Notre Dame rallies past Radford to avoid upset in season opener
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When the chaos kicks in, Mike Brey figures his veteran team has a little bit of an edge.
If that’s the case, it was just enough Thursday night for his Notre Dame men’s basketball team to escape with a 79-76 season-opening victory over Radford at Purcell Pavilion.
“There may have been a couple times under 10 minutes tonight when you might not think so,” said Brey.
Actually, there were more than a couple.
Down nine with 12:37 to go.
Down seven at the 12:13 mark.
Down five with 5:19 to play.
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Trey Wertz, one of six grad students on the club, was the calming presence in the second half, hitting some of the critical shots to stabilize the offense in the second half and one especially clutch pass to teammate Cormac Ryan for a layup and 77-76 Irish lead with 9.5 seconds to play.
It was actually a 5-on-4 situation in the Irish favor in the sequence when Ryan tangled under the Radford hoop with DaQuan Smith. As they untangled, Smith stayed down, and Ryan took off. Trailing on the play, he found a seam in the defense and Wertz found him close to the bucket.
“I saw him coming into the picture (from behind),” said Wertz, who had 18 points that included a 4-for-5 performance from the 3-point line, a team-high four assists and three rebounds.
“He is a calming presence with the ball,” Brey said of Wertz. “He’s really got a feel for things.”
Ryan’s bucket off the feed made it 77-76 Irish, but the school from Virginia and the Big South Conference had time to produce more angst for the 4,698 in attendance.
Josiah Jeffers, who had 13 points, drove down the right side of the lane and got to the side of the basket before lofting a shot over Ryan. It bounced off the rim with two seconds to play and Nate Laszewski grabbed his 12th rebound before being fouled.
He hit both free throws to put it away, fitting considering he started the game by scoring ND’s first nine points, and tied his career best with 28 points
But it was a struggle all night for the Irish to separate, their biggest lead reaching seven late in the first half. Radford, led by 20 points from Kenyon Giles, grabbed some late momentum to get it to 40-39 at the end of the first half.
“They have some good guards, and they were making some tough shots,” Brey said.
It was a slugfest the rest of the way against a team that came to Purcell in November of 2018 and knocked off the Irish by three.
“Radford will never come back to play here again during my tenure,” joked Brey, who is now 23-0 in home openers at ND.
“Their experience is a big benefit,” said Radford coach Darris Nichols, whose team features 13 newcomers, including eight transfers. “And when one through five can shoot the ball, they’re always going to be in it.”
Not all shot well for the Irish. Starters Dane Goodwin went 1-for-8 overall and Ryan was 0-for-5 from 3-point range.
The unranked Irish were double-digit favorites coming in but didn’t look the part for much of the night. They played without their transfer grad student guard Marcus Hammond, who is nursing a strained knee ligament. He is expected to miss Sunday’s home game against Youngstown State (4 p.m.) and likely more.
The starting five picked up the slack by staying on the floor. Goodwin, Ryan, Laszewski and Wertz all played over 36 of the 40 minutes.
Even freshman guard JJ Starling was on the court for more than 30 minutes and flashed some of the potential that made him the 22nd ranked recruit in the country by Rivals.
He was 2-for-4 from three, totaled nine points and got fouled on a strong drive to the bucket with 46 seconds to play. He hit one of two free throws to get the Irish within one at 76-75.
With more grad students (6) than any other Power 5 team in the country, Brey sees another benefit – experienced players know how to draw fouls and get to the line.
Brey called it a weapon – “old guys know how to play through things,” he said – and it saved his club against the Highlanders, who were coming off a 79-69 loss Monday to Marquette.
The Irish went 21-for-25 from the line to Radford’s 8-for-12. No one mixed it up more than Laszewski who was a handful for the Highlanders with his drives and play around the bucket. He finished 12-of-15 from the line.
“It was a physical game, but it was fun to play,” Laszewski said.
Freshman Ven-Allen Lubin was the only player to leave the bench for Notre Dame and most of it came in the first half. He had a highlight dunk on a rebound of a missed Goodwin jumper and finished with six points, but Brey kept him on the bench for most of the second half, preferring to put his trust in the veterans in a tight season opener.
There will be better days for the Irish. They had an edge on the boards at 32-29, but also had 10 turnovers to only 11 assists – not a typical Irish performance. They also forced only six Radford turnovers after the Highlanders had committed 15 in the loss to Marquette.
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