Turnovers unravel Irish upset bid of No. 14 Miami
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — It was a chance to reverse fortunes, or at least start to, and take a desperately needed long step on a potholed road back to relevance.
It was there waiting for Notre Dame’s men’s basketball team to grab with 12 minutes to go against the country’s 14th-ranked team.
Less than four minutes later on Friday afternoon, opportunity left Purcell Pavilion, erased by the Miami Hurricanes’ late 9-0 run.
The 13-1 (4-0 ACC) ‘Canes flew out of town with a 76-65 victory, saddling the Irish (8-6 overall) with a 0-3 ACC mark.
“We got punched, we battled, we got punched, we battled,” said Irish coach Mike Brey of bouncing back from nine- and 12-point deficits at two junctures of the game. “And then we really got punched …”
And there was no final answer.
The Irish needed to play well above their previous heads to keep up with a Miami team ranked in the top 50 in field-goal percentage (48.1) and with few glaring weaknesses.
The fact that the Irish hung on as long as they did, and actually led by a point, 34-33, at half, could be labeled a surprise, considering the mess they made with several possessions.
They had 11 turnovers by halftime — two over their per-game average — and a season-high 17 by the time it was over.
Explaining it away isn’t easy for Brey, whose teams through the years have protected the ball well, and it’s especially so considering four of the starters and a key sixth man are grad students with mountains of experience.
“Give Miami some credit, they're really quick,” Brey said. “I think what happens to us when athletes pressure us, we tend to put it on the floor (dribble) a little quick, a little early. We get a little antsy, and you know then we go in there (the lane) and there's a lot of traffic …”
Point guard Trey Wertz led the Irish with 15 points (3-for-5 on 3s) but had five of the club’s turnovers. Brey believes too much of the offense is on his shoulders and figures Marcus Hammond (12 points) will be paired with him on the floor more moving forward.
Dane Goodwin added 14 points on a strong performance inside, but had four turnovers.
One-third of Miami’s points came off those 17 turnovers — 11 of which were steals. Going into the game, the Irish had allowed five steals a game. Also, it was 10-zip Miami on fastbreak points.
“I’m thinking, fellas, we turn the ball over 15 times (it was 17 Friday), it's gonna be a real early time for spring break,” Brey said. “Let me put it that way: ‘You’ll be able to go to Florida.’”
Miami veteran coach Jim Larranaga, whose team hadn’t played a game since Dec. 20, didn’t especially like the level of energy from his club in the first half.
“In the second half, I thought we picked it up and we started attacking the basket more,” he said “…I thought it was a very good team effort.”
A Notre Dame zone was effective in slowing down 6-foot guard Nijel Pack, an Indianapolis product and Kansas State transfer averaging 11 points a game coming in, after his 13-point first half. But it didn’t last. He wound up 5-for-8 from 3-point range and finished with 21 points.
“The 21 points was kind of an explosion for him,” said Larranaga, who wasn’t exactly surprised. “I expect his scoring to continue to be there.”
Primarily because of four turnovers in the first five minutes of the second half, the Irish found themselves down 44-36 at the 15-minute mark.
Three minutes later a much-smaller-than-announced crowd of 6,105 was making some noise after a couple of buckets from Goodwin in the lane and a couple of 3-pointers by Hammond, the last a four-point play that made it 51-49 Miami with 12:12 to play.
But six empty Irish possessions later — possessions that actually produced some contested, but decent looks — Notre Dame was down 60-49.
In the meantime, Miami found another gear and took over the lane, eventually ending with a 42-30 edge there, though the two clubs were about even on the boards, 32-31 Miami.
Notre Dame’s second-leading scorer, freshman JJ Starling, was stymied, going 1-for-6 for two points.
“It was a night where JJ actually looked like he was 18 against 22-year-olds,” Brey said.
Miami, which shot 51% from the floor, put four players in double figures, with 6-7 sophomore Norchad Omier contributing 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting.
Two of Notre Dame’s double figure scores — Nate Laszewski (9 points) and Cormac Ryan (8 points) — went a combined 5-for-18 from the field.
Next chance for the Irish to begin to turn things around is a trip to Boston College (ACCN) on Jan. 3.
“We're searching man, we're searching,” Brey said. “Part of it motivates you, because I've been there before, and part of it worries the hell out of you, because it's real.
“We’ve got some hope, but here's where we're at. And if you go to Boston College with the weight of the world on your shoulders … I mean, we’ve got nothing to lose. I think we’ve got to play like that. Not ‘Oh my god, we have 17 games left.’
“We’ve got guys that are really serious kids that hate to fail. And you know, they get uptight, and I'm trying to balance between loosening them up and holding them accountable.”
Goodwin gets it, but he doesn’t expect a lot of panic from his teammates.
“We have 17 league games left,” he said “I mean, we're only three games in, and if you look at it that way, we’ve got plenty of chances, starting at BC.
“Obviously, it's not the start that we wanted, but we’ve got plenty of good teams in this league where we can turn it around and hopefully get some wins.”
---------------------------------------------------------------
• Talk with Notre Dame fans on The Insider Lounge.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Podbean or Pocket Casts.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports channel on YouTube.
• Follow us on Twitter: @insideNDsports, @EHansenND, @TJamesND and @ByKyleKelly.
• Like us on Facebook: Inside ND Sports
• Follow us on Instagram: @insideNDsports