Notre Dame 91, Le Moyne 62: Imes and Roper combined for 19

A complete effort from the Irish builds confidence before resuming league play

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish had their only game over a 19-day span tonight with the Le Moyne (English: “The Moyne”) Dolphins in town for a Sunday night tilt. All indications were that Le Moyne probably represented a similar caliber opponent to the Dartmouth game from earlier this month. There was a bit of an added wrinkle in that former Notre Dame guard Robby Carmody is a starter for the Dolphins, and he made his return to the Purcell Pavilion.

The Irish put forth a much better effort than what they showed against the Big Green 11 days ago. Le Moyne wasn’t able to get many of the easy twos that Dartmouth was able to get against the Irish defense, and absent any sort of burst from three, this one was over early. As has often been the case against lower-tier opponents, Le Moyne didn’t have anyone who could match up athletically against Tae Davis, and Davis was able to put in seven points before the first media timeout.

Davis had lots of help. Braeden Shrewsberry continued his evolution as a three-levels scorer and put in 12 first half points, and Julian Roper, of all people, provided an offensive boost. He made his first two three point shots, even eliciting a “heat-check” call from the broadcast when he attempted his third. All five Irish starters had at least seven points at the break, and the halftime score was 49-30. Opponent-be-damned, it was one of Notre Dame’s best all-around halves they’ve played this season.

The second half wasn’t much better for the Dolphins. The Irish got into the bonus with 13:00 on the clock, and Le Moyne reserve Nate Fouts somehow fouled out with 12:20 left in the game. Tae Davis continued to do whatever he wanted, including this monster dunk early in the half:

It seemed that every Irish player that touched the floor had the confidence to play their best against the Dolphins’ barely-there defense. Calling to mind a similar play from the Dartmouth game, Logan Imes made another layup through traffic by slicing between defenders in the first half and pounded another off the glass and in for an and-one in the second. Nikita Konstantinovskyi destroyed the Dolphins on the glass, and Burke Chebuhar got off the bench in the second half to drain a three.

Meanwhile, Le Moyne didn’t have much of an answer outside of forward Dwayne Koroma, who had 22 points on a scorching 9-of-11 shooting. A.J. Dancler and Carmody combined for 23, but it came in large part at the free-throw line, as the pair went 5-for-18 for the field. The lack of offensive burst from the Dolphins allowed the reserves to play most of the back of the second half, and Micah Shrewsberry emptied the bench with two minutes left.

Shrewsberry had commented that after the tumultuous trip through Las Vegas without Markus Burton and what he called a “schedule loss” against Georgia (due to the fatigue and constant road games), the Irish finally had time to practice what their attack would look like without their lead guard. It showed, as the offense flowed much better than it did in the Dartmouth game. They’ll need to keep that going for a much tougher test against Georgia Tech on New Year’s Eve.

Bullet Points:

• Logan Imes notched a career-high of a 11 points after a tip-in and getting fouled on a three in the second half.
• Carmody hip-checked Tae Davis on a rebound just before halftime and Davis was slow to get up. He limped off the floor, but fortunately started the second half.
• Carmody had a weird overall game in his return to Notre Dame. He went only 2-for-7 from the floor, but finished with 13 points thanks to an 8-for-8 performance from the free throw line.
• Cole Certa scored his first points of his Notre Dame career on a nice curl cut in garbage time. He then drained a deep three off of a Garrett Sundra offensive rebound to boost his total to five.
• Tae Davis finished with 24 points and went 12-for-14 from the line, which was a nice bounce-back given some free throw struggles lately.
• The Irish out-rebounded the Dolphins 45-to-27.