Gibbs Has Payback in Mind for Bruins
T.J. Gibbs had little interest in revisiting the scene from last year.
More recently, Mike Brey had no interest in asking, “What if?” after a missed Gibbs free throw that might have coerced an overtime session in a stunning home loss last Saturday against Boston College. Gibbs finished that game with 22 points and hit seven of eight free throws. His lone miss? That came with less than three seconds on the clock and the Irish down two.
Perhaps therein shows just how much Brey and Gibbs are getting clearly in synch as Notre Dame hosts cross-country rival UCLA (7-3) in a nationally televised showdown Saturday inside Purcell Pavilion (3 p.m., ABC).
After an atrocious performance in a blowout loss at Maryland on December 4, Gibbs now is operating at elevated levels not yet seen this season; the senior guard has 40 points, including nine 3-pointers, 14 assists and just three turnovers in the last two games for the Irish (7-3, 0-2 ACC).
Notre Dame trailed by 11 at the half last year at UCLA but battled back to tie the game with a chance to win it at the end. Instead, the Bruins’ Kris Wilkes tossed in an improbably 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 65-62 UCLA win.
“It was six hours, so it was a long flight,” said Gibbs, who emphasized he didn’t think about the loss all the way across the country. “I sleep on the flights.”
All six hours, Gibbs said. Mike Brey, however, revealed twice this week that Gibbs has not slept on the revenge component in Saturday’s clash, the 50th meeting all-time between these basketball powers.
“TJ said, ‘Coach, come on, man. We kind of owe them,’” Brey said Thursday after earlier this week sharing that Gibbs had said in the locker room “to hell with the rivalry, we owe them for last year.”
Gibbs, however, acknowledged the difficulty of that loss last year, which saw the Irish respond with four-straight wins before opening ACC play with losses in seven of their first eight games.
“Yeah, I mean, we know last year was a tough game for us,” said Gibbs, who had nine points, four assists and three turnovers in the loss to the Bruins. “We were right there. It was a barn-burner, one that hurt a little bit, especially since it was going home for Rex. We know that; we’ve just got to play how we play. And we’re going to be ready for any surprises that they throw at us and just know that they’re a tough team, and we have to bring our ‘A’ game.”
With his own confidence boosted from his back-to-back breakout-games and the experience inherent with 113 games in a Notre Dame uniform, Gibbs now is helping the Irish to ensure they carry forward their performance from Tuesday’s blowout-win against Detroit.
Notre Dame set an arena record and tied the program’s all-time record for assists in that game with 33; it also matched a program-best mark of 20 made 3-pointers. Six of those from long-distance belonged to Gibbs, who has played 71 of 80 minutes in the past two games.
“We’ve just got to make sure we’re playing with confidence with each other and that we trust each other, at the end of the day,” he said. “It was good just to get sweating again, get back used to doing things how we do them and just keep it rolling now.”
Gibbs is cognizant of the shared history between the Bruins and Irish; “I mean, we talk to Digger (Phelps) all the time, so yeah,” he deadpanned.
But this season is it for the 6-foot-3 senior from Scotch Plains, New Jersey. He’s focused on what a win now could do later for the Irish.
“This is always a great opportunity for our team, just one, to build confidence and two, to show who we are,” Gibbs said. “Show this culture, and just kind of keep striving for the goals that we want to get to and this is a huge step for us, whether it’s conference or not.”