Observations: Dane Goodwin helps Notre Dame survive Lipscomb's second-half charge in 66-65 win
Notre Dame’s weak spot looked like it would finally cost the Irish a win. That is, until guard Dane Goodwin intervened.
Goodwin’s 3-pointer with 14 seconds left gave the Irish a 66-65 home win over Lipscomb Friday, improving their record to 4-0 this year. He rescued Notre Dame from a loss in a game it led 56-46 with 7:41 to go. Lipscomb outscored the Irish 42-37 in the second half and went ahead 65-63 with 1:31 left.
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“We couldn’t get away from them, but I’m proud of our group,” Brey said. “We kind of believe we can get over the hump in this building.”
Goodwin led Notre Dame with 24 points. Forward Nate Laszewski added 16, and guard JJ Starling had 11. The Irish shot 44.6 percent overall and 12-of-30 from 3-point range. Lipscomb shot 54.7 and 76 percent in the second half.
Here are three observations from the game.
1. Defense breaks down
Arguably Notre Dame’s best defensive half was followed by unquestionably its worst. The Irish held Lipscomb to 23 points and 35.7 percent shooting in the first half and committed just two fouls.
The second half, though, was beyond the pale of Brey’s “trade 3s for 2s” strategy. Notre Dame can hang onto leads when it’s making 3-pointers and protecting the ball, even if it gives up some points in the paint on the other end as a result of selling out to take away 3s.
That goes out the window when the 2s are as easy as the ones Notre Dame gave Lipscomb. A half that resembled a layup line is how to shoot 82.6 percent for 19 minutes. And with that high a percentage, no lead is safe. Not even when Notre Dame shoots 7-of-10 on 3s in the second half itself and puts Lipscomb at the foul line once all game.
A primary culprit was once again leaks in ball-screen defense. Lipscomb repeatedly came at the Irish with middle pick-and-rolls, usually with guard Derrin Boyd (9 second-half points) handling the ball. They had no answers for it. Going over the top gave up driving lanes. Switching created matchups Lipscomb wanted, whether that was a guard on Laszewski or forwards Jacob Ognacevic and Ahsan Asadullah (29 combined points) on a guard. The two forwards also posted up with more success in the second half.
Notre Dame didn’t want to help off shooters and risk giving up 3-pointers. It switched everything down the stretch, including on the last possession. They stayed in man defense throughout.
“We talked about zone a little bit, because they’re coming down the pipe,” Brey said. “If they hit two [more] 3s, we don’t win the game.
Lipscomb went to the middle ball screen on the final play, the same action on which it scored its last bucket. But this time, Laszewski stopped Boyd before he could get all the way to the rim and forced him into a tough floater.
2. Laszewski goes defense before offense
If Lipscomb had Laszewski at the top of its scouting report as priority No. 1 to stop, it succeeded for a half. Laszewski – who averaged 20.7 points in the first three games – did not score until more than 10 minutes had passed.
A slow first half on offense did not stop him from impacting the game right away.
Laszewski was at the core of Notre Dame’s best defensive effort this year. He held his ground in post defense against Asadullah, who outweighs him by 45 poounds (albeit at the expense of limited back-to-the-basket skill). Asadullah was 2-of-6 shooting in the first half. Laszewski drew a charge on him and also blocked a Ognacevic post-up attempt.
Elsewhere, Laszewski was impactful as a help defender in the first half. He poked away an entry pass from behind. He swatted one layup and altered driving layup attempts. This is where he makes his mark playing interior defense.
Lipscomb only slowed Laszewski for so long on offense. He scored 14 of his points in the second half, including 8 in the first five minutes. He also hit a 3-pointer out of a timeout to push Notre Dame’s lead 47-40 points after Lipscomb had scored 6 straight points. He took 4 of Notre Dame’s 5 free throws.
“He didn’t really score in the first half, but he was guarding everybody – rotating, switching, guarding the big guy,” Brey said. “He’s not coming out. Then we run some stuff for him on an out-of-bounds under, he gets some looks and let the game come to him.”
3. Goodwin gets going from deep
Notre Dame leaned on Laszewski and guard Trey Wertz as its offensive focal points the first three games, leaving Goodwin – a third-team all-ACC selection – with fewer opportunities. He still found ways to score and was averaging 14 points per game, but that included a 1-for-8 night in the opener and just 8 3-point attempts (3 makes) in the first three contests.
Goodwin took 8 3s against Lipscomb alone. He lined ‘em up early and often. All told, he was 6-of-8. He had 15 of his points and three of his triples in the first half. He burned Lipscomb for helping too far on drives on the final possession, but several before it. Four of his threes were assisted.
He was in such a rhythm that Brey knew he would hit the final shot before he even released it.
“When we got that look and that drive, I’m saying, ‘That one is going in,’” Brey said.
After Friday’s outburst, Goodwin has taken 21 percent of Notre Dame’s shots when on the floor. It was 21.5 last year. Even if Laszewski is a focal point and frequent foul-drawer and Wertz has a lot of ball-handling responsibility, Notre Dame needs him to be a presence every game. Especially if it needs to make a lot of 3s to compensate for subpar defense.
