s top scorer, Van Lith at 19 points a game, had yet to find her touch. She had two points at halftime, but finished with 15, going 7-for-7 from the free throw line.
ND’s defense wasn’t the issue. Louisville didn’t shoot especially well – 1-for-13 on 3s and 40% from the field. The Cardinals usually score at a 73-point pace. But no defense can survive the little offense Notre Dame has had in stretches without Miles at the controls.
“It just requires everybody to step up, like we did the last game and a half (Louisville, North Carolina State),” Ivey said. “We need everybody to step up, do a little bit more, handle the offense, handle the ball, make better decisions … We’ve shown that we can do it, so we just have to be a little more consistent.”
ACC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
SCORES/SCHEDULE
AT GREENSBORO, N.C.
(All Times EST)
FIRST ROUND
Wednesday
(12) Wake Forest 68, (13) Virginia 57
(10) Clemson 71, (15) Pitt 53
(11) Boston College 62, (14) Georgia Tech 57
SECOND ROUND
Thursday
(12) Wake Forest 65, (5) Florida State 54
(8) NC State 83, (9) Syracuse 58
(7) North Carolina 78, (10) Clemson 68
(6) Miami 84, (11) Boston College 69
QUARTERFINALS
Friday
(4) Louisville 74, (12) Wake Forest 48
(1) Notre Dame 66, (8) NC State 60
(2) Duke (24-5) 44, (7) North Carolina 40
(3) Virginia Tech 68, (6) Miami 42
SEMIFINALS
Saturday
(4) Louisville 64, (1) Notre Dame 38
(3) Virginia Tech 58, (2) Duke 37
CHAMPIONSHIP
Sunday
(4) Louisville (23-10) vs. (3) Virginia Tech (26-4), 1 p.m., ESPN
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