Notre Dame Seniors Go Out In Style, Beat Virginia Tech
As far as aesthetics and style points, there wasn’t much to talk about after the grinding 64-56 win for Notre Dame Saturday over Virginia Tech.
Neither team moved the ball, cared for the ball, or shot the ball particularly well.
But for Irish senior guard T.J. Gibbs, one of three Notre Dame seniors celebrated at Purcell Pavilion on Senior Day, playing well in what could potentially be his final home game was emotional and personal.
Gibbs led all scorers with 22 points, including 5-of-8 three-pointers, in helping the Irish (19-12; 10-10 ACC) to their eighth win in the last 12 games, and to a .500 final regular-season conference record after starting this year 2-6 in the league … and after going 3-15 last season.
“It was definitely emotional at the beginning, just trying to figure it out,” said Gibbs, whose parents made the long trip from New Jersey to share in this moment. “This being our last game, it’s very emotional, but at the same time, we’re on a mission and we have a lot of work to do and we know that.”
The Hokies (16-15; 7-13) led 7-6 early in the first half before Notre Dame used a 10-minute scoring drought from Virginia Tech to score 13 unanswered and jump to a 19-7 lead.
Fifteen minutes into the first half, the Hokies were 2-of-21 field-goal shooting and 1-of-14 three-point shooting.
As inept as Virginia Tech was offensively in the first half, the Irish probably should’ve been up by 20 at the break, but Notre Dame didn’t play much better, going only 9-of-27 shooting in the first half to take a 28-17 lead into the break.
Remarkably, Virginia Tech held Irish senior forward John Mooney scoreless for the first 31 minutes of this game. Add to that Mooney’s scoreless second half against Florida State last time out, and the first-team All-ACC candidate suffered through a personal scoreless streak of more than 52 minutes.
In Mooney’s absence, Notre Dame got good work off the bench from sophomore guard Dane Goodwin, who recorded 15 points and a career-high nine rebounds with four assists, and sophomore forward Nate Laszewski, who added seven points and three rebounds.
“It’s been an awesome experience, we’re obviously not done yet, we’re still on a mission,” said Mooney, looking forward to the ACC Tournament next week in Greensboro, N.C. “We had a job to do tonight. I feel like we took care of business.”
Player of the Game: Gibbs made his Senior Day a memorable one, scoring 15 of his team-high 22 points in the first half when Notre Dame took control of the game.
Turning Point: Virginia Tech went 9:51 without scoring while the Irish ran off 13 straight points to take a 12-point lead that was never seriously threatened, though the Hokies pulled to within 33-28 four minutes into the second half.
Senior Day Stuff
The Senior Day superlatives are many for the outgoing Irish trio of forward Mooney, Gibbs and senior guard Rex Pflueger, all of whom were celebrated Saturday before and after the game.
“I get to know them when they are 16,” Brey said of his seniors publicly and emotionally thanking their family, friends and fans after the game. “And then to see the three of them get up on the microphone and talk from the heart with class, that’s what our program is all about.”
*Gibbs has somewhat quietly been the best Irish player in ACC games since Notre Dame joined the league in 2013-14. He leads all Irish players during that seven-year league membership in total assists (197), total steals (72), points scored (897), made three-pointers (135), made free throws (192), and minutes played (2,365).
*With only seven points and to go along with a game-high 13 rebounds, Mooney didn’t exactly have a memorable Senior Day offensively, and had his streak of five-straight double-doubles snapped.
But he’ll leave Notre Dame as the program’s all-time leader in rebounding (556) and double-doubles (30) in ACC play, with at least one more game to go. Mooney’s 16 double-doubles this season also set a single-season ACC record.
*For Pflueger, Saturday marked his 140th career game, which broke a tie with former Irish guard Pat Connaughton for the most games played in Notre Dame program history, and currently ties for seventh most in the country.
Pflueger also leads Notre Dame all-time with a 2.23 assist/turnover ratio in ACC games.
“There is just so much to learn from each emotion,” said Pflueger, who between injuries and losing his mother to cancer during his time at Notre Dame was especially overcome Saturday. “Feeling them out there, obviously I don’t like to show them, but I love feeling them so today was something special for me.”
Up Next: A few ACC games still need to go final today before the entire ACC Tournament bracket can be filled out for next week in Greensboro, N.C.
For Notre Dame, it is locked into the No. 7 seed and will play the No. 10 seed — either Virginia Tech or Boston College — Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Win Wednesday and the Irish would play the No. 2 seed at 7 p.m. Thursday — an opponent that would come from the group of Florida State, Louisville, Duke or Virginia.
With classes out for spring break, the Irish will leave for Greensboro on Sunday.
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