Notre Dame Cruises To ACC Tourney Win, While Event Faces Coronavirus Chaos
Based on the down-to-the-wire history shared by Notre Dame and Boston College from their two previous meetings in the regular season, seeing the Irish as a 10-point favorite Wednesday seemed surprising.
But given some terrific defensive work, 10 made three-pointers and balanced Notre Dame scoring, the 10 points weren’t nearly enough for BC as the Irish cruised to an 80-58 win at Greensboro Coliseum in the Second Round of the ACC Tournament.
The previous two games between these two long-time Catholic rivals, which ND and BC split, were both decided in the closing seconds and by one point, not this one.
Notre Dame’s 22-point margin of victory matched its biggest lead of the game and became the 14th win for the Irish (20-12) in the last 15 meetings with Boston College (13-19).
“I’m thrilled with how we played on both ends. I thought we were really ready, really focused,” Irish head coach Mike Brey said immediately after the victory. “Anytime we can get that thing to 80 (points) and make double-digit threes, that’s how we have to advance and beat people in this league.”
Relying on an active zone defense, Notre Dame limited the Eagles to just 20-of-59 shooting for the game (33.9 percent) and held fifth-year BC guard Derrick Thorton, the Eagles leading scorer, without a point on 0-of-9 field goals.
“Our defense kind of sparked us,” Brey said.
Led by senior guard T.J. Gibbs with 16 points, the Irish put five players in double digits.
Sophomore guard Dane Goodwin, who got his first start of the season, finished with 15 points. Sophomore guard Prentiss Hubb had 14, senior forward Juwan Durham added 12 and sophomore forward Nate Laszewski had 10.
Battling foul trouble most of the game, Irish senior forward John Mooney finished with eight points, though he did lead the Irish with 11 rebounds.
Outside of some poor shooting to start the game, Notre Dame was aggressive defensively and efficient offensively throughout, finishing with a 44-36 rebounding advantage and 19 assists to only eight turnovers.
“The thing about us is when we move the ball and we play how we play,” Gibbs explained, “I think the sky’s the limit for this team. We know that we’re good.”
The Irish advance to the quarterfinal round (Final Eight) to play Virginia (23-7).
Popular belief remains the Irish need to beat the Cavaliers and win two more games after that to claim the conference tourney title to have any chance of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament … if the NCAA Tournament is actually played this year.
In an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus and COVID-19, ACC officials announced Wednesday that the remainder of the league tournament at Greensboro Coliseum will be played without fans in attendance.
In a first half marked by bad shooting, especially from Boston College, Notre Dame used an extended 18-3 scoring run over six minutes to build a 36-21 halftime lead was never seriously threatened.
Player of the Game: Durham, who came off the bench and didn’t start for the first time in 32 games this season, scored seven straight points for Notre Dame — and nine of his 12 in the first half — to help the Irish pull away early.
Turning Point: With Notre Dame leading only 12-9 and 11 minutes remaining in the first half, Boston College missed seven straight shots while Notre Dame went on an 8-0 scoring run that pushed the lead into double digits and turned this one into a snoozer.
Tourney Success
The win over Boston College made Notre Dame 10-5 in the ACC Tournament during its seven years in the league.
It has played in the title game twice, won it once (2015), and only once has it lost in the opening-round (2014).
Coronavirus Concerns
On a day when the entire professional and college sports world took some serious hits over the spread of coronavirus, Brey was asked after the game about having fans barred from attending the remainder of the ACC Tournament.
“I’ve got a band and cheerleaders, I’ve got a heck of a travel party down here,” Brey said, “and so moving forward after this week, is going to be really interesting as we all are probably getting a feel for it. But I mean, that was the decision, and I think the ACC did a great job reacting quickly. I thought there’s no way — after I saw the NCAA’s decision — that we’d have people in the building tomorrow. I even thought maybe they’d shut it down tonight.”
Up Next: After muddling along to a 15-7 start this season, Virginia enters tonight’s ACC Tournament quarterfinal matchup against Notre Dame (7 p.m. EST, ESPN or ESPN2) on an eight-game winning streak and as one of the hottest teams in the country.
Right through Notre Dame’s heart-breaking 50-49 overtime loss in Charlottesville, Va., one month ago, Virginia and its head coach Tony Bennett have been the biggest thorn for Brey during his 20 years coaching the Irish.
Bennett is 8-1 against Brey in ACC games and he also went 2-0 against Brey’s Irish while the former was the head coach at Washington State.
The lone victory for Brey against Bennett came in the quarterfinal round of the 2017 ACC Tournament, a victory that helped propel Notre Dame to the conference championship game where it lost against Duke.
Notre Dame is only 2-13 all-time versus the Cavaliers.
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