Notre Dame Falls To Duke In ACC Tournament Quarterfinals
Notre Dame trailed by just four at the half, but Duke (26-6) pulled away during the final 20 minutes to take down the Irish 88-70 in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.
The Blue Devils shot over 67 percent in the second half to cruise past Notre Dame and start the waiting game for Mike Brey and company. The Irish now await to find out if they have done enough with Bonzie Colson back in the lineup to impress the tournament committee and get an at-large bid.
Here is Blue & Gold Illustrated's half-by-half recap of the Irish loss. Full stats can be FOUND HERE.
FIRST HALF
It was quite the furious pace in the opening minutes with their not being a timeout on the court until 12:43 left in the half.
Duke forward Marvin Bagley got the scoring going with a bucket for Irish guard Rex Pflueger drilled a three-pointer to give Notre Dame the early 3-2 lead.
The Blue Devils got the lead to 12-5 after back-to-back three-pointers from guard Grayson Allen and Bagley. Notre Dame trimmed the lead to 16-14 getting buckets from big man Martinas Geben and Colson.
Then the three-point flurry started. Allen hit a triple which was immediately followed from guard Matt Farrell.
Allen went on a personal 6-0 run getting back-to-back three-pointers to fall to give Duke a 25-17 lead at the 12:43 mark.
Forward Javin DeLaurier got back-to-back buckets for the Blue Devils to extend their lead to 29-19. Allen then connected on another three-pointer to make it 32-19 Duke with 10:09 left before John Mooney got another bucket before the next timeout, 32-21 with 9:42 left.
The Irish were able to trip what grew to a 13-point Duke lead to eight points after nice pass from Geben to Colson putting Notre Dame down 35-27 at the under-8 timeout (7:57). Colson and Geben led the way for the Irish at that point with six points each while Allen for Duke was up to 17 points.
Through 12:03 of game action, Notre Dame was 12-of-26 (46.2 percent) from the floor and 3-of-8 (37.5 percent) behind the arc. Duke countered with a 13-of-20 effort (65 percent) and 6-of-9 (66.7 percent) from three-point territory.
It was 35-31 Duke after Pflueger and Colson hit jumpers before the Irish offense didn’t score a point over the next 3:25 to allow Duke to extend its lead to 40-31 after a three-pointer from guard Gary Trent Jr. and a tipin from big man Marques Bolden.
Even though Duke was 2-of-6 in that stretch the Irish couldn’t take advantage.
Notre Dame finally did start getting six of the final eight points of the half including a dunk by Mooney with the clock running out to make it Duke 41-37 at the break.
Colson finished the half with 10 points and six rebounds to lead the Irish and Geben eight points and six rebounds. Allen had 17 points for Duke while Bagley put up 10 points and eight rebounds.
The Irish shot 17-38 (44.7%) from the floor in the half half including 3-12 (25%) behind the arc. Duke finished 15-34 (44.1%) overall and 7-13 (53.8%) from three-point territory.
SECOND HALF
Notre Dame started the half getting a bucket from Colson to cut Duke’s lead to one possession at 41-39.
The Blue Devils came out firing much like the first half going on a quick 10-run behind six points from Bagley to take a double-digit lead at 51-41 with 16:03 left. Duke was 5-of-7 to start the half while Notre Dame hit two of its first four shots.
Bagley continued his dominance in the game scoring seven-straight points for Duke to help the team increase its lead to 60-47 with 12:48 remaining. At the under-12 timeout, the Blue Devils led 62-50 with 11:55 left. Duke was 9-of-14 from the field while Notre Dame had made 5-of-11 field goals.
Duke stretched its lead to 16 points heading into the under-8 media timeout (7:30) going up 72-56 over the Irish. The Blue Devils were 13-of-20 (65 percent) from the floor at the time while Notre Dame was 8-of-18. Bagley had 27 points and 14 rebounds to lead his team while Colson was up to 18 points and eight rebounds.
Bagley remained unstoppable getting another bucket for his 29th point with Duke leading 76-59 with 6:11 left.
Farrell finally found his range making two-straight three-point attempts, but Duke still kept it’s big lead at 80-64 with 4:09 left. The Blue Devils had made seven-straight field goals to keep the Irish at bay.
It was an uneventful final few minutes with Duke claiming an 88-70 victory over the Irish to move to the ACC Tournament semifinals.
Bagley finished with 33 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Blue Devils to victory. Allen added 23 points to complement Bagley. Overall, Duke shot 36-of-65 (55.4 percent) including 21-of-31 (67.7 percent) during the final 20 minutes. Duke also hit 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) behind the arc.
Colson led the Irish with 18 points and nine rebounds. Geben was not too far behind with 14 points and eight rebounds while Farrell (11), Mooney (10) and Gibbs (9) combined for 29 points to round of the top scorers for Brey’s group.
Notre Dame shot 30-of-67 (44.8 percent) overall, but just 5-of-23 (21.7 percent) behind the arc.
With the loss, the Irish are forced to wait until Sunday to find out if they’ve done enough to impress the tournament committee for a bid.
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