Observations: Notre Dame plays another close home game, beats Boston University 81-75
Another home game against a mid-major, another closer-than-desired and perhaps even uninspiring win for Notre Dame. But still a win.
The Irish beat Boston University 81-75 Wednesday, improving to 7-2 this year. Graduate student guard Cormac Ryan scored a team-high 21 points. Graduate student guard Trey Wertz added 16 and freshman guard JJ Starling had 15.
“We’re good at winning close games, and I think that’s a quality that has helped us down the stretch,” Ryan said.
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Graduate student forward Nate Laszewski left the game with 7:33 to go after he was poked in the eye and did not return. He underwent further examination on it Wednesday night, head coach Mike Brey said. Brey expects him to play Sunday versus Marquette.
Here are three observations from the game.
1. Cormac Ryan provides another spark
The first half and opening part of the second had the rhythm of a sack race and took place in an atmosphere with the energy of an airline hangar. Notre Dame played flat. It looked flat. And 2:20 into the second half, the Irish found themselves trailing 40-38 after Boston University blitzed them with 11 points in four possessions.
That’s when Ryan grabbed the wheel. He scored or assisted on 11 of Notre Dame’s points during an 16-2 run that gave the Irish a 12-point edge with 14:12 to go.
He immediately gave them the lead back with a late-clock three-pointer. He grabbed a defensive rebound on the ensuing possession and passed to Wertz for a three-pointer. One defensive possession later, he deflected a pass for a steal and dished to Wertz for a transition three. The next time on defense, he drew a charge after a Laszewski layup. A couple possessions later, he picked up a loose ball for another steal, which led to his offensive rebound and layup.
“It came on the defensive end,” Ryan said. “A lot of our points in that stretch came off a forced turnover or a tough missed shot. That’s a theme for us. When we get stops, it usually helps our offense. I think that’s true of most teams, but especially our team.”
That run felt like it would draw the curtains on Boston University. The Terriers hung around, though, and sliced Notre Dame’s lead to six points with 4:12 left. Ryan ended their 8-0 spurt by drawing a foul right after he deflected and intercepted a pass at the top of the key. He made two free throws after he was fouled on an offensive rebound to put Notre Dame up 77-70 with 1:25 left.
Ryan was 6 of 7 from the floor, 4 of 4 on three-pointers and 5 of 6 at the foul line. He added 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 assists and a block. A true two-way stat line.
2. Defense steps back
Notre Dame held its last three opponents to under 1.04 points per possession before Wednesday’s game, something it did just twice in its first five outings. Boston University looked like a prime candidate to be a fourth. The Terriers entered play Wednesday ranked 301st adjusted offensive efficiency, per KenPom, and had posted five straight games without reaching 70 points in regulation.
Instead, the Irish had to outlast them and were outscored 46-45 in the second half.
“Sometimes we’ll score, and then end up trading buckets,” Ryan said. “It’s continuing to sit down and put stops together in a row.”
Boston University, a 30.1 percent three-point shooting team in its first nine games, was 12 of 29 from the three-point line (41.4 percent). The Terriers were 8 of 16 in the second half.
“I didn’t think they could shoot it that well from out there, but they certainly did,” Brey said. “Some were tough shots. Some were mistakes.”
Defending post-ups was problematic and became an even greater challenge with Laszewski out. Boston University center Nevin Zink, he of 5.7 points per game prior to Wednesday, had 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting. He was plus-11 in 25 minutes on the floor.
The Irish were trending in the right direction after a wayward start on defense this year. Now, they’ll try to regroup before Sunday’s game against Marquette, which is 10th in effective field goal percentage and recently put 96 points on No. 12 Baylor.
3. Offense fades late
All told, Notre Dame’s offensive numbers were strong: 81 points, 49.1 percent shooting, 52.9 percent from three-point range, 13 assists, 8 turnovers.
The end was a slog, though. Notre Dame had a 5:40 field goal drought to end the game and just two field goals in the final 10 minutes. Six of the assists came in a span of 5:34, and none were in the final 10 minutes. The offense lost the crisp passing and off-ball movement it used to build its 16-point lead and morphed into an array of empty possessions, unassisted jumpers and aimless dribbling.
Notre Dame has enough shot creators to score without needing jumpers, especially against mid-majors. It held its lead and put the game away by living at the foul line. It does not, though, have a post-up threat like Paul Atkinson Jr. last year. Brey thinks that’s one cause for the intermittent stagnant stretches.
“I’m still trying to help us with how we throw it into the post, how we play inside-out and who we play off. There are three candidates, obviously: Dane [Goodwin], Ven-Allen [Lubin] and Nate. How much do we do that and how do we get there?”
Notre Dame threw the ball to Lubin and Laszewski in the post with some frequency in a concept Brey calls “squeeze”, but it wasn’t a steady source of points.
“We worked on that,” Brey said. “We had two great looks and we didn’t make them. It’s something we’ve worked on and have to keep working on. We actually did it tonight, but it was so new, I don’t think we capitalized. That’s an area to address Friday and Saturday.”
