Notre Dame Falls 60-53 in Atlanta
Mike Brey and Notre Dame (13-4, 3-1) have had some ugly basketball games with Bonzie Colson, and Matt Farrell out and Wednesday was no different in Atlanta against Georgia Tech (9-7, 2-1). The second game in 11 days between to two programs turned into a gritty grind it out game and the Yellow Jackets had a little more offense than the Irish in a 60-53 win.
“Give Georgia Tech credit," stated Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey. "We came back and put game pressure on them. They really made some big plays and Ben Lammers was big at key times.
“I’m proud of our group. We keep digging and scratching even though we’re short-handed. We gave ourselves a chance, but Tech made big plays at times to hold us off.”
Sophomore John Mooney got a dunk to cut the Georgia Tech lead to 56-53 with 3:20 left in the game, but that was the final points scored for the Irish as Notre Dame went 0-for-5 down the stretch.
Mooney was a bright spot on the night as he finished with a career-high 11 points and eight rebounds on the night.
The other bright spot for the Notre Dame was senior Martinas Geben. The 6-foot-11 center scored a career-high 16 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Geben gave Notre Dame life when it was needed throughout the second half.
Geben started the second half with two quick buckets to trim Georgia Tech’s 10-point halftime lead to nine in the first four minutes of the second half.
Abudoulaye Gueye hit a jumper to give Georgia Tech a 37-29 lead with 14:35, but it was the last bucket for the Yellow Jackets for almost five minutes.
Notre Dame would go on a 9-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 38-37 with 11:16 remaining in the game. During the run, Geben scored four points, TJ Gibbs added a trey and two free throws.
Gibbs finished the night with 11 points, three rebounds and seven assists.
Ben Lammers, who scored 10 points and pulled down 10 boards, ended the run with a tip-in and Josh Okogie gave the home squad a 42-39 lead with a three from the top of the key with just over 10 minutes to play.
Okogie led Georgia Tech with 17 points, four rebounds and five assists in 39 minutes of action.
The Yellow Jackets went on a quick 7-0 run in just a minute of action to push the lead to 49-41.
Freshman DJ Harvey had been 1-for-18 from the field dating back to the Syracuse game, but he nailed a three-pointer to trim the lead to 52-46 with 6:57 to play.
Harvey nailed his second three of the game with 3:56 left to cut the lead to 54-41, but Georgia Tech quickly answered with Lammers layup just 17 seconds later.
Notre Dame shot just 21-for-59 from the field (36%) and a disappointing 4-for-18 from three-point range.
“We didn’t shoot it as great as we need to and we had some really good looks in the second half," said Brey. "We made a couple of them to make it interesting. We have to make a few more of those to escape with a road win."
Since starting ACC play, the Irish were out-rebounded for the first time, 39-33 and also lost the battle in the paint as Georgia Tech outscored Notre Dame 36-28.
“They were really good on the backboard," Brey stated. "We couldn’t get second shots like we’ve been getting in our first three ACC games. Their key guys made big plays. Lammers, (Josh) Okogie made big shots like they’re supposed to make in an ACC game.”
Georgia Tech started the game off hot taking a quick 4-0 lead, but Notre Dame answered with buckets from Geben and Gibbs to tie the score with 16:41 remaining in the half.
Notre Dame went to a 2-3 zone, but it was short-lived as Haywood knocked in a three and Lammers hit a jumper to take a 13-8 advantage.
Geben got an easy layup off a nice pass from Gibbs to give Notre Dame its first lead of the game at 16-15 with 9:37 left in the opening half. The Lithuanian center got a dunk big-time dunk in traffic a few moments later to give the Irish the lead back at 18-17.
Both teams went ice cold over the next four minutes as neither team would score until Gueye got back-to-back buckets. Tadric Jackson hit a reverse layup with 4:03 remaining in the half to cap a quick 6-0 run to give the Yellow Jackets a 23-18 lead.
Georgia Tech extended the run to 13-0 while Notre Dame went 0-for-7 from the field and 0-for-4 from the foul line. In fact, Notre Dame wouldn’t score a point until Mooney knocked in two free throws with 1:21 left in the half, which would be the first points since Geben’s dunk at the 8:55 mark.
Mooney led the Irish with eight points and two boards in the first half, while Geben chipped in six points and seven rebounds.
Notre Dame shot just 8-for-31 (26%) from the field, 0-for-9 from three-point range and just 4-of-8 from the foul line. Georgia Tech also won the battle of the boards 22-20 and points in the paint 20-12.
The Yellow Jackets shot 42 percent from the floor and were led by Josh Okogie’s eight point, three rebounds and three assists in the first half
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Josh Okogie wins a close battle over Martinas Geben as he was the difference in the game. The 6-foot-4 sophomore was able to create his own shot and was effective from the field shooting 6-for-13. Okogie finished with 17 points, four rebounds and five assists.
STAT OF THE GAME: Notre Dame entered the game shooting 39.1 percent from three-point range and averaging 8.1 threes a game. The Irish went just 4-for-18 from downtown (22%), which included going 0-for-9 in the first half.
WHAT’S NEXT: Notre Dame will host North Carolina at Purcell Pavilion on Saturday. Tip is set for 6:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.
