Irish Shelled By Terps 72-51
Scoring droughts have been as much a part of Notre Dame’s early-season schedule as the Fighting Irish’s selfless play and tenacious defense.
Even during their six-game home winning streak, the Irish had a half-dozen stretches of zero points across spans of four minutes or longer.
Each time, Notre Dame still found a way to win. Wednesday night at third-ranked Maryland, the droughts proved too long, too much and too debilitating to overcome against the high-flying Terps.
Shaking off a frigid shooting start of its own, Maryland used a 21-7 run into the half and an 8-2 run out of the break en route to a 72-51 win against Notre Dame (6-2). Dismantling their guests, the Terps improved to 9-0 for the first time in two decades.
“Wow, they are really good, and I knew it coming in,” said ND coach Mike Brey. “I knew it coming in, and so that was varsity versus the jayvee tonight. We were the jayvee; the varsity toyed with us a little bit.
“Hopefully we can rebound a little bit because we’ve got a league game on Saturday. But I’m really impressed; sky’s the limit for (Maryland).”
Jalen Smith led the victors with 16 boards, 15 points and five blocked shots. The Terps’ starters outscored Notre Dame’s opening five, 59-39.
John Mooney generated his fifth double-double in eight games, posting a game-high 17 points packaged with 12 rebounds in 31 minutes.
The Fighting Irish, already with two road games at top-10 foes, will try to even their Atlantic Coast Conference record Saturday when they host Boston College in an “Irish Wear Green” game (2 p.m., ESPNU).
They were solid defensively in this ACC-Big Ten Challenge game for 15 minutes, leading by as many as five points in the game’s early stages and harassing the Terps into missing their first 10 3-point attempts.
Maryland, however, beat Notre Dame at its own game: distributing the basketball for easier buckets and wide-open looks. The Terps, leading by as many as 25 points in the second half, had a 17:6 assist to turnover ratio late in the game.
Defensively, Maryland blocked 10 Irish shots and limited them to a paltry 18-for-62 shooting from the field, just 29 percent, and only 7-for-25 from 3-point range.
“They kind of smothered us,” Brey said. “I don’t think it was us missing shots. We didn’t get many clean looks. How many shots did they block tonight? They’re long and they switch stuff. Remind me a little bit of Virginia Tech last year.
“It almost demoralizes you playing against that, because it’s hard to get a clean look.”
Notre Dame, which early had a 19-16 rebounding edge, was outrebounded 48-39.
The Fighting Irish showed their most life in the second half when reserve guard Dane Goodwin uncorked his own 9-2 scoring run. Goodwin drove on back-to-back plays at the bucket, converting both shots and getting fouled each time.
After sinking those free throws, Goodwin also hit a 3-pointer and Notre Dame trailed just 42-31 with 15 minutes, 37 seconds left in the game.
The Terps promptly answered with their second 21-7 run of the game, and it was simply too much for the overwhelmed Irish, who also lost Robby Carmody late in the game to what appeared to be a significant left-knee injury.
Carmody had a clear path along the baseline and exploded to the rim, but he was fouled as he tried to dunk. The ball hit the rim, Carmody landed awkwardly on his left leg and his knee immediately buckled.
Carmody instantly yelled for help from the bench, tried to stand and then crumpled back to the floor. Teammates D.J. Gibbs and Rex Pflueger huddled around Carmody on the Irish bench as the game wound to a close.
