North Carolina Runs Notre Dame Out of Chapel Hill 84-51
Chapel Hill is one of the last places in the country where opposing teams want to find themselves in a hole.
Notre Dame (12-18, 7-12) dug a massive hole at halftime as they trailed No. 7 North Carolina (24-6, 16-3) 41-25, but the Irish had been in a similar place recently. Two weeks ago, Micah Shrewsberry’s team trailed by 20 at the break to Syracuse on the road and fought back to cut the lead to three in the final minutes.
On Tuesday, North Carolina broke Notre Dame out of halftime with an 16-0 run and cruised to victory 84-51. The Irish were outscored 43-26 and shot just 25 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes.
“Congrats to North Carolina,” stated Shrewsberry. “They kicked our butt from start to finish. It was grown men versus boys out there. We have to get better if we want to get to that level.”
The Tar Heels had five players in double figures and were led by future ACC Player of the Year RJ Davis, who finished with 22 points and six assists. Former Notre Dame guard Cormac Ryan finished with 14 points and five rebounds in his final game in the Dean E. Smith Center. Harrison Ingram added 11 points and 14 boards for the home team.
Sophomore forward Tae Davis was the only Irish player to score in double figures as he finished with 11 points on 4-of-11 from the field. Freshman Markus Burton scored nine points, which broke his 22-game streak of scoring in double figures.
Notre Dame did cut the 32-point lead to 20 with 7:56 to play, but the Tar Heels answered with an 18-0 run in less than four minutes. Davis and Armando Bacot both scored eight points during the stretch.
A CLUSTER
Entering the game, Notre Dame needed to control the boards and limit North Carolina’s offensive rebounds while competing with the Tar Heels from deep. Notre Dame did neither.
North Carolina out-rebounded the Irish 47-39, including 15 offensive rebounds, which led to 11 second-chance points. Notre Dame shot 5-for-19 from three-point range compared the the Tar Heels going 11-for-29, including two from big man Armando Bacot, who finished with 14 points.
Turnovers have also been a problem for Notre Dame against superior teams, but the Irish did a fair job as they only had 12 turnovers. Yet, that wasn’t enough as North Carolina only turned the ball over six times and held a key 18-3 advantage in points off turnovers.
Perhaps the most frustrating stat for the Irish comes at the rim. Notre Dame was 8-for-25 on shots considered layups, which combined with losing the battle on the boards, turnovers and three-point shooting - well, it leads one way and that’s trailing by 38 and losing by 33 points.
BIG PICTURE
Tuesday was a measuring stick for Notre Dame in many ways as the Irish entered the game as one of the hottest teams in the ACC. The Irish freshmen had shown growth over the last month and were simply playing compared to thinking.
If you want to measure this game with the road trip to No. 8 Marquette in December, the Irish don’t look much better on paper, which is far from reality.
Shrewsberry will likely be disappointed with his team's lack of focus at times against North Carolina, but despite its offensive struggles, Notre Dame hasn’t been blown out often this year. The biggest difference is the caliber of athlete on the court and that’s the long-term project for the entire program, which won’t be fixed in a season - or even two seasons.
That said, Shrewsberry has now seen every ACC team and knows where he has to improve the roster to be able to compete. North Carolina entered the week in the mix for a No. 1 seed and Notre Dame is far from that, but there has been progress made from last year’s 3-15 finish in the ACC as the Irish will have a chance to win its eighth conference game on Saturday.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame will wrap the regular season on Saturday at Virginia Tech (17-13, 9-10). Tip is set for 2:30 PM ET on ESPNU. The Irish won the first matchup 74-66 on February 10.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Campus Raglan Lightweight Bi-Blend Long Sleeve Hoodie T-Shirt
