Notre Dame follows familiar plot, survives a scare from underdog Boston U.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When does a trend morph into an identity?
It might be a little soon to draw any lasting conclusions about the true nature of this Notre Dame’s men’s basketball team, but its capacity to turn comfortable leads into close calls — against teams, frankly that it shouldn’t — may be part of its DNA.
Twice wasting big leads against visiting Boston University (5-5) — a team without a win over a Power 5 team since 2019 — the 7-2 Irish hung on for an 81-75 victory at Purcell Pavilion on Wednesday night.
Hung on — despite shooting 49.1% from the field, 52.9% from 3-point range and 83.3% from the free throw line.
“We're good at winning close games,” said Notre Dame’s Cormac Ryan, who led the Irish with 21 points on a 6-for-7 shooting night (4-of-4 from 3, 5-for-6 on free throws). “I think that's a quality that's helped us and will continue to help us down the stretch. I think we'd prefer to not be in close games. But getting a win is a win …”
The Irish failed in the high-wire act on Saturday to Syracuse, losing by a point, and the big question looms about how this will all play out when the Irish go on the road. To date, it’s been eight home games and one neutral-site game (loss to St. Bonaventure).
Notre Dame came in averaging 72.4 points to their opponents’ 66.9, not exactly a comfortable margin considering those games included only two contests against Power 5 teams.
Another serious test comes Sunday, when 7-3 Marquette (4 p.m. ESPN2) visits.
“It’s a great opportunity, man,“ Irish head coach Mike Brey said of that meeting. “They're coming in. They’re pressing, and you know, up on you (defensively) and playing fast and driving…”
And it’s understood that surviving a noteworthy opponent like Marquette can be a factor come NCAA Selection Sunday.
Brey and the Irish just hope they have their top scorer available on Sunday.
With the Irish holding a 68-55 lead in the second half, 6-foot-10 grad student Nate Laszewski, averaging 15 points and 8.4 rebounds coming in, had the ball in the lane and was inadvertently poked in the eye by the Terriers’ Fletcher Tynen.
He was down for a few minutes and left the game at the 7:33 mark with nine points and nine rebounds.
“He got poked in the eye, and they dilated it right away. So there's no way he's coming back in the game,” Brey said. “They're going to have an eye guy (doctor) look at him (later Wednesday night). And I'm feeling pretty optimistic that he'll play on Sunday.”
Freshman JJ Starling made the two free throws in Laszewski’s place for a 70-55 lead, but it was all shaky for the Irish from there, especially the next three minutes when they were outscored 11-2 to set the score at 72-66 at the 4:09 mark.
Game back on.
Again.
“I didn't think they could shoot it that well from out there, but they certainly did,” Brey said of Boston’s 3-point shooting (12-of-29, 41.4% compared to its average of just 30.1% coming in). “Some were tough shots. Some were (defensive) mistakes, but I thought we made plays to win a game and escape, and without Nate down the stretch.”
Boston, which lost to UConn 86-57 on Nov. 11 and had lost three in a row coming in, had a chance to trim the deficit to four at the 3-minute mark, but Nevin Zink’s open putback rebound rolled out.
From there the Irish worked the paint hard to get to the free throw line, and in the final 2:48 finished 9-for-12 from the stripe.
One of the key defensive plays down the stretch was by freshman Ven-Allen Lubin. He blocked a shot – one of his three – by Ethan Brittain-Watts, who led the Terriers with 19 points. Lubin grabbed the carom and took off on a breakaway. He was fouled before he got to the basket and hit one of two free throws for a 78-72 lead with 31.3 seconds to play.
Lubin, a freshman, had nine points and five rebounds in 18 minutes, providing some help inside after Laszewski left.
“It was kind of neat to see Ven being a key guy and making some great plays for us,” Brey said.
A crowd announced at 4,966 (tickets sold) that appeared to be about half that size, saw the Irish methodically build a 13-point lead by the 7:24 mark in the first half, helped largely by Ryan’s early 3-for-3 shooting from 3-point range and 11 first-half points.
But some defensive cracks started to show and Boston started to climb back, getting it to 36-29 at the break as it outscored the Irish 12-6 in the paint in the first half.
The Terriers finally overtook the Irish in the second half, at 40-38 with 17:40 to go, on Walter Whyte’s 3-pointer.
Less than a minute later the Irish got a 3 from Ryan and never lost the lead again.
It should have been easier than it was, especially after an offensive blitz by Trey Wertz, who emerged from a four-game shooting slump.
His back-to-back 3s, one after one of Ryan’s four steals, gave the Irish some breathing room. He followed with an assist for an easy Laszewski layup. His three-point play was next, and one possession later he added a long 3 with the shot clock down to one. He had 14 of his 16 points in a five-minute stretch for a 62-46 edge by the 11:13 mark.
“I'm never gonna stop shooting,” said Wertz of the slump. “But I think to get in the flow just mixing it up and getting some different looks (drives to the basket) helped. It's kind of hard to just stand out there and shoot 3s all day.”
The Irish got 15 points from Starling. And Dane Goodwin, shooting almost 50% from the field coming in, added nine, but he struggled on 2-for-10 shooting.
The Irish came in leading the country in fewest turnovers per game at 8.9 and had eight against the Terriers. They also came in at No. 1 in fewest fouls per game at 10.5, but had 16 Wednesday, 11 in the second half and a chunk coming after Laszewski left.
They did better work in the lane in the second half — outscored only 24-22 for the game — but were outrebounded 35-31, including 10-5 on the offensive glass.
Relying on the 3-point shot has its risks, obviously, and Brey knows the inside game needs some work.
“I’m still trying to help us with how we throw it into the post, and how we play inside-out, and who we play off of,” Brey said. “There's three candidates there with Dane, Ven and Nate, and how much do we do that and how do we get it there? … It's something we've worked on and we’ve got to keep working on it."
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