Notre Dame Tops Clemson, 75-70
Senior wing V.J. Beachem broke out of his slump, Notre Dame got some crunch time defense and the Irish improved to 3-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 75-70 victory over Clemson on Saturday.
Notre Dame is one of just six major power conference teams to start league play 3-0 this year.
Beachem, who scored just two points against Louisville on Wednesday, tied his career-high with 22 points against the Tigers and made his first two shots of the game.
“It’s a good feeling just to get a win and go 3-0 in league play,” Beachem said. “No matter how we can get it done, and personally for myself to get it going was good too.”
In a game that featured 15 lead changes, Notre Dame trailed 68-67 with 2:17 left to play. After a timeout taken by head coach Mike Brey, senior guard Steve Vasturia hit a corner 3-pointer to take a 70-68 lead.
Clemson responded, tying the game at 70-all on a layup by senior forward Jaron Blossomgame with 1:25 remaining. Notre Dame came right back, taking its final lead on a bucket by junior forward Bonzie Colson to make it 72-70 with a minute left.
Notre Dame then played some strong defense, forcing an errant 3-point attempt and closing the game with three straight defensive stops.
Junior guard Matt Farrell put the game away with a 3-pointer with 9 seconds left.
“We believe we’re going to figure out a way to win,” Brey said. “When we got it tied at one of those media timeouts, I said, ‘Fellas, they’ve got to finish it now. They’ve been shooting great in the first half when there’s really no game pressure. Nobody finishes it like us, and nobody finishes it like us here in this building.’”
It's the program's second 3-0 start to league play in under Brey. Notre Dame also started 3-0 in 2014-15.
The Irish likely would’ve been in big trouble without the performance by Beachem, who made a career-high six 3’s.
“It’s only a matter of time with him, and great timing on his part,” Brey said. “If he’s not going in the first half, we may be down 25. We were a mess.
“I don’t ever overanalyze him, the law of averages kicks in. It was a great where we were able to distort the defense and they helped on Bonz, and we got some kick-outs to him, and he made some shots to get himself started.”
Farrell added 15 points, Vasturia finished with 14 and Colson had 13 points and 10 rebounds, his tenth double-double of the season.
“We weren’t playing great the first half, didn’t get off to a very good start, but when it counted we were ready to deliver, and I thought our defense was the key again,” Brey said.
After shooting a season-low 12 3’s against Louisville, Notre Dame attempted 32 against the Tigers, connecting 12 times.
“Offensively we did take a lot of 3’s, but give credit to them and they’re a good defensive team,” Vasturia said. “They do a good job putting bodies in front of people and keeping you out of the lane. Once we started moving and get the ball tot he second side, we were able to drive it after that.”
And the Irish did it with a target on their back.
“We had probably our toughest game so far just because we had won two league games before and they were really coming for our head,” Beachem said. “Just to get timely stops like we did down the stretch was big for us.”
----
• Talk about it inside Rockne’s Roundtable
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD,
@BGI_MattJones, @BGI_DMcKinney and @BGI_CoreyBodden.
• Like us on Facebook.