The Irish looked focused and engaged at times against the Demon Deacons in their win on Tuesday night. In particular, Jerian Grant’s game was on-point for nearly 40 minutes, as he notched his third double-double of the season, seventh of his career. I’ve talked at length before about what Grant has done this year, and the recognition of his efforts is apparent. He’s garnering calls for first-team All American status, the Wooden Award, ACC Player of the Year, you name it. None of it is undeserved. Just take a look at his full stat line from Tuesday: 24 points, five steals, 10 assists, and three rebounds. He also became only the second Notre Dame player to record at least 1,500 points with 600 assists. The other guy? Chris Thomas. He’s shown to be the kind of guy who can put the team on his back, making his teammates better, and it showed on Tuesay.
Focus and Free Throws
The Irish had a week to refuel, but it sounds like Mike Brey put them through the paces with a few spirited practices. There’s also talk of Pat Connaughton and Grant encouraging Zach Auguste as he tries to rediscover his mojo. These are two things I recently called out as being integral to closing the season out strong: focus and senior leadership. A week’s rest is great, but the Irish had appeared to become a bit disengaged and possibly burned out since the win at home against Duke, which ultimately manifested as “part of the problem” in the debacle at Cameron Indoor and a close road win at Clemson. In the second half, as the Irish flexed their muscle and pulled away from the Demon Deacons, it seemed that they had managed to wake up from that funk, thanks in part to the tough practices and good leadership.
One of the stats that this focus can lead to: 27 of 28. Trips to the free-throw line in crunch time for the Notre Dame teams of the past few years seemed like true adventures, at times, but Brey claims to have focused on free throws in practice on Saturday. That focus paid off, as the Irish got to the line and capitalized repeatedly, at a 96.4 percent rate. That’s 27 free points in a 13-point game.
Bench Play
Austin Torres was on the receiving end of a pretty pass from Grant for the highlight dunk of the game, but his contributions off the bench were just as impactful. He only managed five points, but he also pulled down six rebounds, with three of those being offensive rebounds that prolonged important possessions. You’ve got to love that kind of energy from a guy who doesn’t get a lot of minutes behind VJ Beachem and Bonzie Colson.
Speaking of Beachem: he’s still a bit cold from the outside, going two-for-six from behind the arc, but he’s found another strength in his game: going to the rim. He finished the game with 10 points. The only complaint I have with Beachem is the fact that he seems a step slow on the defensive end, but he proved a solid contributor in the win over Wake.
Toughness
Fortitude: a trait this team has shown a few times, winning its share of close games. In his post-game interview, Brey hit it on the head: the team’s, and specifically Grant’s toughness and ability to perform under pressure make the coach confident, and playing with confidence is a tough thing to do. Not to mention playing with the flu, as was Connaughton, who had thirteen points, four boards and 2 blocks, including a huge three that put the game away late.
Carrying this toughness over to the ACC and NCAA tournaments will not be easy. As one of four teams that are vying four a two-game bye to start off the tournament, winning to finish out the season is paramount. If the Irish can manage a trip to the ACC tournament championship game, they may even be looking at a two-seed come NCAA Tournament time. Notre Dame plays next at Boston College this Saturday.
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