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Three Up, Three Down: Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech

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The Irish keep finding ways to win. Notre Dame started off hot from the field (14-of-20) and had to hang on in the second-half to defeat the Hokies 76-71 in front of a rowdy crowd in Blacksburg.

Take a look at Blue & Gold's highs and lows from the Irish victory which propelled Notre Dame to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference standings with a 5-0 conference record and a 16-2 overall record.

Three Up

Matt Farrell — How big was the junior guard in the final minute? He may have made the heads up play of the year in the ACC so far. The Irish were up 70-67 with under a minute and Farrell closed it out by diving on the floor as Virginia Tech was trying to save time by rolling the ball up the court on an inbounds play. He then found TJ Gibbs to give Notre Dame a 72-67 lead and essentially put the game away. But it didn’t stop there. Farrell rebounded his own miss on the free throw line to help halt any chance Virginia Tech had at a comeback. Farrell finished the game with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting and made the play of the game. He is a gamer.

Steve Vasturia — While the rest of the starters were trying to find their way in the game, the senior guard scored 12 points in the first half to help give the Irish a 39-31 lead heading in to the break. Vasturia finished with 20 points, four rebounds and four assists on 8-of-14 shooting including 3-of-4 from deep. He got it done in all facets on offense either knocking down jumpers or driving to the basket. He continues to show up big in ACC play for the Irish.

TJ Gibbs/Bench — The Irish bench came up big in the first half scoring 13 points and providing six rebounds and three assists. The star was freshman point guard TJ Gibbs who notched a career-high 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. He provided a much needed spark for Notre Dame when Farrell was struggling and maybe forcing it on offense a bit. Sophomore guard Rex Pflueger scored seven points and senior big man Austin Torres provided four points as well. This type of production from the Irish bench on a more consistent basis could take the team to another level.

Three Down

VJ Beachem — Following a disappoint two-point performance against Louisville, Beachem bounced back well against Clemson and Miami scoring 22 and 13 points respectively. But, the senior wing couldn’t keep it up and struggled to get into a rhythm against the Hokies. He finished the game with four points on 2-of-8 shooting including 0-of-4 from behind the arc. He did hit a big shot late in the game to push the Irish lead to three with under a minute remaining. Notre Dame has found ways to win with and without the offensive production expected of Beachem. The Irish will need their star player though as March nears.

Points in Paint (Inside Defense) — This almost has a permanent fixture in this section after each game. It continues to be one of the few negatives of this Irish team, but it hasn’t cost them as much as one would think. The Hokies scored 46 points in the paint compared to 38 by the Irish. Given how Notre Dame plays on offense, that margin doesn’t seem too bad. But, the Hokies scored its final six field goals inside the paint. Giving up easy baskets keeps teams in the game and the Irish need to avoid that when the shots/free throws aren’t falling on the other end to help neutralize the easy buckets by opponents.

Turnovers — A little sloppy by Notre Dame today with 13 turnovers. The Irish had eight turnovers in the first half and settled down a little bit in the second half with only five. Turnovers aren’t much of a worry for Irish fans as the team takes care of the ball pretty well for the most part. Not a concern moving forward, just one of the lows against the Hokies.

Bottom Line

Before this three-game road stretch began, many thought if the Irish were to win two games of three it would be the first two against Miami and Virginia Tech. The toughest of the three remains — Florida State. Size is a major strength of the Seminoles with six players standing 6-foot-7 or taller who contributed each game. Notre Dame only has four such players: Martinas Geben, Beachem, Torres and Matt Ryan. Florida State boasts two 7-footers and against Notre Dame’s use of smaller lineups could present a major advantage. How Mike Brey schemes around the size of Florida State will be interesting to watch.

Notre Dame now sits alone at the top of the ACC standings at 16-2 overall and 5-0 in conference play. The team continues to exceed expectations.

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Talk about it inside Rockne’s Roundtable

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