Notre Dame won its first two games in the tournament, erasing a 21-point deficit in the second half Wednesday night against Virginia Tech for the biggest comeback in school history.
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“How about that, huh?”
“They rebound at a level above the rim that I haven’t seen in college basketball”, said Brey, who was an assistant coach at Duke for eight seasons before he began his collegiate head coaching career in 1995. “I think they can beat anybody”.
Miami (5-6) may not have earned a bid to the NCAA tournament last season, but Aoki still regards the Hurricanes as a very talented team.
Bagley, the ACC player of the year as a freshman, had game highs of 33 points and 17 rebounds Thursday night as second-seeded Duke raced past Notre Dame 88-70 at Barclays Center.
Make sure you tune in tomorrow night. “Whatever it is, we’ll be accepting and proud, and we’re actually getting healthier, so I look forward to playing in the postseason”. “I feel strongly we should be a part of that”. Excuse us here in North Carolina if we consider the No. 1 team in all the land filling out an undercard, but that’s because the second semifinal, coming along about 9:30 or so, is Duke-Carolina.
“I thought Grayson’s leadership has continued to get better and better and tonight was a great example of him being at his best”, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
Similar to the Marquette game, the Irish were able to respond with the final run of the game.
“We disintegrated. We didn’t guard”. Notre Dame (20-14) made just 5-of-23 from 3-point range and had 31 defensive rebounds to 20 for the Irish.
But just completely fell apart the last 15 minutes defensively.
Colson connected on a long, desperation shot from the right wing that finally gave them a 60-59 edge. Over the course of the first period and a half of play, the strategy worked to near perfection: BC’s backcourt tallied a measly 10 points during that span, recording just two field goals in the process. “Those are the shots that you’ve got to hit during those times”.
Notre Dame slowly started to come back as they started making their three-pointers, and when Chris Clarke committed a technical foul with 8:00 left, the momentum really started to swing. And when it was over, Farrell and Colson embraced in a big bear hug, senior to senior. “It’s going to be another opportunity for us, and we’re excited about it”. “Hopefully we can stay here and win two more”, Allen said. I think we scored four points on run-outs. For all of the people screaming into the clouds that Allen and Bagley aren’t playable together, this is the flawless game to shut them up.
Chipping away at the lead, Notre Dame used a 10-to-1 run to bring it within four.
“All the stuff they’ve been through, they’re just tough dudes”.
“It’s a learning experience” said Justin Robinson who also scored 15.
The Hokies have no games on the schedule in the near future, but that’ll change this Sunday when the NCAA selection committee places the Hokies in its 68-team bracket.
It was early in the season, but the Irish picked up a quadrant one win over Wichita State (67-66) in Maui along with a quadrant two blowout victory over LSU (92-53). Ball security should be an advantage for the Fighting Irish. The Irish beat the Hokies 71-65 to advance to the Quarter Finals of the ACC Tournament. Great movement from the Irish made to offense flow, but Grayson Allen had the all answers for the Blue Devils.
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Q. Coach, I know that you believe your team is an NCAA Tournament team, but what about Notre Dame?
