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Notre Dame Defeats UIC 84-67 To Begin 2018-19 Season

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Notre Dame never trailed in an 84-67 win over the University of Illinois-Chicago to begin the 2018-19 season with a victory.

The Irish struggled shooting the ball, but was able to get the job done against the Flames behind 38 points from a quartet of freshmen.

Check out Blue & Gold Illustrated's recap of the contest. Full stats can be FOUND HERE.

FIRST HALF

Notre Dame began the first half with a starting unit of TJ Gibbs, Rex Pflueger, Robby Carmody, DJ Harvey and John Mooney. Carmody became the first freshman to start the opener under Mike Brey since Torin Francis (2002-03).

The Mars, Pa. native picked up a charged and forced a turnover in his opening minutes of action.

Mooney began an early 4-0 run for the Irish with a bucket down low via an offensive board while Carmody notched his first points in transition.

Notre Dame hit three of its first seven attempts to open the game taking an early 8-4 advantage into the first media timeout (15:24).

The Irish freshmen made their mark early in the half helping Notre Dame built an 18-6 advantage (13:35) behind four points from forward Nate Laszewski and three via guard Prentiss Hubb.

UIC closed the gap over the next two minutes making it 20-11 Notre Dame with 11:29 left in the half. The Irish hit 6 of their first 12 attempts while UIC made 5 of 10 to open.

Carmody continued to make a strong impression later in the half coming up with a steal while the Irish were in zone getting a fast break layup. The freshman followed it with another steal receiving a nice applause from the Notre Dame faithful in attendance.

Notre Dame got another fast break layup about a minute later with Gibbs finishing at the rim after an assist from Pflueger to give the Irish a 28-15 edge going into the under-eight media timeout (7:49).

The Irish used the free throw line to continue building its lead making six over the next three-plus minutes to go with five points from freshman guard Dane Goodwin. A three-pointer from the Ohio native pushed the Irish lead to 20 points for the first time at 41-21 with 3:29 remaining in the opening half.

After going 9-of-17 in the first 14 minutes-plus, the Irish hit just one of their next 12 attempts. Luckily for Brey’s group, UIC hit just two of its final 10 shots to end the half and the Irish hit 23-of-24 attempts from the charity stripe.

Notre Dame took a 46-23 lead into the break behind seven points from Gibbs and Goodwin. Carmody was next with six while Laszewski and Hubb each added five. Laszewski led the team with five rebounds in the first half.

The Irish shot 10-of-29 (34.5 percent) in the first half including just 3-of-11 (27.3 percent) behind the arc. Notre Dame held a 27-15 edge on the boards while also forcing 10 turnovers to seven of their own.

SECOND HALF

Notre Dame missed its first three shots of the half before knocking in three-straight, including back-to-back buckets from Mooney, to get the offense back on track.

The Irish underclassmen continued their strong play from the first half notching the next nine points of the half with Harvey, Laszewski and Goodwin each getting three apiece. Goodwin and Harvey converted and-one attempts while Laszewski sandwiched a three-point between them.

Seven of the first 14 Irish attempts in the half found the bucket helping the team to a 68-37 advantage with 11:31 remaining. Harvey, Goodwin and Carmody each had 10 points to that point.

An 8-2 run fueled by an and-one conversion from Pflueger help extend the Irish lead to 76-40 with 8:48. UIC answered with a 9-4 run of their own to close it back down to 80-49 at the under-eight media timeout. Laszewski scored both baskets for Notre Dame during the stretch pushing his total up to 12 points, which led all Irish scorers to that point.

The Irish missed their next four shots to continue a tough half from the field (11-of-28) through the first 16 minutes of the final half. UIC didn’t make much progress as well making it a 82-53 Notre Dame lead with 3:48 remaining.

During the stretch, Carmody exited the game and headed to the locker room grabbing his left shoulder.

Notre Dame would hit just 1-of-5 of their final attempts to allow UIC to make the contest closer than it was for much of its entirety finishing at 84-67.

Laszewski led the Irish in points (12) and rebounds (nine) in his first collegiate game. Carmody finished with 11 while Harvey, Goodwin and Mooney each added 10. Overall, the Irish got 38 points from the four freshmen that played (Hubb ended with five). Notre Dame shot 22-of-62 (35.5%) from the floor and 4-of-22 (18.2%) behind the arc while hitting 36-of-38 from the free throw line.

Gibbs scored nine points (2-of-12 overall) and Elijah Burns and Juwan Durham contributed six points.

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