Notre Dame Collapses — Again — In ACC Tournament Loss To Clemson, 68-63
Notre Dame’s NCAA Tournament hopes took a hit at Greensboro, N.C., on Thursday night with a 68-63 loss to the Clemson Tigers in the 2021 ACC Tournament.
Entering the contest with a 10-9 record, the Fighting Irish were listed as the “last team in” per Charlie Creme’s ESPN Bracketology.
Getting upset as the No. 6 seed to No. 11 seed Clemson — 2-11 in its previous 13 games, losers of six straight and not victorious since Jan. 31 — might have put them on the wrong side of the proverbial bubble.
Head coach Niele Ivey and her squad will have to wait until March 15 to find out their postseason fate.
Meanwhile, a season-long theme of fourth-quarter collapses and a plethora of turnovers reared their heads again (see “Three-Point Play” below).
Notre Dame built a 52-42 advantage with 1:33 remaining in the third quarter before the lead was whittled down to 54-50 entering the fourth. This included a four-point play by Clemson freshman guard Gabby Elliott. The Irish then were outscored 18-9 in those final 10 minutes.
After converting 21 of 37 field goals (56.8 percent) the first three quarters, Notre Dame was 4 of 14 (28.6 percent) in the fourth to go with six turnovers that put their final count in the game at 23.
Clemson owned a whopping 29-6 advantage in points off turnovers, pulled in 18 offensive rebounds and did not allow Notre Dame to score for 4:21 before finally tallying with 15 seconds left. Ivey said closing out games has been a point of emphasis at practice in recent weeks, but the actual execution of them in game situations has become a severe mental roadblock.
“With all the games that we’ve had tough fourth quarters, I thought it would be something we would have grown from after we’ve been in these moments,” Ivey lamented. “We continue to lose our composure, and try to use some of the timeouts to calm them down.
“It’s a little bit of just growth and experience. We have a young point guard [freshman Olivia Miles]. I thought Olivia played really well. She did turn the ball over [seven times] uncharacteristically at times, but it’s something we have to grow with as a team. I’m still trying to find that answer and I’m hoping that I could try to help them more.”
ACC Rookie of the Year Maddy Westbeld led the Irish with 21 points and nine rebounds, converting her first nine shots from the field and finishing 10 of 11 overall. Miles and junior guard Dara Mabrey had 10 points apiece. Miles also handed out eight assists and pulled down five rebounds in 30 minutes, a remarkable effort from someone who enrolled in January and should be just now completing her senior year in high school.
Aiding the Notre Dame collapse was its top two low-post figures, Sam Brunelle and Mikki Vaughn, fouled out with 2:53 and 2:31, respectively, remaining in the game.
A layup by Clemson's Elliott — who scored a career-high 25 points — with 1:28 remaining put the Tigers ahead 61-60 for the first time since the opening minutes of the first quarter. Later with the shot-clock running down, Tigers three-point specialist Kendall Spray converted a desperation three with 18 seconds left that banked in — though the officiating crew stopped play to verify if her foot wasn’t inside the three-point arc — to provide a four-point cushion.
Westbeld converted a basket-and-one with 14 seconds left to cut the deficit to 64-63, but three seconds later Clemson’s Amari Robinson knocked down two free throws. A three-point attempt by Mabrey to tie it hit the back iron, and Spray sealed it with two more free throws for the 68-63 final.
Ivey and Westbeld both deferred to the NCAA Tournament committee on whether the Irish will be dancing later this month.
“We think too much, and in the fourth quarter we try not to turn the ball over,” Westbeld said. “In our heads we’re thinking, ‘Don’t turn the ball over’ and I think when that’s conscious in our minds — we just overthink.
“… I gave up a lot of offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter, and that was huge. That’s definitely what helped them get back.”
“They came out and fought until the end," Ivey said of Clemson's rally. "I thought we came out and set the tone the way that I wanted to as far as our team. Then in the second half, I thought Clemson fought all the way to the end and had a tremendous fourth quarter.”
Three-Point Play
1. Distressing Pattern Continues
• In the opener at Ohio U., the Irish built a 77-70 lead with 6:03 left before suffering an 86-85 loss. It would be a harbinger.
• At Boston College on Jan. 7, the Eagles rallied to victory after trailing 60-48 with only 2:41 remaining, and were also down as much as 14 (58-44).
• At North Carolina Jan. 24, the Irish built their largest lead at 70-63 with 4:36 left before the Tar Heels closed with a 15-3 run to win 78-73.
• On Jan. 31 at Syracuse, Notre Dame led by 15 the first half (30-15), 44-34 at the half, and 65-58 through three quarters — and then were outscored 23-4 in the fourth quarter while converting just 2 of 14 shots from the field (14.3 percent) in those final 10 minutes.
And now, this.
2. Second Chances
In addition to holding a 29-6 advantage in points off turnovers, Clemson crushed Notre Dame in offensive rebounds with an 18-6 advantage. That resulted in a whopping 18-4 disparity for the Tigers in second-chance points.
3. Mulligan Year?
Considering that Notre Dame was 13-18 last year even with a Naismith Hall of Fame head coach in Muffet McGraw, the 10-10 record of her hand-picked successor is at least improvement during a challenging pandemic year. Maybe it is still enough to result in an NCAA Tournament bid this season.
But the eye test and proclivity to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory was unsettling while learning on the job as a first-time head coach. The learning curve needs to accelerate dramatically next season on a roster that will feature six McDonald's All-Americans plus top-10 recruit Miles. About a handful of teams can say they have that much talent on paper.
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