Observations: Notre Dame slips in second half, loses at Virginia Tech
Notre Dame still nearly salvaged it.
The Irish had a final-minute chance to tie a game they once led by 10 points. All they needed was guard Cormac Ryan, an 80 percent free throw shooter, to make a pair at the line with 47 seconds left.
He missed both.
Those clanks were costly, but far from the only reason Notre Dame lost a game in which it played arguably its best first half of the season. The Irish fell to Virginia Tech 79-73, ending a six-game winning streak. They’re 10-6 and 4-2 in the ACC.
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Forward Paul Atkinson Jr. led Notre Dame with 19 points. Guard Blake Wesley added 15. Notre Dame shot 45.6 percent from the field. Virginia Tech shot 59.2 percent overall and 69.6 in the second half.
Here are three observations from the game.
1. Notre Dame defensive strategy backfires
Once again, Notre Dame began a game against a strong shooting team by playing zone. It was not a convention zone that is sometimes prone to three-point attempts. The Irish are aggressive in how they extend it out to the perimeter to stick on shooters. They succeeded in running Virginia Tech’s three-point snipers Hunter Cattoor and Storm Murphy off the line in the opening 10 minutes, holding them to one combined deep attempt in that span.
Virginia Tech eventually found ways to generate threes and took the available mid-range jumpers and post touches Notre Dame’s defensive strategy gave them. All told, the Hokies were 10-of-20 on threes. The lack of them early, though, combined with Notre Dame’s initial three-point accuracy (6-of-11 in the first half), helped the Irish build an early lead.
Cattoor didn’t score at all until he made a free throw with 8:55 left – his only point of the game. He took just two three-pointers. That’s a win for Notre Dame, as was limiting the three-point attempts in the first half.
So why did it go awry in the second half? Hokies forwards Keve Aluma and Justyn Mutts combined for 41 points and shot 71.4 percent inside the arc. Guard Nahiem Alleyne, who came in shooting just 32 percent, detonated for 22 points and went 4-of-5 on threes.
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Notre Dame can handle an opposing forward dominating the post if it keeps the threes under control and stays out of foul trouble. Alleyne thwarted that. Aluma and Mutts, meanwhile, combined to draw five fouls on Atkinson in the second half alone. Aluma also drew a foul on forward Nate Laszewski in the post for a three-point play. Atkinson’s fifth foul led to Mutts’ free throws that broke a 73-73 tie with 1:06 left. Ryan’s misses came on the next possession.
2. Attacking the guards
Notre Dame’s offensive game plan was to attack Virginia Tech’s guards on switches and in the pick-and-roll. The Hokies switched when Mutts was guarding the screener but did not with Aluma.
The switching took Laszewski’s pick-and-pop threat away, but it presented guards with favorable matchups against forwards. When Virginia Tech didn’t switch, Notre Dame’s guards made Virginia Tech’s pay by going under screens.
On one first-half possession, Blake Wesley turned the corner too quickly for Virginia Tech’s Hunter Cattoor to cut off, causing a corner defender to come over in help. Wesley saw it and kicked to Cormac Ryan in the corner for a three-pointer.
Notre Dame’s first basket of the second half was a Prentiss Hubb layup in a pick-and-roll with Murphy defending. Hubb drew a foul on a made layup when Virginia Tech freshman guard Sean Pedulla closed out too aggressively on him.
Virginia Tech still held Notre Dame to 37.9 percent shooting in the second half, though. It used a two-big lineup with Aluma and 6-9 David N’Guessan for a stretch and made life difficult at the basket for Notre Dame. The Hokies allowed the Irish to take just nine three-pointers after halftime, and only two were makes. Still, Notre Dame averaged 1.2 points per possession, their highest against a power-conference team this year.
3. Ball security to waste
Taking care of the ball in a road game is usually a winning recipe. Notre Dame put forth its best ball security game of the year, committing a season-low three turnovers, with none in the first half. The first was a shot clock violation with 13:58 to go. That’s how to average 1.2 points per possession even with an inefficient second half.
It went to waste. The Irish were poised with the ball and made good decisions, but their defensive unraveling, dip in three-point accuracy and free throw struggles in the second half (9-of-14 from the line in the final 20 minutes) made it all for naught.
There was, though, a brief and costly break in character. Notre Dame committed turnovers on consecutive possessions right as Virginia Tech took its first lead since the opening minutes. Laszewski was called for a moving screen with 6:02 left and Notre Dame ahead by three points.
The following trip, with Notre Dame leading 62-61, Dane Goodwin threw an errant pass. The Hokies went ahead on the ensuing possession with Aluma’s and-1 against Laszewski, which head coach Mike Brey compounded with a technical foul for disputing the call.
