Notre Dame Defeats Cardinal Stritch 90-46 In Final Exhibition
Notre Dame finished up its preparation for the 2017-2018 campaign with a 90-46 win over Cardinal Stritch in the third and final exhibition for the Irish.
The Irish jumped out to a 17-2 lead in the game’s first 8:08 of action to help take a 41-22 lead into halftime. Notre Dame also used a 29-9 in the first 10:06 of the second half to even further their advantage and never led by less than 10 points over the game’s final 33:42.
All five Irish starters scored in double figures with senior forward Bonzie Colson leading the way with 19 points and 14 rebounds both which were team highs. Junior guard Rex Pflueger displayed his value scoring 17 points, grabbing six boards and dishing three assists.
Senior point guard Matt Farrell notched 10 points and six assists, sophomore guard TJ Gibbs scored 14 points and senior big man Martinas Geben recorded 10 points and six rebounds to round out the scoring for the Irish starting five.
Freshman wing DJ Harvey scored 10 points to lead the bench scoring while big men John Mooney and Elijah Burns contributed five and four points respectively. Mooney finished second on the team with seven total rebounds.
Notre Dame continued to play well on the defensive end holding Cardinal Stritch to 31.1 percent (19-of-61) from the field including 26.1 percent (6-of-23) from behind the arc. The Irish also added eight steals and six blocks to their credit while forcing 17 total turnovers.
On the flip side, Notre Dame shot 34-of-71 (47.9 percent) from the field including an even 50 percent (14-of-28) in the first half.
During the team’s first two exhibitions against Holy Cross College and Bethel, Notre Dame shot a combined 5-of-37 from the three-point line. The Irish snapped out of their woes a bit in the final tune up recording a 9-of-27 (33.3 percent) mark including 4-of-10 (40 percent) in the first half.
Notre Dame outscored the Wolves 46-16 in the paint while securing a 50-36 rebounding advantage. The Irish converted 17 turnovers by the Wolves into 19 points.
Now the Irish turn their attention to Saturday where they travel to Chicago to take on DePaul to open the 2017-2018 campaign.
Three-Point Play
1. Improvement From Deep
Granted it’s just an exhibition contest, it is a positive sign for the Irish that it’s three-point shooting improved heading into the season.
But if the Irish are going to reach its goals this season then the three-point line, and the offense in general, will need to continue being somewhat of a weapon. So far, it appears Notre Dame will try to find open threes while beating teams off the dribble and knocking down jumpers and getting to the free throw line.
The real test for Notre Dame begins Saturday against DePaul in terms of determining where the Irish stand on both ends of the court.
2. Rotation
Notre Dame will begin its season with a starting five of Farrell, Gibbs, Pflueger, Colson and Geben. Tonight’s game against the Wolves was likely a glimpse to what to expect against DePaul on Saturday.
Burns and Harvey were the first two off the bench and played 15 minutes and 19 minutes respectively tonight. Both will play important roles for the Irish this season serving as the first players — for the time being — off the bench for the frontcourt and perimeter.
Mooney’s play also impressed Brey and will factor into the rotation as will redshirt freshman guard Nik Djogo, who played seven minutes tonight. Their minutes could fluctuate depending on the matchup. Senior big man Austin Torres played three minutes as he eases back into the rotation.
3. Irish Defense
Mike Brey’s statement early in the preseason regarding the Irish defense in relation to the offense continues to ride true as the team heads into the regular season. Notre Dame forced 17 turnovers including eight steals while blocking eight shots.
The Irish held Holy Cross and Cardinal Stritch to under 35 percent while Bethel managed to shoot 42.9 percent from the field.
During the three games, Notre Dame forced an average of 15.67 turnovers which plays into Brey’s assessment that he felt this team created more ball deflections than his previous teams.
Again the Irish played three NAIA programs, but the Irish showed their defense could be taking a step up overall.
----
• Talk about it inside Rockne’s Roundtable
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD,
@BGI_DMcKinney and @BGI_CoreyBodden.
• Like us on Facebook.