Notre Dame Blows By Bison 79-50
That the postgame focus Tuesday night inside Purcell Pavilion was on Notre Dame senior post Juwan Durham shouldn’t be all that surprising.
Durham, teamed inside with stalwart John Mooney, can potentially lift this Fighting Irish squad to the type of bounce-back 2019-20 season they envision.
That the focus, however, was on Durham’s ability to drive to the rack? Well, that spoke plenty about Notre Dame’s systematic throttling of visiting Howard, 79-50, in the Men Against Breast Cancer Invitational.
The 6-foot-11 Durham took the ball, deftly flowed to the rim and finished with two of his 11 points.
“That was nice. He took a page out of my book,” deadpanned Mooney, who closed with 18 points, 16 boards, and five assists in just 29 minutes on the floor. “Just kidding. He’s a great player and he can handle the ball.
“That was pretty sweet with the Euro (step).”
Added Durham, “Most definitely. I definitely think I can be a point forward. Just trying to go out there and be a K.D.”
The win was the second in a row for Notre Dame, which is one-third of the way through an early-season six-game homestand. The Irish, as they did Saturday in dispatching Robert Morris, burst out of the opening tip with a purpose against the Bison (0-3), coached by Kenneth Blakeney, a longtime friend of ND coach Mike Brey and, like Brey, a DeMatha Catholic High School graduate.
Off the bench, Dane Goodwin again sparked Notre Dame early and finished with 11 points; his bucket barely 10 minutes into the game lifted the hosts to an 19-9 lead, and it was never less than a double-digit advantage the rest of the night.
“Definitely extremely important,” Mooney said of handling business during this spate of home contests. “We talk about a home identity, something we didn’t really do last year, couldn’t find last year.
“Taking care of business on the home court is very important, starting out early is just going to translate into league play and the rest of the season.”
After getting 40 bench points in their opening win of the season, the Irish got another 28 from the quartet of Goodwin, Robby Carmody (eight), Nate Laszewski (seven) and Chris Doherty (two).
“He’s played a little bit more pissed off, quite frankly,” Brey said of Goodwin. “I thought he was disappointed with how he played in Chapel Hill [in the Irish’s season-opening loss to North Carolina]. As he’s mentioned, he’s being aggressive and he’s going for it and now he’s ready to do that. As much as I told him that last year, it just was hard to do and understand at times. I think he gets it now.
“Carmody was born aggressive. Carmody came out of the womb driving to the basket. And knocking the hell out of people. He is a bull in a China shop. Is that a Pittsburgh guy, or what?”
After building an insurmountable 41-21 lead the break, Notre Dame eventually pushed out to a 30-point lead with 8:25 to play when fifth-year senior Rex Pflueger converted an and-1 play for a 65-35 bulge. The Irish led by as many as 34 before Howard scored the game’s final five points.
Up next is a visit from Marshall on Friday (7 p.m.). The Thundering Herd are 1-1 after being Robert Morris and then getting blown out at home last Sunday by Toledo.
