The 'stage has been cleared' for Notre Dame forward Nate Laszewski, who looks comfortable in a lead role
Part of head coach Mike Brey’s pitch to get forward Nate Laszewski to come back for a graduate season was simply reminding him of who left.
Notre Dame’s 2021-22 team often went where guard Blake Wesley, forward Paul Atkinson Jr. and Prentiss Hubb collectively took it. They were the Irish’s top three players in usage rate, a KenPom stat that measures how often a player ends a possession with a make, miss or turnover. They accounted for 52 percent of the team’s shot attempts.
It left Laszewski to operate largely in residual action that came from attention given to them. He was a catch-and-shoot big and a roller frequently on the receiving end of a Wesley or Hubb pass. Situations for him to create on his own were infrequent, because that trio and guard Dane Goodwin used so many of them.
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When Hubb, Wesley and Atkinson packed up to pursue pro careers, they took 1,033 shots with them. Brey saw a chance to turn a collective loss into an individual gain when convincing Laszewski not to exit with them.
“What you had to explain to him as he was thinking through it was Paul Atkinson, Blake Wesley and Prentiss Hubb are gone, and that’s good for you,” Brey said. “You played great with them. You loved it. The stage has been cleared for you to be the star.”
Three games into the season, he has been a willing lead actor.
Laszewski billed himself – with Brey’s urging – as a more aggressive, confident scorer upon returning from the NBA predraft process June 1 and a spring of workouts at IMPACT basketball training facility in Las Vegas. He looked the part behind closed doors during summer practices, when Brey said he took more shots than anyone else in five-on-five. Notre Dame’s start to the season is further proof.
Laszewski, firmly installed as the starting ‘5’, is averaging a team-high 20.7 points and 10.7 rebounds through three games. He is averaging 9.9 field goal attempts per outing, up from 6.2 last season. He also leads the Irish with 23 free throw attempts, nearly half his season total from last year (47). He has gobbled up the available shots like Thanksgiving dinner.
No, Notre Dame has not faced particularly challenging competition so far, but dominating in games against Radford, Youngstown State and Southern Indiana is the first step toward becoming an All-ACC caliber player and being a focal point of an NCAA tournament team. Laszewski was a role player in these games last year. This season, the Irish might have taken an embarrassing loss without him. He earned his first ACC Player of the Week award Nov. 14 after combining for 42 points and 12 rebounds in the Irish’s first two games.
“It’s affirmation of some of the hard work,” Laszewski said.
Three possessions into Notre Dame’s opener vs. Radford, he provided evidence of it. On the opening one, he put his head down and drove from the key, splitting two defenders to draw a foul. Two possessions later, he head-faked and drove for a layup with his left hand. He ended the opener with 28 points and 15 free throw attempts. The former tied a career high. He did not attempt his 15th free throw of last season until Notre Dame’s 16th game.
Left-hand layups weren’t part of the arsenal before. Neither were rip-throughs into left-hand dribbles that leave a slower forward behind and end with him at the basket. Neither was a left-hand dunk off a baseline drive until an 88-81 win over Youngstown State Nov. 13. His off-the-dribble game has expanded beyond a jab step or a shot fake.
“I kind of surprised myself a little bit that it was a lefty one,” Laszewski said. “I think it was my first career left-handed dunk.”
Laszewski approaches film sessions looking for areas he can exploit in defenses, and not merely situations that might leave him open when attention is given to someone else. He wants to dictate game flow instead of adapting to how a teammate or the opponent establish it.
“[Associate head coach Anthony Solomon] talks to me a lot about what he calls ‘Easys,’” Laszewski said. “Try to get some layups, free throws, get myself going. Definitely try to be aggressive and settle into the flow early on.”
Notre Dame has leaned on him late in games, though. Laszewski had 10 points in the final five minutes of the Radford game, a 79-77 escape in which the Irish trailed by nine in the second half. His baskets were among the most pivotal in dodging disaster. A 3-pointer with 3:59 left cut Radford’s lead to 1. A jump-hook where he backed down a smaller guard also trimmed the deficit to a point with 1:28 left.
Those late-game spots were often Wesley’s, Hubb’s or Atkinson’s time to make a play last year. They appear to be Laszewski’s right now.
“I love all those guys, but they needed to go for you to be the guy,” Brey said. “I love that he has grabbed it.”
