Basketball coaches often rehearse and rehash how the last three or four minutes of the first half and the first three or four minutes in the second half are the most pivotal.
On Sunday afternoon at the Purcell Pavilion they both proved to be the difference in Notre Dame’s 82-67 loss to Georgia Tech in the team’s ACC opener, mainly because of a 15-0 run by the Yellow Jackets during those junctures. The defeat dropped the Irish to 2-3 overall, while Georgia Tech is now 4-1, including 2-0 in the ACC.
Building their biggest lead of the game at 33-27 with exactly three minutes left until halftime, Notre Dame appeared to be in control before Georgia Tech finished the first half with an 8-0 spurt to take a 35-33 edge into the locker room.
The Yellow Jackets then opened the second half with a 7-0 run — 15-0 overall — to extend the advantage to 42-33 before freshman Maddy Westbeld ended the Irish drought with a three. However, Notre Dame was unable to get closer than five the rest of the way and generated very little in the way of defensive stops.
“Their 8-0 run to end the half bothered our confidence,” admitted Irish head coach Niele Ivey, who varied man-to-man and zone defenses. “Coming out in the second half, we wanted to change things up defensively to throw something at them, but didn’t succeed with that — resulting in them setting the tone of the half.
“I’m trying to figure out rotations and that nucleus still, and that was part of the problem today. I know our defensive effort can get better.”
The freshman phenom Westbeld led Notre Dame with 21 points — all in the second half — and nine rebounds, while junior Dara Mabrey was the only other Notre Dame player to finish with double-figure scoring with 11 points.
Senior center Mikki Vaughn not only saw her first action this season after undergoing ACL surgery last spring, but started and played 24:51. She was integrated into the attack right away but needs some settling in, finishing 2 of 9 from the floor for seven points to go with six rebounds and four blocked shots.
Team chemistry on the court will remain a focal point.
“We’re a brand new team regardless of who’s on the court,” Westbeld said. “We’re just trying to find everybody’s place. … It’s definitely different. It’s something we have to adapt to as a team, playing with different matchups.”
THREE-POINT PLAY
1. Defensive Woes
Georgia Tech converted 18 of 28 field goals (64.3 percent) in the second half, 9 of 15 in the third quarter and 9 of 13 in the four. Furthermore, it went the first 15:24 of the second half without committing a turnover (and had three the entire second half).
The Yellow Jackets effectively fed the post with 6-4 senior and Italian import Lorela Cubaj, who finished with 18 points (8 of 13 from the floor) and 13 rebounds, and that helped spread the floor for way too many open threes, or kick-outs, of which 10 of 19 was converted by Tech (4 of 5 in the second half). Basic drives to the basket also went unchallenged.
Exacerbating the defensive problems for the Irish were too much one-on-one basketball on offense that helped result in 16 turnovers to set up 21 Georgia Tech points compared to Notre Dame’s 11. The ball movement was a little better, but there were still only 11 assists. One of the top scorers for the Irish, sixth-year Destinee Walker, sat the second half. Ivey described said it was a coach's decision.
2. On The Rebound
The performance was a disappointment similar to last year’s ACC opener versus Clemson at home that was the harbinger of a tough season. The 13-18 Irish defeated Georgia Tech last season, 59-51, and were considered at least on an even level with them this year. That makes Thursday’s game at home versus Virginia Tech even more crucial to not have an 0-2 hole.
After Virginia Tech, Notre Dame has road games at Clemson and Miami before playing Georgia Tech again on Jan. 3. In an odd quirk of scheduling this year in the ACC, that will be at Notre Dame as well. It should tell a lot about the team’s progress entering the new year.
3. Taking A Knee
In what is certain to be a hot-button issue, for the first time in three home games this season, numerous members of the Notre Dame team took a knee during the pregame playing of the national anthem. The program released a long statement that included:
“We kneel in protest of the systematic racism, police brutality, and continuous racial injustice towards Black Americans that permeates throughout the core of our society. We also kneel to mourn the lives of our Black brothers and sisters that have died unjustly. For all of the reasons that we choose to kneel, disrespecting the flag or those who have served or are serving this country under the banner of the flag is not one of them.
"We support every member of our team — those who are choosing to kneel and those who are choosing to stand during the national anthem — just as we support their reasons for doing so.”
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