Irish Cruise Past Southeastern Louisiana 86-50
Rex Pflueger found his offensive game on Thursday night. The junior guard had struggled shooting the basketball for a few weeks but came up big in Notre Dame’s 86-50 win as he scored a career-high 17 points.
Three other Irish players were in double figures. TJ Gibbs led Notre Dame with 18 points, five rebound, and five assists, while Matt Farrell scored 17 and Bonzie Colson had 16 points and 10 rebounds.
"It was kind of neat to see our three guards in such an offensive rhythm," stated Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey. "We’re going to need that on a number of nights in ACC play. We’ve been pretty good offensively the last two games on our floor. Hopefully, we can feel good about that when we come back when we get ready to play two league games."
The Dana Point (Calif.) native hit shots from all over the floor, including 3-for-6 from three-point range. Pflueger finished 5-for-10 from the field.
"I felt a lot more confident out there," stated Pflueger. "I have to give this game to my teammates and coaches because they picked me up after the Indiana game. They told me to stay confident and to shoot the ball."
Turnovers were vital for Notre Dame as they forced them but also capitalized on them. The Irish turned 16 turnovers into 23 points, while Southeastern Louisiana had just six points off turnovers.
Pflueger hit his third three of the game to make the score 44-33 with 17:38, but it jump-started an 18-0 run for the Irish over the next 5:09 to take a 59-33 lead.
"We want him to take open shots and make plays," Brey said of Pflueger. "It was a heck of a night for him. He’s a weapon for us. He’s doing everything on the other end of the floor."
The run was ended by two Keith Charleston free throws, but the damage didn’t stop there as the Lions didn’t hit a field goal for over six and a half minutes, which included going 0-for-13 from the field.
Moses Greenwood finally ended the field goal drought for Southeastern Louisiana on a jumper to make the score 61-37.
Notre Dame dominated almost every category on the night, including going 19-of-22 from the free throw line. The Irish won points in the paint 32-16 and won the rebounding battle 47-43.
"We’re starting to inch that thing back to 80 percent, which we led the nation in last year," Brey said of the free throw shooting. "We're doing a good job of not putting other teams on the line. I think we’re second in the nation in the least amount of fouls. We’re not putting people on the line.”
Jordan Capps led the Lions with 17 points and six boards.
Notre Dame’s bench did struggle to score the rock again as they were outscored 19-12.
Pflueger got things rolling with a nice jumper from the elbow and Colson followed it up with seven quick points to give the Irish an early 11-4 advantage at the first media timeout.
Veal and Polanco knocked in three-pointers to keep things close for the Lions at 18-13. Farrell ended the 6-0 run with a three from the top of the key to push Notre Dame’s lead back to eight.
Colson left the game with a bloody nose, but the Irish didn’t give in. Notre Dame forced a slew of turnovers in his absence and took at 28-15 lead after a trey from Pflueger.
The Lions were held without a point for over three minutes while Colson was out of the game.
Southeastern Louisiana would get a three from Filmore and a bucket from Capps to cut Notre Dame’s lead to three points. Farrell and Pflueger ended the mini-run with three-pointers to give the Irish a 37-29 lead at the half.
Both teams struggled to hit shots in the first half as Southeastern Louisiana shot 39 percent from the floor and Notre Dame shot just 35 percent. The Irish did hit 8-of-10 from the foul line, while the Lions were 1-of-2.
The story of the first half was turnovers, as the Lions had 10 and the Irish had just three. Notre Dame turned those 10 turnovers into 15 points.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: TJ Gibbs. While Pflueger scored, Gibbs did a little bit of everything. Gibbs finished with 18 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals.
STAT OF THE GAME: Notre Dame made 19-of-22 foul shots, while Southeastern Louisiana went just 5-of-12 from the foul line.
WHAT’S NEXT: CHRISTMAS BREAK! Notre Dame will return to action on December 30th at Purcell Pavilion as Georgia Tech comes to South Bend for a 2:00 p.m. ET tip.
"I honestly think we are," Pflueger said when asked if they were ready for ACC play. "We’re a mature team and have people that have gone the whole distance. We’ve been in this position. We’ve finished in the top three the past few years in the ACC.
"Our goal right now is to win the ACC regular season."
