EAST LANSING, Mich. – Notre Dame’s first venture into an early-season slate full of top-tier opponents was a humbling one.
The Irish lost their season opener at No. 13 Michigan State Saturday night, 80-70, though they trailed by 28 with just under 13 minutes left in the game.
Some observations, numbers and musings from the loss:
•Michigan State may still be in search of its identity after losing two linchpins in point guard Cassius Winston and defensive wizard forward Xavier Tillman, but the Spartans still have plenty of size and athleticism. More than Notre Dame, at least. And they swallowed up the Irish offense after a crisp start. It felt as if every shot Notre Dame took at or near the rim was blocked or altered in some way. There were few easy ones. Michigan State blocked 10 shots in the first half alone.
•One-on-ones and isolations weren’t any better for Notre Dame, even though Notre Dame’s spacing will create enough of them. Getting dribble-drives and collapsing Michigan State’s defense proved to be a major challenge. Michigan State’s ball-screen defensive plan was to show hard up top, and it largely worked by causing whoever was handling the ball to have a moment of indecision.
•Michigan State scored 26 straight points, turning what was a 26-22 Notre Dame lead with 7:12 left in the first half into a 48-22 lead about two minutes into the second half. Notre Dame’s defense didn’t dictate much of anything in that stretch. Michigan State’s misses and mistakes were its own doing. Five Irish turnovers in that span fueled a dangerous Spartans transition offense.
•Overall, Notre Dame’s defense felt a step slow. On dribble drives. Chasing players around screens. On closeouts. The Irish started in man, went to a 2-3 zone that was effective at first and then less so, and ended back in man.
•Mike Brey said all offseason this is Prentiss Hubb’s team. That’s from a leadership and on-court perspective, but Notre Dame is going to need more from its junior point guard if it wants to continue its ascent that started midway through last season. Hubb fell back into some habits of shaky decision making and shot selection in the first half. Early-clock jumpers. Unproductive drives into traffic. He and forward Juwan Durham were out of sorts in the two-man game.
•Hubb was 2-for-10 with four turnovers and two assists in the first half. Michigan State point guard Rocket Watts was his primary defender and stuffed him in a straitjacket. Hubb ended with 23 points, but on 7-for-22 shooting.
•Stanford transfer guard Cormac Ryan was clearly a focal point early, as Brey hinted he would be. Notre Dame ran three early plays for him to shoot 3s off multiple off-ball screens. He made the first two. He then went 0-for-6 in the rest of the half, with Michigan State junior wing Aaron Henry frequently assigned to him. Ryan ended with 13 points and drew five fouls, including a charge.
•It was too late, but Hubb finally found room to attack off the bounce when coming off a ball screen in the second half. He drew fouls on Henry and Watts, including an and-1. He’s at his best when mixing in drives that complement the ever-present threat of his 3-pointer.
•At the start, Notre Dame’s offense looked like it was in midseason form with no signs of the odd offseason and preseason that was. For a few minutes, at least. Everything was off screens, jumpers and cuts, though, with limited individual creation ability. That’s a hard recipe to score with for 40 minutes against a good defensive team that’s not going to miss assignments, put itself in bad spots or allow a lot off the dribble.
•All eight available scholarship players appeared in the game in both halves. Fifth-year senior Nik Djogo was the first off the bench. Santa Clara transfer Trey Wertz traveled with the team. He’s still awaiting a ruling on his waiver for eligibility this season.
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