Offense stagnates as Notre Dame MBB falls to youthful Bonnies
Notre Dame went on the road for the first time Friday afternoon, and whoever was supposed to pack the energy drinks dropped the ball.
Maybe too much turkey?
Certainly too few answers for a youthful, but much more-determined St. Bonaventure team that got to more loose balls and rebounds (38-32), had more fast break points (6-0) and carved out more open shots in a 63-51 victory at the UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y.
The loss in the showcase game of the Gotham Classic in front of 5,178 was the first for ND after five less-than-impressive home wins.
Irish head coach Mike Brey was unavailable for comment to media covering remotely due to a Zoom malfunction.
With four grad students in the starting lineup, Notre Dame didn’t figure to be thrown off by a holiday week road trip and new venue, which serves as home of the New York Islanders.
But the Irish were humbled by a Bonnies program basically starting over.
St. Bonaventure, 4-2, lost 12 players and returned zero points from last year’s 23-10, NIT semifinal team.
It already had accrued losses to Canisius and South Dakota State this season and was picked to finish 10th in the 15-team A-10.
The Bonnies started two freshmen and two sophomores. And the school of 1,900 from Olean, N.Y., led wire to wire Friday, never really losing a firm grasp of the command it took in the first half.
Trailing 31-20 to start the second half, Notre Dame had a turnover in the first 10 seconds, then misfires by Dane Goodwin on 3-point attempts in the next two possessions.
Yes, Notre Dame’s afternoon even included a couple of 3-point airballs — matching the number the Irish made in 17 attempts.
The Irish are supposed to have seasoned, dangerous 3-point shooters at every spot, but no one would guess that given the performance against the feisty Bonnies, whose man-to-man was quick enough to keep up with Irish passes on the perimeter.
Notre Dame, averaging 80 points on 52% field goal shooting coming in, was 19-of-55 (34.5 percent) overall.
Goodwin, averaging 52.6% from the field at game’s start, went 3-for-12. Trey Wertz, a 51.1% shooter, went 1-for-9, including 0-for-4 from 3, and freshman JJ Starling, averaging 14.0 on 52 percent shooting, was 3-for-13.
The bright spot and great sign for the Irish is the continued development of 6-foot-8 freshman Ven-Allen Lubin, who must still wear a facemask while some early-season facial bruises heal.
He was terrific on the boards with 13, and had 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting in the paint.
Defensively, he did lose a few battles inside to 6-10, 270-pound Chad Venning, a transfer from Morgan State, who had his first career double-double with 14 points on 7-for-12 shooting, and 11 rebounds.
But overall, Lubin was solid and figures to pick up more minutes.
He’ll be needed for the Irish inside when they take on No. 12 Michigan State Wednesday at Purcell Pavilion in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at 9:15 p.m. (ESPN2).
It was Lubin’s rebound bucket off a Starling miss that got the Irish to within seven at the 12:15 mark, but the Bonnies had no trouble answering with a Venning 8-footer.
The Irish never got closer than nine after that.
Kyrell Luc, a 5-11 guard, hurt the Irish with four 3s, and finished with a team-leading 16 points. Yann Farell, a 6-6 forward, had 14 rebounds.
Nothing clicked early for Notre Dame and by the 12 minute-mark of the first half trailed 14-4 on 2-for-13 shooting.
Defensively, the Irish played well enough to stay in the game. The Bonnies shot 40.7 from the field and 41.7 from 3-point range (10-24), a little better than their season average of 36.3. They also had 11 turnovers to Notre Dame’s nine.
The Irish had season-low six assists.
ST. BONAVENTURE 63, NOTRE DAME 51: Box Score
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