More end-of-game issues usher in end of the Mike Brey Era at Notre Dame
The Mike Brey Era at Notre Dame ended in the same place of its greatest achievement. Its final season concluded with one of its primary themes.
One more close loss with a late lead that squirted away.
No. 14 seed Notre Dame lost to No. 11 Virginia Tech 67-64 Tuesday night in the opening round of the ACC tournament, this time done in by a 11-4 run to end the game. The Irish’s four-point lead with 2:08 left was the latest advantage they couldn’t protect in the final minutes.
Virginia Tech forward Justyn Mutts’ dunk broke a 64-64 tie with 30 seconds left. Guard Cormac Ryan’s layup on the ensuing Notre Dame possession missed when the ball slipped out of his left hand. A tying 3-point attempt from forward Nate Laszewski drew front rim as time expired, the horn sounded and the curtains were drawn on the all-time winningest coach in program history’s tenure.
“It’s been a flat-out honor,” Brey said.
The 763rd and final game was, if nothing else, one more thrilling ending in a building that has produced a few of them for Notre Dame. Eight years earlier, on that same Greensboro Coliseum court, Notre Dame took down North Carolina to win the ACC Championship, capping a four-wins-in-four-days sprint that propelled a run to the Elite 8.
This year’s trip was devoid of any real stakes or realistic March Madness hopes. It will be remembered as the end of the road, even though Brey began the last postgame press conference of his tenure still captivated by one final postseason thriller.
“What a great ACC Tournament game,” Brey said.
Brey, all told, went 483-280 in his 23 seasons. The final one ends with an 11-21 record. This team’s undoing was its shaky defense and lack of interior presence on either end, but not its effort. Notre Dame took the floor Tuesday determined to stretch its season as long as it could.
The Irish pulled the wheel around on an early 12-point deficit with an 18-7 run to end the first half. They went back and forth for much of the second, with neither team leading by more than three points until a Matt Zona triple with 7:12 left pushed Notre Dame’s advantage to four. Ryan’s 3-pointer with 5:35 left put the Irish up 58-53, and his jumper from the elbow gave them a 60-56 lead.
This is the spot where the door has too often off its hinges – and did one more time Tuesday. Virginia Tech guard Rodney Rice’s 3-pointer with 1:53 left sliced the lead to a point. The Hokies (19-13, 8-12 ACC) went ahead 63-62 on a Mutts layup that came after two steals in a three-second span. Ryan poked the ball from guard Sean Pedulla near the 3-point line, but lost his balance as he dribbled away, allowing Pedulla to swindle it back with a tap from behind.
A dead-ball technical foul assessed to Zona upon review of a play where he was initially fouled ended with a 64-64 tie with 42 seconds to go. Zona was initially fouled on the play, and that common foul stood, but he was also assessed the technical after a lengthy review of an apparent kick to Pedulla’s face. Brey, fearing no recourse as a now-former coach, expressed his displeasure.
“If you have an ‘A’ officiating crew – and that was not an ‘A’ crew – you say, ‘Basketball play,’ we shoot the free throws and we play basketball,” Brey said. “I think we got a little over analyzation on that part of it. Look, Virginia Tech made plays, but I don’t think that was handled right.”
Mutts’ dunk broke the tie 30 seconds later. Laszewski’s 3-point attempt came on a set out-of-bound play that began with 2.4 seconds left. He shot-faked once before letting the ball fly.
“We drew it up,” Brey said. “[Ryan] screened [Mutts] great, and Nate wanted to take it. He probably thought, ‘Maybe I don’t have the window right here,’ but I thought the shot fake was pretty poised, and he had his feet under him. Three-point shot after a shot fake, you live with that.”
Notre Dame wouldn’t have even been in position to advance to a Wednesday game with No. 6 seed North Carolina State without its steadiest guard and the player who, before a preseason injury, looked like a dynamic scorer. The latter, Marcus Hammond, scored a season-high 23 points. Ryan added 18.
“I’m thrilled for Marcus Hammond,” Brey said. “Finally got him healthy.”
Among the reasons two viewings of Notre Dame’s preseason practices did not raise alarm bells of a five-month calamity was the impossible-to-miss presence of Hammond, a grad transfer from Niagara. Hammond looked the part of a lead guard who was never afraid to initiate offense and could score from any spot on the floor. The kind the Irish needed after losing their first one-and-done in team history to last year’s NBA Draft.
A sprained MCL suffered shortly before the opener, though, halted those visions. Hammond’s early December return was too late to overcome some concerning early defeats. His eventual re-acclimation was too little to make up for the season-long issues that should have been more apparent in October and were part of the reasons Tuesday’s game was Brey’s last.
