No. 4 Duke Uses 25-4 Second Half Run To Defeat Notre Dame 88-66
Notre Dame (13-9, 3-6) had cut a 12-point deficit to six with just over 12 minutes remaining before Duke (19-3, 7-3) ripped off a 25-4 stretch to take down the Irish 88-66 at home.
Duke led for essentially the entirety of the first half and opening several minutes of the second, but Notre Dame kept hanging around despite being outmanned. The Blue Devils run put the team up 86-56 with four minutes remaining and handed Notre Dame its sixth-straight loss.
Here is a half-by-half recap of the Irish loss.
FIRST HALF
Freshman Duke forward Marvin Bagley was aggressive in the opening minute getting four quick points to give the Blue Devils the early lead.
Sophomore guard TJ Gibbs got the ball rolling for Notre Dame getting a tough bucket to fall, but couldn’t convert the and-one opportunity. Junior guard Rex Pflueger found sophomore forward John Mooney for a three-pointer to give the Irish an early 5-4 lead with 17:59 left.
Duke scored a quick five points thanks to a layup from freshman guard Trevon Duval and a three-pointer from fellow freshman guard Gary Trent Jr. after a scrum on a missed shot. The Blue Devils took an 11-7 lead into the under-16 media timeout.
The Blue Devils then started to roll on offense getting five points from guard Grayson Allen and three from freshman forward Wendell Carter Jr. to go on a quick 8-0 run to go up 19-9 with 12:11 left in the half.
Notre Dame countered with a 7-2 run over the next near two minutes to close the gap to 21-17 with 10:24 left.
Mooney would continue his three-point barrage hitting two more over the next few minutes to push his total up 12 points at the under-8 media timeout, but Duke increased its lead to 33-25.
The Irish chipped away at the lead again with a layup from Pflueger and a pair of free throws from junior forward Elijah Burns. But, Duke continued to be efficient on offense hitting 6-of-7 fields at one point to take a 39-30 lead at the under-4 media timeout.
Senior big man Martinas Geben hit a pair of free throws while Gibbs got a runner to fall to again close the Duke lead at 39-34 with just over two minutes remaining.
Both teams combined to finish 1-of-6 from the floor in the final two minutes with the lone basket coming via a three-pointer from Allen to give Duke a 42-34 edge at the break.
Mooney (12) and Gibbs (11) combined for 23 of the team’s 34 points. Geben had the next highest total at four points.
Notre Dame finished the half 11-of-36 (30.6 percent) from the floor including 4-of-15 (26.7 percent) behind the arc. Duke countered with a 15-of-33 (45.5 percent) performance and 6-of-12 (50 percent) from the three-point line.
Trent Jr. led all scorers with 14 points while the Blue Devils got 11 points from Allen and seven via Carter Jr.
SECOND HALF
Pflueger hit a tough three-pointer to open the half with the shot clock winding down to give the Irish some momentum. But, Duke went on an 8-0 run fueled by five points from Bagley to regain control at 50-37 with 18:10 left.
Duke took a 56-44 lead into the under-16 media timeout. Notre Dame started the half 4-of-5 with four more points going to Gibbs while the Blue Devils hit five of their first seven attempts in the opening minutes.
Notre Dame continued to fight and responded with an 8-2 run behind four points from Gibbs and buckets by Mooney and Torres to make the Irish deficit 58-52 with 12:21 left. But, Duval hit a big three-pointer to swing momentum back to Duke heading into the under-12 timeout up 61-52.
Duke got a quick 4-0 run out of the break with paint baskets from Carter Jr. and Allen to force an Irish timeout up 65-52 with just over 11 minutes left.
The Blue Devils went on an 11-4 run after the break to take complete control of the game and go up by a game-high 18 points (74-56) with 8:11. The Irish lost Mooney to five fouls in the process.
Six of those 11 points for Duke were the backend of that run, but were the beginning of an 18-0 run for the Blue Devils which included two three-pointers from Trent Jr. and one from forward Jack White. Carter Jr. added six points well.
The big run pushed Duke’s lead to 30 points (86-56) with 4:26 left in the half. Five-straight points from sophomore Irish guard Nik Djogo stopped the bleeding.
Duke coasted the final few minutes capturing an 88-66 win over the Irish in a game which the Blue Devils led for all but 28 combined seconds.
Gibbs led all Irish scorers with 22 points on 6-of-16 shooting. Mooney’s 14 points were second on the team while Djogo finished with 10. Geben added eight points while Pflueger went for six points and six rebounds.
The Irish shot 22-of-61 (36.1 percent) overall and 7-of-25 (28 percent) behind the arc. Duke finished 32-of-64 (50 percent) from the field while connecting on 12-of-20 (60 percent) of its three-point attempts.
Trent Jr. tied Gibbs with 22 points while grabbing 10 rebounds. Allen finished with 18 points and Carter Jr. added 17 points. Duval and Bagley each had 12 points.
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