Observations: Cormac Ryan's outburst helps Notre Dame topple Alabama, advance in NCAA tournament
Notre Dame is onto the round of 32.
The No. 11 seed Irish defeated 6-seed Alabama 78-64 Friday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA tournament. They advanced to a Sunday meeting with Texas Tech, the No. 3 seed in the West Region. With the win, they became the 10th First Four team in the last 11 tournaments to advance to the round of 32.
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Guard Cormac Ryan led Notre Dame with 29 points, a career-high. He made a personal best and Notre Dame tournament record seven three-pointers. Guard Blake Wesley added 18 points. Notre Dame shot 53.7 percent from the field and 62.5 percent on threes. Alabama shot 40 percent.
Here are three observations from the game.
1. Cormac Ryan’s career day
Sometimes, it’s best to sit back and ride the hot hand. Don’t overthink it. Get the guy on a heater the ball and let him go until he runs out of gas.
Ryan’s tank never hit empty, not even on a 33.5-hour turnaround from double-overtime win over Rutgers in Dayton in which he played 46 minutes. He supplied Notre Dame’s first basket of the day. He dropped eight more and finished this dream-maker of a day off with two technical foul-induced free throws.
This was the game that blew the lid off on the best stretch of his career. Ryan had made 19 of his last 38 three-point attempts (50 percent) over his previous nine games. That’s now up to 26-of-47 (55.3 percent). In addition, he has nine double-figure scoring games, six outings with at least six rebounds and seven with multiple assists in that span. He also draws the toughest defensive assignment, which on Friday was Alabama leading scorer Jaden Shackelford.
Notre Dame dialed up set plays to get Ryan going in the first half. Two of his early threes came on the same double screen action. Alabama continued to go under screens for him, an inadvisable decision based on the scouting report and even more so when he’s throwing in everything he takes.
Ryan accounted for nine of the Irish’s 16 three-point attempts, which represents a season-low in volume. Notre Dame is 3-4 when it attempts fewer than 20 three-pointers, but throw that stat out the window when it can shoot 62.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Ryan was not alone, especially in the second half. Wesley exploded for 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting after halftime, including multiple steals and dunks in transition. He scored six straight points in half-court offense to push Notre Dame’s lead to 14 points with 9:21 to go.
2. Handling a fast pace
Notre Dame traveled three time zones and had less than 36 hours to recover from the First Four and face a team that likes to push the pace.
Alabama began the day ranked 12th in tempo, per KenPom, at 72 possessions per game – six more than Notre Dame. Sure enough, the game moved at the Crimson Tide’s desired speed, with 70 total possessions.
Notre Dame willingly engaged. It took its time in the half court, content to stay calm amid the freneticism. The Irish let Ryan carry the load, dialing up sets to create three-pointers for him. They pushed the ball in transition when the opportunities were there. Later, they turned to Wesley to break down the defense off the dribble. Paul Atkinson Jr. had 13 points, and Notre Dame often looked to him when Alabama starting center Charles Bediako wasn’t in the game.
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Notre Dame led by only five at halftime, though, because of 10 first-half turnovers against a defense that doesn’t try to generate many. Most of them were unforced errors. Several passes sailed high or wide, or went directly to a defender. Twice, a guard lost his handle. A pick-pocket near midcourt led directly to an Alabama basket.
The Irish committed eight mostly similar turnovers in the second half, but between seven from Alabama and a sturdier defense, they weren’t a hinderance in building a comfortable lead and keeping it.
3. Limiting Alabama’s strengths
Anyone who plays Alabama starts the scouting report with the same thing: they’re going to shoot threes.
Entering the day, only 11 teams took a higher percentage of their shots from three-point range than the Crimson Tide’s 48. They don’t make them consistently (sub-300 in accuracy), but the threat is there and makes opponents ever-leery of an outburst.
Notre Dame limited the volume well – 24 of Alabama’s 64 shots (37.5 percent) were threes. The Irish mixed man and zone defense throughout. Shackelford attempted 10 threes, which is higher than desired, but made just two.
With that weapon extinguished, Alabama’s comeback chances lessened. Notre Dame quelled another of Alabama’s primary outlets for points: the offensive glass. The Tide came in ranked top-15 in offensive rebounding rate. Notre Dame held them to 10 rebounds on their 38 misses, well below their average, and 13 second-chance points. Without point guard Jahvon Quinerly, who left three minutes into the game due to a knee injury, Alabama’s offense grew increasingly listless.
