Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com APRIL 2021 47 MEN'S BASKETBALL stepping in front of Florida State 260-pound sledgehammer RaiQuan Gray on a drive and forcing him to pull up for a jumper. Junior forward Nate Laszewski drawing two charges on Gray. There's more. Junior guard Cormac Ryan sprinting back after commit- ting a turnover and closing out hard on Seminoles leading scorer M.J. Walker to force him into a mid-range jumper that missed. Ryan stealing an inbound pass. Junior guard Dane Goodwin hitting the deck to grab a loose ball and forcing a tie-up that allowed Notre Dame to hit the game- sealing free throws. Out-rebounding a team of superior athletes. And when Florida State roared back and turned up the ball pressure, Notre Dame weathered it. The Irish hung onto the ball and made timely shots in- stead of folding and authoring another chapter in their book of late collapses. "We wanted to prove something about ourselves and to others that we play a certain way," Goodwin said. "One game is not going to define us, but we can step up and make the change." "We had some edge about us," Brey added. It had been missing for too long. It was missing in games against ranked teams since November 2017 in the Maui Invitational. That was the last time the Irish toppled a top-25 op- ponent. Not since a February 2017 defeat of Florida State had they done it at home. The win might be too late to salvage postseason hopes. It's not an eraser of all woes either. Notre Dame ended the regular season a disappointing 10-14 overall and 7-11 in the ACC, staring at its fourth straight absence from the NCAA Tournament. Before this dry spell, Notre Dame had been excluded from it just twice in 11 years. At the same time, this one is an anvil off the program's back in mul- tiple ways. Things surely aren't as claustrophobic for Brey as they felt after that dispassionate loss to North Carolina State, when end-game ques- tions reached their loudest volume of his tenure. This game was a chance to create some positive vibes and give the masses some tangible evidence this roster — with him in charge — could punch out of its place of resi- dence as an ACC also-ran. That's all external, though. The Irish will enjoy some needed good mojo and turn the focus to going as far as they can as the No. 11 seed in the ACC Tournament, starting with Wake For- est in the first round March 9. "It's neat," Brey said, "to see a group of guys rally and do it." ✦ 2020-21 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE (as of March 8) Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Nov. 28 at Michigan State L, 80-70 Dec. 6 Detroit Mercy W, 78-70 Dec. 8 Ohio State# L, 90-85 Dec. 12 at Kentucky W, 64-63 Dec. 16 Duke* L, 75-65 Dec. 19 vs. Purdue^ L, 88-78 Dec. 23 Bellarmine W, 81-70 Dec. 30 Virginia* L, 66-57 Jan. 2 at North Carolina* L, 66-65 Jan. 10 at Virginia Tech* L, 77-63 Jan. 13 at Virginia* L, 80-68 Jan. 16 Boston College* W, 80-70 Jan. 24 at Miami* W, 73-59 Jan. 27 Virginia Tech* L, 62-51 Jan. 30 at Pittsburgh* W, 84-58 Feb. 2 Wake Forest* W, 79-58 Feb. 6 at Georgia Tech* L, 82-80 Feb. 9 at Duke* W, 93-89 Feb. 14 Miami* W, 71-61 Feb. 17 Clemson* Canceled Feb. 20 at Syracuse* L, 75-67 Feb. 23 at Louisville* L, 69-57 Feb. 27 at Boston College* L, 94-90 Mar. 3 NC State* L, 80-69 Mar. 6 Florida State* W, 83-73 March 9 vs. Wake Forest$ 7 p.m. # ACC/Big Ten Challenge; * ACC game; ^ Cross- roads Classic at Indianapolis; $ ACC Tournament at Greensboro, N.C. Three-Point Play 1. Best For Last Fifth-year senior forward Juwan Durham ended the regular season with 12 double-figure scoring outputs in his final 14 games and averaged 10.9 points per ACC outing. He finished the regular season with overall averages of 10.5 points (fourth on the team), 5.3 rebounds (third) and 1.8 blocks (first) per game. He is third in school history in career blocked shots with 172 rejections — behind Jordan Cornette (201) and LaPhonso Ellis (200) — heading into the ACC Tournament that began March 9 for the Irish. 2. Postseason ACColades Notre Dame's most-used player is an all-confer- ence selection. Junior point guard Prentiss Hubb was named to the All-ACC third team. He was the lone Irish player to make one of the three teams, which had 16 total members. A team captain, Hubb led the conference in as- sists per game (6.0) and his 145 total assists are the eighth-most in a single ACC season since 1996-97. He also led Notre Dame in scoring (14.7 points per game), which ranked 13th in the league. In 18 ACC games, Hubb had three double-doubles, three 20-point games and eight contests with at least eight assists. He shot 39.5 percent from the field, 34.1 percent on three-pointers and 75.5 percent on free throws. For better or worse, Notre Dame's offense ran through Hubb, who was one of the ACC's most-used players. He played 93.1 percent of Notre Dame's minutes, the ninth-highest minutes share of any player in Division I as of March 8. In conference play, he took 26.6 of Notre Dame's shots when on the floor, which was fourth among ACC players. His 31.5 percent assist rate is 51st nationally. Junior forward Nate Laszewski was an All-ACC honorable mention pick. The 6-10 sharpshooter averaged 13.8 points — a 6.4-point increase from his scoring average a year ago — and a team-high 7.6 rebounds per game. He shot 60.3 percent overall, 46.2 percent on threes and 71.7 percent on free throws. 3. More Stops Needed Notre Dame has finished in the top half of the ACC in conference-game defensive efficiency just twice since it joined in 2013-14, per KenPom.com. The highest the Irish have ended is seventh. The year-by-year-ranks in the 15-team league: 12th (2021), 13th (2020), 11th (2019), seventh (2018), seventh (2017), 12th (2016), 11th (2015) and 14th (2014). — Patrick Engel F ifth-year senior forward Juwan Durham posted 12 double-figure scoring outputs in Notre Dame's final 14 regular-season contests and finished with a 10.5 scoring average. PHOTO COURTESY ACC MEDIA