Irish Survive & Advance In ACC Tournament
It isn’t the kind of résumé-builder that will get Notre Dame into the NCAA Tournament, but the Irish’s 67-64 win over Pittsburgh on Tuesday afternoon in the first round of the ACC Tournament in Brooklyn keeps them alive and gives them a chance to pick up one or more victories, which could do just that.
The 10th-seeded Irish face another must-win against #7 Virginia Tech in the second round at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. A win over the Hokies will certainly boost Notre Dame’s chances of hearing its name called on Selection Sunday, but it would also give the Irish an opportunity to secure an invite with a win over #2 Duke in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
But before they even have a shot at the Blue Devils, the Irish need to beat Virginia Tech, the same way they had to get past Pitt today.
Notre Dame improved to 19-13 on the year, 9-10 in ACC play. The Irish won’t get much credit for the close win over the Panthers, who lost all 19 ACC games they played this year and who finished the season just 8-24 overall.
The Irish’s odds of earning an at-large NCAA Tournament bid would be even longer if not for the return of preseason National Player of the Year candidate Bonzie Colson. The 6-foot-6 senior forward missed 15 games with a fractured foot before returning for the final two regular season games of the year, a win over the Panthers in South Bend and a close loss to #1 Virginia in Charlottesville. Colson averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds in those contests to earn ACC Player of the Week honors.
On Tuesday, Colson led all scorers with 19 points. He managed just six total rebounds, but the sixth pretty much won the game.
Notre Dame had a 36-24 lead at the half and seemed to be in control of the contest, but found offense hard to come by in the second half and even lost a point in the final minutes after a scoring error.
Neither team was very sharp after intermission with Pitt missing seven of their first nine attempts while the Irish made just one of their first 12 attempts from the field. But as the Irish continued to struggle, managing just six points in the first eight minutes of the second half, Pitt found some efficiency and went on an 8-2 run to make the score 42-34.
A three-point play from Pitt’s Marcus Carr followed by a trifecta from Parker Stewart made the score 48-45 with nine minutes to play. A three from Notre Dame’s Matt Farrell pushed it back to a nine-point game at 46-55 two minutes later.
The Irish led 61-50 with three minutes to play after a TJ Gibbs free throw, but Pitt’s Jonathan Milligan made a layup and Jared Wilson-Frame drained a three to make it 61-55 with 2:11 to play. The scoreboard in the Barclay Center actually read 62-55 at the time, but officials noticed the scoring error and took a point away from the Irish that had been inadvertently added a couple minutes earlier.
Wilson-Frame drained another three the next time down to make it a three-point game and after two Gibbs free throws, Carr hit a trifecta that made it a two-point game, 63-61, with 48 seconds to play.
Pitt didn’t need to foul and had a chance after a Farrell miss, but Colson came up with a big offensive rebound and was fouled with 22 seconds to play. Colson hit both free throws to make it a two-possession game and helped force a turnover on the next trip. Farrell then sealed the game with a pair of free throws, although Stewart swished a meaningless three at the buzzer to provide for the final score.
Farrell finished with 18 for the Irish while Rex Pflueger had 13 and Gibbs 11.
Wilson-Frame and Carr had 18 apiece for the Panthers while Stewart added 14.
Notre Dame opened the game by scoring the first seven points, thanks in part to three-pointers from Farrell and Pflueger, but Pitt scored 10 of the next 13 to tie the game 10-10 five minutes in.
Seven straight points, including another Pflueger three, helped the Irish push the lead to 19-12 while a 10-2 spurt stretched it to 31-18 three minutes before the break. A three from Farrell less than two minutes before the break gave Notre Dame its largest lead of the half – 36-20 – but the Panthers scored the final four points to make it a 36-24 game at intermission.
Farrell led the Irish with 10 points in the first half while Colson and Pflueger chipped in with nine apiece. Martinas Geben led Notre Dame on the glass with seven first-half rebounds.
Notre Dame held Pitt to 28.1 percent from the floor in the first half (9-32) and 18.8 percent from beyond the arc (3-16) while the Irish shot 48.3 percent (14-29) and 50 percent from three (4-8).