Mike Brey and his Notre Dame team are feeling good about themselves in the ACC Tournament. (Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports)
Syracuse took itself out of the ACC Tournament and so did Louisvllle, as a matter of speaking, with their usual drought at a key time in the game. Then, there was Pitt, who couldn’t catch N.C. State so it’s defense could try to force the tempo. That leaves Notre Dame, a 70-63 winner over Miami, as the only new age ACC team remaining after withstanding 11:56 in the second half where they failed to convert a field goal.
“We struggled against their zone, and we couldn’t get much of a rhythm after playing beautifully in the first half against their man to man,” said coach Mike Brey, “But this group all year has been really poised away from our building when there’s been a run and the other team had the lead.”
The Irish was an offensive behemoth in the first half as Pat Connaughton and Steven Vasturia combined for six three-pointers in leading Notre Dame to a 43-25 halftime lead. Miami did a good job containing Jerian Grant for most of the evening as they limited him to only eight shots in 40 minutes.
“The Carolina game on the road, we answered charges,” said Brey when discussing the resiliency of his 27-5 team, “Just last Wednesday, Louisville goes on an 11-0 run. This group has always been really poised. Our leadership is good. Demetrius’ (Jackson) voice is fabulous in those timeouts. We just kept coming back to, you know what? We’re not in a great rhythm offensively. We’re going to have to defend to win.”
The Irish get a third matchup with Duke in the nightcap. Notre Dame won in South Bend, but was pounded by the shooting prowess of the Blue Devils, 90-60, about a month ago in Durham.
Duke wasted little time in cementing it’s semifinal date as the Blue Devils got the jump on streaking N.C. State as they scored on 10 of their first 14 possessions, went up 22-9 and never relented.
“I thought our guys were unbelievably ready,” noted Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, “They played outstanding defense, and we shared the ball well. To have six guys in double figures and 14 assists and only five turnovers. It’s just an outstanding game.”
The Wolfpack didn’t have the answer for Justise Winslow at the beginning of the game as he scored nine of those 22 while the Duke defense handcuffed hot-shooting Trevor Lacey and Anthony Barber.
Lacey Finished 2-of-8 from the field and Barber was 0-7. The juggernaut of the last two weeks shot only 35.7 percent against a Blue Devils’ squad determined to avenge the earlier 87-75 rout in Raleigh.
“We’re playing with a sense of urgency and remaining hungry,” said guard Quinn Cook, who led six Blue Devils in double figures, “I think we play our best basketball when we have a chip on our shoulder. We’re playing our best basketball right now, and guys keep wanting to get better, and I know we’re not satisfied.”
The early matchup is an old ACC rivalry with No. 3 Virginia taking on North Carolina. The Cavaliers had the quick start like both Duke and Notre Dame and like Notre Dame, they had to stave off a stubborn Florida State squad as the ‘Noles took an 18-point Cavaliers lead to five with 7:33 remaining in their 58-44 win.
“I thought we were very sharp and played with a purpose defensively,” said Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett, “We didn’t give them easy looks, rebounded well. Then offensively we had a good pace, whether at times we broke them down, but we got to the paint a lot.”
Malcolm Brogdon’s leadership and scoring prowess will be a huge key against the athleticism of North Carolina. He was in foul trouble early on Thursday before coming back into the game and scoring all 10 of his points in the second half.
“A couple times I thought he pressed a little bit and forced the issue,” explained Bennett, “I thought that’s a fine line because you want Malcolm is wired to be aggressive, and I want him to be aggressive. We talk about that, but still have some soundness. But then he did hit the big one where he kind of lowered his shoulder and got the two pull ups or step backs and knocked his free throws down.”
Virginia welcomed back Justin Anderson, who broke his middle finger on his left hand 33 days ago and then had an appendectomy last week. He played 12 minutes and went 0-for-2 from the field. He will probably extend his minutes some in today’s game.
North Carolina fell to Virginia, 75-64, on Feb. 2 as Virginia’s defensive schemes were a trump card for the Carolina athletes and their depth. UNC beat Louisville, 70-60, yesterday as the Cardinals more or less blew the game with one of their patented scoring droughts at the wrong time.
Louisville lost in similar fashion at North Carolina in January as they held a 63-50 lead with eight minutes to go and couldn’t knock down open shots. Thursday after playing a really sound first half where they were running the ball at the Tar Heels and converting, UNC slowed the Cardinals down with a 2-3 zone in the second half.
Louisville was 1-of-9 from the floor with a turnover in their last 11 possessions which allowed the Tar Heels to outscore them 14-4 over the last 7:30. Montrezl Harrell didn’t get the paint touches he needed as Terry Rozier and Quentin Snider settled for the outside jumpers, albeit they were wide open.
“It was a tale of two halves, and we played very well in the first half,” noted Louisville’s Rick Pitino, “They switched defenses and we played very poorly in the second half., so give them a lot of credit, and we’ll just sit back and see who we play on Sunday.”
