Observations: Notre Dame offense goes quiet down stretch in 62-61 loss to Syracuse
There goes the goodwill gained three days ago. Notre Dame followed up its dusting of No. 20 Michigan State Wednesday with a 62-61 loss to Syracuse Saturday, dropping its record to 6-2 overall and 0-1 in the ACC.
On paper, this looked like a prime opportunity for the Irish to start a winning streak. Syracuse (4-4) had lost three straight, most recently a 73-44 drubbing at Illinois and a 73-72 setback versus low-major program Bryant.
Instead, Notre Dame led for just 12:15 and shot 38.3 percent overall. The Irish had 10 turnovers and went 11 of 33 on three-pointers (33.3 percent). They still nearly escaped, but Judah Mintz’s layup with 14 seconds left gave Syracuse the lead.
Graduate student guard Dane Goodwin led Notre Dame with 16 points, while classmate and fellow guard Cormac Ryan added 14.
Here are three observations from the game.
1. Zone offense goes stagnant
Notre Dame had the staples of good zone offense in the first half: a high assist rate (69.2 percent) and good three-point shooting (44.4 percent). Syracuse made the Irish work for it, though, by denying passes up top and making the Irish shoot late in the clock. Notre Dame’s veteran group, though, was willing to be patient, even if that meant probing, cutting and passing for 25 seconds of the clock.
The second half, though, was a reversal. Notre Dame’s three best three-point shooters by percentage — Goodwin, Ryan and forward Nate Laszewski — took just two threes in the second half after combining for 12 attempts in the first. The first three-point try of the half came with 1:18 left in the game. The second was the final shot.
“We couldn’t really get it into the middle,” Goodwin said. “We kind of just passed it around up top, we got into low-lock and weren’t really sure what to do.”
Notre Dame generated several open corner three-pointers in the first half, but not nearly as many in the second. Those were the result of possessions that sometimes neared 10 passes. The Irish’s three-pointers after halftime were contested, hurried shots. The high-post jumpers and passes that are often a staple of zone offense weren’t there in the second half, in part because Syracuse moved 6-foot-11 forward Jesse Edwards up in the Orange’s zone defense to contest there.
The counter to that is to throw the ball over back of the zone for alley-oop attempts. Notre Dame did, usually targeting Laszewski or forward Ven-Allen Lubin — and didn’t convert on nearly enough to make Syracuse change its defense. It turned the ball over on multiple passes to Lubin. Notre Dame was 7 of 15 on layups and dunks, which included a few missed alley-oop attempts.
“As Edwards sneaks up, we have to complete a few of those we threw over the top,” Brey said. “We were probably 2 for 7 over the top to Nate and Ven.
“We didn’t get anything a couple times. That kind of hurts, and it keeps Edwards confident to stay up.”
Notre Dame shot 32.3 percent overall and 20 percent on three-pointers in the second half.
2. Trouble with Jesse Edwards
Syracuse’s game plan was obvious from the start: get the ball to Edwards (13.7 points per game) in the paint as much as possible, whether it was on post-ups or dives to the rim. He prodded Notre Dame’s defense early and often and scored with 16 of Syracuse’s first 30 points. He ended with 22 points.
Notre Dame played a variety of defenses on him. It started by leaving him in single coverage in the post and making forwards catch up to him on dives. It doubled-teamed on occasion. It even had Ryan switch onto Edwards and front guard. Notre Dame held Edwards scoreless in the final 6:20 of the half by forcing him to catch the ball further away from the hoop.
Edwards had 6 points in the first six minutes of the second half, but didn’t score from there. Laszewski and Lubin pushed him out of the paint often enough to deter touches, and Notre Dame frequently sent double-teams his way. He went more than 11 minutes without taking a single shot.
All told, Notre Dame tightened up on defense in the second half. Syracuse had 12 points in the final 11:51 of the half and did not make a three in the final 20 minutes.
3. Marcus Hammond’s solid debut
Notre Dame added another fifth-year senior to its rotation in guard Marcus Hammond, who missed the first seven games due to an MCL sprain. He didn’t start, but played 19 minutes and scored 6 points with 3 assists.
Brey clearly trusts him, though, as evidenced by playing him for the final minutes. He was in the game for the final 2:20 and entered with Notre Dame trailing 60-55. His fingerprints were all over a 6-0 run that gave the Irish a brief 61-60 lead. He beat a defender in transition with a crossover dribble and kicked to Ryan for a three-pointer. On the ensuing possession, he locked up Mintz and forced him to take a long two-pointer. He drew a foul on his tying jumper and made the free throw to take the lead.
Hammond’s day ended on a sour note, though, when Mintz drove past him for the go-ahead layup. It came on a baseline out-of-bounds play where he took a dribble handoff from Edwards. Notre Dame didn’t switch it and played it straight up, bringing no help defense to wall off the driving line. Mintz was too quick for Hammond.
“We maybe should have helped more there,” Brey said. “That’s more on me.”
Hammond’s first shot was a three-pointer off a pass out of the post from Lubin. He buried it, displaying a quick release. Later, he skied for a rebound over a Syracuse forward and pushed the tempo, drawing a blocking foul in the backcourt.
