Notre Dame Falls 67-58 at Clemson
The Irish dropped their fourth straight ACC game, 67-58 on Saturday evening at the hands of the Clemson Tigers at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Another cold shooting outing doomed the Irish down the stretch as they dropped to 3-4 in the ACC and 13-7 overall. T.J. Gibbs paced the Irish scoring with a game-high 18 points while the team shot 39 percent from the field for the game.
"Give credit to Clemson," said Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey. "I thought they made big shots and big plays in a good game. I loved our fight.
"I’m impressed with Clemson. A really gifted offensive team. They have the look this year."
The Tigers improved to 5-2 in ACC play and 16-3 overall. The Tigers shot 44 percent for the game and were led by Gabe Devoe’s 17 points, despite him only scoring three points in the second half.
The Irish shot just 26 percent from three-point range as they seemingly couldn’t buy a shot especially in the second half.
“We keep slapping stuff together on the fly," explained Brey. "I thought (John) Mooney took another step forward for us in a big game and tough atmosphere. Defensively, we’re doing the job and we’re rebounding the ball. We’ve done that because that’s out of survival.
“We can’t score enough and find an offensive rhythm to beat good teams. This darn league has all good teams."
After a quiet second half, Devoe drilled a three-pointer to get the Tigers lead back up to nine as they tried to close out the Irish. The Irish refused to go quietly and cut the lead to three after a corner three-pointer by John Mooney which gave him a career-high 13 points.
A big three by Aamir Sims with about a minute to go iced the game for the Tigers.
The Irish never led in the game despite getting close a few times late in the game.
After a tough start to the game, Dante Grantham hit two shots early in the second half to give the Tigers the early momentum. The Tigers scored seven of first nine points of the second half, causing a timeout from Brey to try to inspire the troops.
A nice finish by Torres got the Irish going out of the timeout as they tried to creep closer. A layup by Elijah Burns cut the Tigers lead to three as the Irish responded positively to the timeout. After a tough game, Farrell responded with an incredible step back three-pointer to make it 47-44 Tigers with 11 minutes to play.
Shelton Mitchell stopped the Irish run with a straightaway three-pointer and a reverse layup that got the crowd back into the game. Thanks to the small burst from Mitchell, the Tigers began to impose their will, and the Irish started to go cold from the field. With under four minutes remaining in the game, the Tigers led 56-50.
Farrell had a tough game as he shot just 2-for-11 in the game and missed eight three-pointers.
The Tigers jumped out to an early 13-5 lead, hitting their first five shots from the field. The crowd got involved early as the Tigers looked ready to go right from the opening tip. Rex Pflueger cut into the lead with a corner three-pointer, but the Tigers remained perfect from the field.
The Tigers finally missed their first shot but still maintained a decent lead at 17-8 just five and a half minutes into the game.
Clemson began to cool off, but the Irish were unable to take advantage as the lead stayed at nine. The Irish were able to stay within striking distance thanks to the strong effort on the offensive glass. Both teams began to seriously cool down as they missed 16 of 18 shots combined. The Tigers led 21-12 with under eight minutes to go before the half.
Two buckets by Mooney got the Irish to within six which forced a Tigers timeout. Mooney kept the trend going with another three-pointer to cut it to a one-possession game. Thanks to the hot shooting courtesy of Mooney the Irish got a lot closer and looked a lot more comfortable as the half came to a close.
The Tigers led 33-30 at halftime, shooting just a tick under 46 percent and being led in scoring by Devoe with 14. The Irish shot 39 percent from the floor and were led by Mooney’s 10 points.
Player of the Game: Gibbs. Despite the team struggling offensively, Gibbs had the best game overall and kept the Irish in the game as it neared the end.
Unsung Hero: Martinas Geben. He just missed out on a double-double by a single rebound, but he was again strong on the offensive glass and gave the Irish an interior scoring threat.
Up Next: The Irish will take on the Virginia Tech Hokies next Saturday night at 8 P.M. at Purcell Pavilion.
