Notre Dame Struggles Late Again, Falls 73-68 At NC State
Hoping the early-season, late-game struggles and inability to close out victories were behind after a gritty one-point win Saturday at Syracuse, Notre Dame exhumed old demons Wednesday in a 73-68 loss at NC State.
The Irish led by as many as 12 points in the second half, and for all but about three minutes of this entire game, but were out-muscled and outscored 21-9 during a 10-minute stretch through the middle stages of the second half that turned a 51-39 Irish advantage into a 60-60 dogfight Notre Dame didn’t survive over the last five minutes.
With Irish standout senior forward and the nation’s leading rebounder John Mooney playing less aggressively because of foul trouble, NC State (11-4, 2-2 ACC) secured 11 offensive rebounds in the second half and scored 12 second-chance points to secure a critical win that kept Notre Dame (10-5 1-3 ACC) from its second-straight road victory, and instead handed it another disappointing loss.
“We couldn’t get a rebound,” Irish head coach Mike Brey said afterward. “Their physicality really hurt us in the second half.”
Expecting to need at least 80 points Wednesday, and perhaps even 90, to beat an NC State team that was averaging 80.2 points a game this season, Brey’s team seemed on pace with a 39-34 halftime lead, but scored only 29 points in the second half.
NC State took the lead for good at 68-66, it’s first advantage of the game since being up 10-7 early in the first half.
The Wolfpack went 6-of-7 foul shooting during the last 1:38 of the game to secure the win.
Irish sophomore guard Prentiss Hubb paced only three Irish double-digit scorers with a career high 24 points. Mooney and senior guard T.J. Gibbs each added 14 points.
The hope was to keep this game up-tempo to stay away from a half-court grind. Notre Dame failed in that mission in the second half and left Raleigh, N.C., with hopes lost for a second straight conference road win for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
“I’m disappointed for us because I thought we played well enough to escape,” Brey said. “But when you give up second shots like that, it’s going to be hard to get out of there.”
Beyond the second-half rebounding, two other stats best illustrate the outcome of this game.
Notre Dame went 5-of-7 three-point shooting in the first half, but only 1-of-11 in the second half.
And after entering the game as the nation’s leading team in assist-turnover ratio, the Irish matched its season low with only 11 assists while recording 14 turnovers, which was just one short of their season high for giveaways.
This was a bad loss because 2-2 looks in league play looks a heckuva lot better than 1-3, Notre Dame had this one, and NC State was playing without senior guard C.J. Bryce, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder.
Hubb Love
Coming off one of the best statistical games of his career Saturday in an 88-87 win over Syracuse, Hubb continued his recent and season-long surge against NC State.
Against Syracuse, Hubb hit six three-pointers and made two clutch free-throws to seal the win for the Irish. He finished that game with 22 points — tying his career high — while adding nine assists.
And against NC State Wednesday, Hubb one-upped himself, scoring a career-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-7 three-pointers, with a modest two assists.
The only gripe against Hubb Wednesday is that all four of his three-pointers, and 14 of his 24 points, came in the first half.
Even so, if Hubb continues to play at this level, not only can Notre Dame still become a player in a very average ACC, but this rising star can make his case as the most improved player in the league and nation.
Say What?
Nine seniors were named Tuesday to the 25-player list of finalists for the Citizen Naismith Trophy National Player of the Year … and Mooney wasn’t one of them.
Huh?
Despite battling foul trouble most of the NC State game — and getting little support from his front-line mates — Mooney still managed 14 points and 14 rebounds against the Wolfpack, tallying his ninth straight and nation-leading 12th double-double of the season.
Mooney easily leads the country in rebounding and is already a two-time ACC Player of the Week recipient.
Hard to say how that profile doesn’t fit a top-25 candidate for national player of the year, so here’s hoping he’s a late addition to the ballot.
Up Next: When considering the most entertaining series among any of Notre Dame’s more frequent opponents, the one between the Irish and Louisville is hard to beat.
Notre Dame returns home after a two-game road trip to play the No. 13 Cardinals Saturday (2 p.m., EST) in what will be the second ranked opponent the Irish have faced this season (North Carolina).
The series between Louisville and Notre Dame is defined by epic overtime games.
In fact, nine of the last 22 games since 1994 between these two have gone to overtime, three of those went double-overtime and the 104-101 Irish win in 2013 needed five overtimes to settle.
Louisville leads the all-time series 25-14 and has won four straight games, while Notre Dame has won four of the last five at Purcell Pavilion.
These two teams played twice last season. Louisville won at home, 75-61, during the regular season and won again, 75-53, in the ACC Tournament to end Notre Dame’s forgettable season.
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