A clearly tired Irish squad finished the season with a whimper
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish got a crack at the North Carolina Tar Heels this afternoon on the heels of their gritty win yesterday afternoon. With a bunch of tired legs after not only yesterday’s game, but the four-overtime marathon over the weekend, a big key to this one was how well the stamina of the Irish would hold up. North Carolina is beatable, but their relative rest level gives them a significant advantage here.
The Tar Heels elected to put 6’6” Drake Powell on Markus Burton, perhaps recalling Burton’s difficulty at a size disadvantage against Andrej Stojakovic. As a result, the Irish had difficulty operating early, with a banked-in free throw by Julian Roper constituting their only offense in the first couple minutes. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels got a corner three off some good ball movement and a fast-break dunk from old friend Ven-Allen Lubin. Elliot Cadeau put in a contested three to make it 8-1 North Carolina.
Making matters worse, Jae’lyn Withers would then hit three pointers on three consecutive possessions, first unguarded at the top of the key, second against some better defense in the corner, and third in transition. The Irish were down 17-5 after just five minutes and were searching for answers. Unfortunately, none were coming. Burton clearly did not have his usual energy and had to be absolutely gassed. A J.R. Konieczny three stopped the bleeding somewhat, but big man Jalen Washington responded with one of his own. It’s clear the Irish game plan was to allow the Tar Heels’ big men to shoot from the outside, and it was backfiring. A Seth Trimble free throw brough the Carolina lead to 22-8.
Burton finally got going a bit by making tough layups in traffic on back-to-back plays, getting fouled on the first. After Lubin, who had not made a three all year, badly missed a conceded three, Tae Davis got fouled and made a couple free throws to complete a 7-0 run. However, RJ Davis picked that moment to wake up, hitting a three to slow the momentum, and then Withers made it 5-for-6 from three by making two on back-to-back possessions. A deflating shot clock violation by the Irish was followed by a Lubin dunk off of some great ball movement, putting Notre Dame down 18.
The final four minutes of the half were characterized by Lubin terrorizing the Irish in the post on the glass, Sir Mohammed failing to do a bunch of things on offense (still not sure what his skill set is, exactly), and Allocco knocking down three triples to keep the Irish in striking distance. Notre Dame trailed 43-29 at the half, which was a lot less catastrophic than things were looking. However, UNC’s nine triples loomed large, as a tired Irish squad looked to try to make up a double-digit deficit in the second half.
Tae Davis opened the second half with a layup, but Lubin, finding himself with Allocco guarding him in the paint somehow (seriously, how does Allocco keep guarding bigs under the hoop) to get the bucket right back. With Konstantynovskyi starting the half on the bench, the Tar Heels kept using Lubin as a high screener and Notre Dame kept switching smaller defenders onto him, which was not working. The Tar Heels kept taking advantage of that matchup until Withers leaked open for his sixth three, putting the Irish down 19.
Notre Dame got into the bonus with 12:46 left in the game when Burton drew Powell’s fourth foul, which presented on opportunity for the Irish to slow things down and get points at the stripe. However, the Irish defensive rotations continued to be slow, and Lubin continued to present a matchup problem, so it was tough for Notre Dame to cut into the lead. North Carolina prevented the Irish from getting within a deficit in the mid-teens. The wind came out of the sails of the Irish with around five minutes left in the half, and the bench was emptied a couple minutes later.
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This concludes a very disappointing second season for Micah Shrewsberry and Notre Dame. Now, the focus turns to the offseason and trying to retain Markus Burton and Tae Davis, in hopes that they can supplement the vaunted Irish recruiting class and turn the program around. Shrewsberry needs to have a big offseason in the transfer portal, with a down-low presence a major priority.
Thanks for following along this season here at One Foot Down, and here’s hoping better times are ahead.
Bullet Points
- Sir Mohammed has been good this season at moving without the ball and crashing the offensive glass, but this game put on full display how inept he is at everything else on that end of the floor. He needs to take a big step forward to be a useful contributor at this level, because right now, he’s a major liability.
- Konstantynovskyi (8 points, 9 rebounds) played another solid game, and one wonders whether the Irish would have benefitted from him starting ahead of Njie all year. These two games were the only time that Nikita got to play knowing he’d get significant minutes, and he looked much more comfortable as a main guy. Njie has the edge as an on-ball defender and as an occasional three-point shooter, but little else.
- North Carolina won the assist battle 19-6, with 16 between Cadeau and RJ Davis.
- Burton and Tae Davis shot 6-for-24 from the field, and there wasn’t any way the Irish were going to take a second game with neither guy showing up.
- Withers finished 7-for-10 from three and didn’t attempt a two-point shot.