Notre Dame Men's Basketball Notebook
Remember back in December when Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey was talking about how the Fighting Irish defense is what the 2019-20 team had to hang its hat on after last year’s 3-15 finish in the ACC?
“That was a sale’s job,” admitted Brey this week as his Fighting Irish prepared to host Pitt this Wednesday (6:30 p.m. ACC Network) with the hope to increase their winning streak to three.
No one's kidding himself. The identity for 20 seasons under Brey has been efficient offense and proficient scoring as an offshoot. That has returned as the Irish embark on the second half of the ACC schedule with a 4-6 league mark (13-8 overall).
While losing its last seven regular season games in the league last year, the extremely green Notre Dame unit averaged a measly 59.7 points per game.
The mojo has come back on offense the past five games, beginning with a 78-74 win at Georgia Tech Jan. 15, and then four straight contests with at least 80 points — 84-82 and 85-84 defeats to Syracuse and No. 8 Florida State — followed by 90-80 and 80-72 conquests of Wake Forest and Georgia Tech, respectively.
The efficiency has come from leading the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.78), just ahead of Gonzaga, and placing second in fewest turnovers per game (9.71).
The proficiency is coming from better overall marksmanship that has upped this year’s scoring average to 76.8 — second only to Duke’s 83.4 in the 15-team ACC.
All-America candidate John Mooney is a given, but the improvement of the backcourt trio with senior T.J. Gibbs and sophomores Dane Goodwin and Prentiss Hubb has especially been conspicuous.
• Putting way too much of the onus on himself last year, Gibbs’ shooting fell to .347 from the field and .318 from three-point range during his junior campaign.
This year the former is up to .420 and the latter .403.
In 10 ACC games Gibbs is third in field-goal percentage (.528), second in three-point field-goal percentage (.481) and first in free-throw percentage (.902).
• Goodwin has scored in double figures in each of Notre Dame’s last six games and is the lone player in the ACC averaging double figures this season with less than three games started.
Last year he had a .376 field-goal percentage, and .343 from three. This year he is at .464 and .417, respectively.
• Hubb as a freshman was .324 from the floor and .262 beyond the arc. This year it’s .387 overall, and .351 from three-point land.
There is a confluence of various factors that have made the Irish potent again on offense, led by experience and better chemistry.
“T.J. Gibbs has settled into a nice tempo and is knowing how to get his stuff and is playing with a great demeanor,” Brey said. “Rex [Pflueger] is finding people, his court vision is at a really high level. Prentiss is finding people and, when we need him to, scoring. Not necessarily [at home] but on the road.
“Dane is being really aggressive. I’m pleased with how he is trying to get shots and hunt it.”
Downshifting with Goodwin into a four-guard offense has enabled the Irish to spread the floor and also set a more aggressive pace. Goodwin last year in particular as a freshman developed a rut of overthinking and tentativeness.
“We’ve seen Prentiss deliver, and now we’re kind of really seeing Dane playing with an edge and going for it, forcing some stuff offensively,” Brey said.
“That’s who we’ve been. When we can get into that rhythm, we’ve got a shot to beat anybody, which we’ve shown we can do.”
HUBB'S HOME-COURT DISADVANTAGE
In 10 ACC games — five at home and five on the road — the disparity in Hubb’s shooting stats has been remarkable.
In five league road games, Hubb is 39 of 79 from the floor (.494) and a stellar 23 of 47 (.489) from three-point range.
In five ACC home games, he is 11 of 52 from the floor (.212) and 8 of 36 from beyond the arc (.222).
Often, it would be the other way around for players. Fortunately, he brings his defense, passing and other elements of his game home or away, but the shooting somewhat speaks to his mentality.
“When people poke at him like at Georgia Tech after he shot the air ball, when a crowd or player pokes at him a little bit, he gets going,” Brey said.
“For some reason, I don’t think he feels here — and I haven’t verbalized this to him but I will over the next couple of days — he has a little bit of ‘us against the world’ on the road, because he’s even more talkative in the huddles.
“I’ve got to figure out how to create that road mindset … He loves when they’re on him and maybe I should plant three students on the base line just to rip him.”
NOT DOWN ON DURHAM
Because Goodwin’s production in a four-man guard lineup has been so effective collectively for the team, 6-11 center Juwan Durham has been the odd-man out and seen fewer minutes.
Thus, it’s been important to keep him engaged and not get discouraged — although Brey does like for now beginning the game with Durham and Mooney while having Goodwin come off as the instant-offense, sixth-man spark
“It’s not necessarily that you’re playing poorly or doing something wrong,” said Brey of what he’s been imparting to Durham. “ It’s something this other group is doing right right now.”
Brey said Durham has remained the consummate team player.
“We have to keep him alive because you just never know when he’s going to play 28 minutes and have to be a key guy,” Brey said.
Such an example occurred in the 85-84 loss at No. 8 FSU on Jan. 25 when Durham played 28 minutes and tallied 16 points to go with nine rebounds.
MOVIN' ON UP
While Louisville (10-1), Florida State (9-2) and Duke (8-2) have separated themselves from the 15-team ACC pack as of Tuesday, the No. 4 to 6 spots remain wide open.
That is significant given that the ACC might this year have only four and maybe five teams selected for the NCAA Tournament.
Reigning national champion Virginia is fourth at 6-4 and Syracuse fifth at 6-5 — and the remaining 10 are 5-6 or worse.
That means with a victory by 4-6 Notre Dame on Wednesday at home versus 5-6 Pitt, the Irish could inch into the top half of the standings before the three-game road swing at Clemson (Sunday Feb. 9), Virginia (Tuesday, Feb. 11) and Duke (Saturday, Feb. 15).
Still a lot of water to tread, but not sunk yet.
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