No Colson, No Farrell...No Problem, Irish Win 51-49

A crazy last few seconds helped the Irish win for the first time in Syracuse since 2007. After a steal, Martinas Geben found a driving T.J. Gibbs who missed the layup, but Rex Pflueger scored on the putback with two seconds to play. The Orange missed a potential winning shot at the buzzer and the Irish held on for a nail-biting 51-49 victory on Saturday afternoon at the Carrier Dome.

The Irish improved to 13-3 and 3-0 in the ACC with the win and were without the services of Matt Farrell and Bonzie Colson. The Irish shot just 30.4 percent from the field and were led by Gibbs who had a team-high 18 points. The Orange shot 39.1 percent and were led by Tyus Battle’s game-high 21 points.

The Irish had a few opportunities to take the lead, but the Orange defense held strong. The Irish took their first lead since the opening moments after a pair of Gibbs free throws with two and a half minutes to play. Geben scored on a second effort to extend the lead to three before the Orange cut the lead back to one.

A three for Battle tied the game as the Irish were forced to come up with some good offense as the game winded down.

The Irish racked up 21 offensive rebounds in the game, allowing them to stay in the game nearly the entire afternoon.

Pflueger hit his first three-pointer of the game less than a minute into the second half to get the Irish off on the right foot. The Irish opened the half on an 8-0 run that cut the Orange lead to just one.

The Orange answered with five straight points, capped off by a three by Oshae Brissett to get the lead back up to six with about 15 minutes to play. The Irish cut the lead to two, but then Battle drilled a three as the game started to go back and forth. The Orange lead was 36-33 with 11:47 to go.

The offensive rebounding continued to be a big part of the Irish success in the second half as it kept the game close. Both teams seemed to regress back to their first half forms, not able to find much offense. The Orange led 38-34 with about eight minutes remaining.

Another Pflueger three-pointer cut the lead back down to one as the Irish continued to stay alive. A couple of good finished inside by Elijah Burns and John Mooney kept the Irish alive and not allowing the Orange to run away with it. The score was 44-43 with just four minutes left.

The Irish scored 15 points off of Orange turnovers.

Both teams opened the game cold, missing their first few shots until a three-pointer from Brissett. A Battle layup then made it a 7-1 Syracuse lead about four minutes into the game. The Irish opened the game a woeful zero for ten from the field.

Gibbs snapped the streak of 11 straight misses with a floater in the lane. The Irish defense began to tighten up as the Orange were forced into a few bad shots. The Orange lead was 9-3 with 11:36 to play in the half with the Irish just one of 14 from the field.

A three-pointer by Gibbs cut the lead to four as the Orange were unable to break away from the Irish. Battle then answered with a three and a Frank Howard transition layup made it 15-8 Orange with 7:44 to go in the half.

A steal and a dunk by Pflueger got the Irish within three as the defense continued to keep them in the game. Finally, the Orange got their offense going as Howard drilled a straight away three to give the Orange a double-digit lead. The lead was 25-15 going into the final media timeout of the half.

After a floater by Gibbs, Howard stepped into another three and knocked it down to up the Orange advantage to 11. The Irish trailed by nine, 28-19 at the end of the half, shooting just 20.7 percent from the field. Gibbs was the leading scorer at the half with 14 points. The Orange shot 50 percent from the field and were led by Battle who had nine first-half points.

Player of the Game: Gibbs. The sophomore kept the Irish within striking distance and was seemingly the only Irish player that was consistent on offense all day.

Unsung Hero: Geben. Pulling down 14 rebounds, four offensive ones was probably the most important individual stat of the game as the Irish relied heavily upon the senior late in the game to get clutch rebounds.

What's Next: Notre Dame travels to Georgia Tech on January 10th for a 7:00 p.m. ET tip.