Notre Dame Rallies Past NC State in Overtime Behind Cole Certa’s 32 on Senior Day
Senior Day at Notre Dame (13-16, 4-12) didn’t feel too different after the first three minutes of game action as NC State (19-10, 10-6) jumped out to a quick 11-2 lead.
But Cole Certa said not today. The sophomore guard scored a game-high 32 points and led Notre Dame to an impressive 96-90 win in overtime on Saturday afternoon.
Notre Dame freshman Jalen Haralson returned to the lineup after missing three games and scored 25 points, which included dropping 23 after the break.
NC State went ahead 79-70 on a Darrion Williams jumper with 4:46 to go and that’s when Notre Dame started to chip away.
The Irish found their way on defense and got stops.
“I'm really just trying to stay in the moment and figure out how we can string together a couple possessions in a row,” Micah Shrewsberry said of how the Irish finished in the final four minutes. “How can we go score, stop, score, or stop, score, stop, whatever it may be. That's all you're thinking about in that moment.”
NC State scored just two points the rest of regulation. Haralson scored six points, while Braeden Shrewsberry hit a huge three during the final minutes.
Haralson hit two free throws with 19 seconds left to tie the game at 81 and the Irish forced a miss from Williams at the buzzer.
In overtime, it was the Certa show. The Illinois native scored 12 points, including going 3-for-3 from deep, as the Irish outscored the visitors 15-9 in the extra period.
For the game, Notre Dame shot 53 percent and 48 percent from three. NC State entered the game as the best three-point shooting team in the ACC, but the Irish held them to just 29 percent.
Notre Dame also out-rebounded NC State 40-32 and had 15 assists on 31 field goals.
Former Notre Dame forward Ven-Allen Lubin led the Wolfpack with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
“This place is special to me because this was my first home,” Lubin said. “Any chance I get to come back here, whether I'm with them for my freshman year or to an opposing team, I just want to go out there and win. It's very special to me. Good memories.”
ZONE
In late-game situations, small coaching adjustments can make all the difference. Shrewsberry made a small tweak on defense by jumping into a zone defense late in the second half and NC State had no answer for it.
“Notre Dame made more plays down the stretch,” stated NC State head coach Will Wade. “We missed some shots against the zone. They made a great move going to the zone.”
The Irish rarely play zone. In fact, Shrewsberry admitted they barely practice it, but it wasn’t an issue for Notre Dame on Saturday.
“We haven't played much zone all year,” explained Shrewsberry. “We don't really even practice it. “They get a lot of credit, man. These guys really executed on both ends of the court, and I just think they had that desire to go out and win the game.”
Why the change? Notre Dame needed to eliminate NC State’s guards from attacking the rim as there was little resistance until the strategy change.
“For us to switch the zone late and force them to pass a little more, take some of their ISO stuff out,” Shrewsberry said. “Great talk by those guys for us to switch into it. Great job by these guys to execute a rebound out of it and then keep scoring and keep attacking the way that they were.”
Wade immediately noticed the game changed when the Irish went zone as his offense came to a standstill after scoring at will.
“We missed some open shots,” Wade said of the zone. “We got some good looks against it, but we missed some open shots. We were trying to get it to the middle and drive it a little bit, and we weren't able to get it to the middle and drive it. That made it tough for us. It was a great changeup.”
MOVING ON
Notre Dame may have gotten its doors blown off by Duke earlier in the week, but there wasn’t any evidence that the game was played in the basketball facility.
“We didn't show it,” stated Shrewsberry. “We didn't talk about it. Like, we just moved to the next game and these guys just got ready to play.”
Certa was on board with the move from his coach, as the Irish didn’t need to spend time on it.
The loss was enough in itself, but it likely motivated Notre Dame to show they were a much better program.
“We washed it,” Certa explained. “We didn't talk about it. We didn't bring it up at all. We didn't watch any of it. We just washed it and we just got ready for NC State.”
THE RETURN
Jalen Haralson’s return was much-needed for Notre Dame. The Irish not only got 15 points per game back in the lineup, but also someone who can put pressure on the defense in multiple ways.
Wade was well aware of Haralson and felt his return made a significant difference in the game.
“He did a good job of backing him down into the post,” Wade stated. “He doesn't shoot any fadeaways. He goes right through you. He's a tremendous player. I think they hadn't had him for about three weeks.”
Why is Harlason a tough guard outside of the pure power? Wade believes it starts with the defense rotating to his side of the floor when he has the ball.
“He can put the defense in rotation,” Wade explained. “The other guards are good players, but those other guards can't put the defense in rotation as he can. Having him just adds a totally different dynamic to what they do and to how they do it. He was phenomenal.”
At halftime, Haralson had just two points, but once he caught his wind, the freshman knew he had to raise his level of play.
“I had to try to get a feel for it,” said Haralson. “I went into halftime and knew coming out that I had to be aggressive and to get looks for myself and my teammates. These guys hit shots. I got some free throws. I got a rhythm in the second half. It was a good thing.”
UP NEXT
Notre Dame will play its final home game of the season on Wednesday, hosting Stanford on ESPNU at 9:00 PM ET.
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