It took three tries, but Notre Dame finally played its home opener.
The Irish beat Horizon League member Detroit 78-70 Sunday night, their first game in eight days, in a contest agreed upon four days prior. Here are some observations, numbers and thoughts from the win, which moved Notre Dame to 1-1.
•Notre Dame primarily played zone defense, shifting between a 2-3 and a 1-3-1. With a short bench, it helps in preventing fouls and keeping players fresh. With wing Nik Djogo out due to an ankle injury, Notre Dame had seven healthy scholarship players. The zone largely worked. Detroit isn’t a strong enough shooting team to beat it with 3s, and on cue, went 8-for-28 from deep. The Titans averaged .99 points per possession.
•Notre Dame never pulled away, though, because of defensive lapses that popped up at bad times. They showed up in transition a few times, namely not seeing man and ball. Notre Dame guarded fine in the half-court, but some easy fast-break opportunities allowed the Titans to hang around. They were aggressive in pushing the ball, and Notre Dame often found itself on its heels.
•Point guard Prentiss Hubb was up-and-down again, and a couple iffy decisions opened the door for a brief 63-62 Detroit Mercy lead with 5:52 left in the game. A quick-trigger mid-range jumper led to him fouling Detroit’s Matt Johnson in transition. A forced half-court pass to Nate Laszewski led to a turnover and go-ahead Antoine Davis bucket.
•The ups followed right after. He assisted on two straight buckets to give Notre Dame a six-point lead. All told, Hubb ended with 18 points, eight assists, and three turnovers on 6-for-16 shooting.
•That’s the Cormac Ryan Notre Dame expected to get. The toughness. Calmness. And creation ability. Ryan ended the game. He’s a capable ball-handler in the pick-and-roll. He can shoot. He’s active on defense. He has the fearlessness to take a big shot and slap the floor before a defensive possession. He played 38 minutes, had 12 points, six assists, five rebounds and no fouls or turnovers. He drew a pair of charges.
•Ryan’s best example of creation was a first-half assist to freshman wing Tony Sanders Jr. on a 3-pointer. Sanders had passed up a corner 3 and dished back to Ryan, who dribbled around as the shot clock waned. Laszewski set a screen for him, he drew help and jump-passed to Sanders in that same spot. Sanders took and made the shot as the shot clock expired.
• After getting 10 shots blocked in the first half last weekend at Michigan State on a night where they were out-athleted and outsized, this has to feel good for Notre Dame: It did not have a shot rejected until 16:26 left in the game and held Detroit to 9-for-22 on layups.
•Forward Juwan Durham outdid his production from that Michigan State game (four points, five rebounds) in the first half Sunday. He ended with 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocks. His passing was just as impressive. On consecutive first-half possessions, he delivered a hi-low feed to Laszewski in the paint and then found Laszewski for a baseline layup a possession later.
•Notre Dame used seven players and only six in the second half. Sanders was the lone sub. Freshman forward Matt Zona entered the game in the first half and played two minutes.
•Sanders’ first notable moment in the game was a turnover when he caught a pass, was double-teamed and froze. He seemed overly cautious at times, but still made two important shots. He hit the 3-pointer in the first half and drained a pull-up jumper in the second that gave Notre Dame a 62-57 lead with 7:53 to go.
•Notre Dame had all five starters score in double figures and play at least 30 minutes. Durham was the only one who played fewer than 36.
•Laszewski picked up two fouls in the first 5:14 of the game. He was whistled for just one in his next 31 minutes.
•Nineteen of Notre Dame’s 30 field goals were assisted. For a team that’s not going to win with brawn or explosiveness, keeping the assisted field goal rate well over 50 percent is important.
•Notre Dame has a short two-day turnaround and hosts No. 23 Ohio State on Tuesday night (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2)
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