Three Areas For Notre Dame To Improve Before ACC Schedule
Notre Dame suffered a tough loss yesterday losing an eight point lead with under two minutes to go against Indiana in the Crossroads Classic.
With the defeat, Notre Dame has lost three of its last five games including an 80-77 home loss to Ball State at the buzzer.
With just Dartmouth (Dec. 19) and Southeastern Louisiana (Dec. 21) left in its out-of-conference slate, Blue & Gold Illustrated takes a look at three areas Notre Dame needs to focus on improving over the next week in order to get back on track heading into ACC play Dec. 30 versus Georgia Tech in South Bend.
1. More Consistency Offensively
Notre Dame has shown at times this year that the Irish offense can be deadly for the entirety of a game. See Delaware (56.9 percent) and LSU (51.6 percent). Then there are halves such as the first half in the opener against DePaul, first half versus Wichita State and Michigan State and the second half against St. Francis Brooklyn where the Irish offense seemed somewhat stagnant and could not find a rhythm.
The second half against Indiana was another example. Whie the Hoosiers shot 15-of-24 (62.5 percent) over the final 16:30, Notre Dame shot 9-of-27 (33.3 percent).
Notre Dame has two out-of-conference opponents to figure out the solution before ACC play begins. Is the answer downshifting and having someone like freshman wing DJ Harvey in the starting lineup over Martinas Geben? Is it giving more minutes to sophomore big man John Mooney or sophomore guard Nik Djogo?
Not sure if there is one correct solution. But, Mike Brey has a couple games to try and do any experimenting before the Irish get to the meat of their schedule.
2. Rebounding
It’s pretty simple. Notre Dame has to do a better job on the boards. The Irish did okay against Indiana in terms of matching the Hoosiers offensive rebounds (10) with nine of their own. But, Indiana won the overall rebounding matchup 41-32.
Notre Dame ranks 255th nationally per KenPom.com in offensive rebound percentage allowed (31.6 percent). Only Arizona State (213th), Kentucky (214th) and Purdue (228th) are teams ranked inside the top 18 nationally with a percentage which ranked outside the top 200.
The Irish rank 213th per KenPom.com in terms of offensive rebounding percentage (27.5 percent).
Following the Indiana game, teams are now outrebounding the Irish 34.7-34.5. The -0.2 margin ranks 227th nationally. That is a trend the Irish need to reverse.
3. Defending The Paint
Indiana may have given other teams a blueprint to have some success against the Irish. Throw it inside and see what happens.
Now, a teams has to have an offensive threat inside like Indiana did with Juwan Morgan, who was the team’s leading scorer heading into that matchup. Morgan simply did almost anything he wanted in the paint en route to 34 points and the game-winner.
Overall this season, in 10 games points in the paint statistics were reported, Notre Dame has a 272-247 advantage. But, that number is helped by 46-26 mark against an overmatched Chicago State early in the season.
In the team’s three losses, oppoennts hold a 92-88 edge. The road won’t get any easier for the Irish in the ACC against teams like Duke, North Carolina, Louisville, etc. and even Georgia Tech with Ben Lammers (14.3, 8.1 rebounds) to open ACC play.
These areas certainly won’t be fixed overnight and the Irish will have to work through them. If Notre Dame can improve in these areas steadily though, the Irish should be able to get back on track and perform more on the level many expected this season.
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