Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Young Fighting S BABYTEPS Irish maturing 40 minutes at a time BY WES MORGAN M ike Brey expected there to be struggles in his 12th season as head coach of the Notre Dame men's basket- ball team. It was already a rebuild- ing year before fifth-year senior for- ward Tim Abromaitis, a co-captain and potential first-team All-Big East Conference player, was lost for the year after suffering a knee injury in a morning practice on Nov. 25 — the most devastating of blows to a lineup deficient of seasoned playmakers. On top of it all, a variety of vi- ruses and infections burrowed into the bloodstreams of seemingly every other able-bodied player on the ros- ter since the beginning of the year. The Irish, desperate to get home and record a victory after defeats to Missouri (87-58) and Georgia (61-57) at the CBE Classic in Kansas City, Mo., blew the doors off Bryant, 84-59, on Nov. 27 at Purcell Pavilion. Five Notre Dame players scored in dou- ble figures, and sophomore guard Jerian Grant registered his first ca- reer double-double (12 points and 11 rebounds) and dished out seven as- sists. The Bulldogs had just one win coming in, and became a Division I member in 2008-09. The confidence gained from that victory was brief after a trip to the West Coast to take on No. 19 Gon- zaga on Nov. 30. Robert Sacre and David Stockton scored 15 points apiece to lead the host Bulldogs to a 73-53 victory. Gonzaga shot 45.9 per- cent from the field and made 6 of 15 (40.0 percent) three-point attempts. Grant scored 16 points for Notre Dame and Pat Connaughton added 11. The Irish made 20 of 52 shots, were forced into 17 turnovers and were outrebounded 40-32. "They really defended us and we 50 JANUARY 2012 Injuries and illnesses forced head coach Mike Brey to use seven different starting lineups in Notre Dame's first 11 games. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND could never get comfortable," Brey, whose team trailed 35-22 at halftime, told UND.com after the loss. "I was disappointed we were flustered on the road, and a lot of that was Gonzaga's defense. For us to handle the ball like that — 13 turnovers in the first half — you're just digging out of a hole. "I thought defensively we were pretty good, especially on their front line. Their defense made us very un- comfortable and we hurried things." On Dec. 4, the Irish were whisked off to Washington, D.C., for a BB&T Classic contest against Maryland. However, junior big man Jack Cooley, battling illness, did not make the trip. His absence was likely the difference in a 78-71 loss to the Terra- pins. Terrell Stoglin scored 31 points and James Padgett had 11 points and 10 rebounds for Maryland, which im- proved to 4-3. Sean Mosley contributed 17 points and six rebounds for the Terps, who went 7 of 10 (70.0 percent) from three- point range and 25 of 35 (71.4 per- cent) at the foul line. Stoglin dropped in 11 of 20 shots and finished one point short of his career high. Grant scored 20 for Notre Dame, which used a late 8-1 run to close to 74-71. Stoglin nailed a 15-foot jumper with 12.8 seconds left to put the game out of reach. "I was very interested to see what we would be like for 40 minutes," Brey told UND.com. "Overall we were competing and trying and do- ing our thing. I told them we were in a mode of very little steps [of im- provement] with this team. I just want to come back and have a really good practice on Tuesday, a really good practice on Wednesday — we need to have two good days — and BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED