Irish Excited For Redemption Opportunity Against North Carolina
Notre Dame’s two bouts with North Carolina this season ended with radically different scorecards.
The Irish hosted the Tar Heels Feb. 6 for a regular season matchup, with ESPN’s College GameDay crew in the house for the day. Despite trailing 39-30 at halftime, the Irish battled back to capture an 80-76 victory.
Momentum poured out of that Saturday win, with Mike Brey’s squad traveling to Clemson just 48 hours later and earning a hard-fought 89-83 triumph. That’s when Brey really started stressing to his team how special it could be this year.
In the other corner … you have the ACC Tournament semifinals.
A layup from sophomore forward Bonzie Colson positioned Notre Dame down just 23-22 with 6:10 left in the first half, but Notre Dame completely unraveled for the remaining 26 minutes, finishing on the receiving end of a 78-47 knockout.
The Irish averaged a season-low 0.69 points per possession that night in Washington, D.C. They shot just 15 of 50 (30.0 percent) from the field, turned the ball over 17 times and allowed 19 Tar Heels offensive rebounds.
By far, the ugliest blemish of the year for Brey and company.
“I don’t know if it’d be a good idea to watch that tape,” sophomore guard Matt Farrell said when asked if the team reviewed film from both matchups. “We’re focused on having another shot.
“We know what we did the first game. The major focus for us is now focusing on what we do. They’re an unbelievable team. You have to play them inside and out; they can shoot.
“We’re going to make adjustments. We worked on some things today, and I’m sure we’re going to watch film tonight and work on some things tomorrow. We’re just excited for the opportunity and we’re just going to focus on what we do.”
Looking outside the head-to-head results, the Tar Heels boast a more powerful résumé from a handful of angles. Their starting lineup features two former five-star recruits and three four-stars, with more coming off the bench.
And that talent proved its capabilities this year. Roy Williams’ squad won both the ACC regular season and postseason championships, which is no easy feat for a conference that now comprises four of the final eight teams in the NCAA Tournament.
“I think it shows the power that they have,” Brey said of UNC winning both ACC titles. “And they’re old.
“It’s funny, so many people talked about you’re in this position last year, you’re playing Kentucky — Kentucky was young. I always felt good about that one.
“This one worries me more because they’re men. They’ve been together a while and they’ve played. And they really have played like veterans.
“Different guys have stepped up. I think the key has been their defense. And I think it started shortly after the game in South Bend. I hear their kids talk and I hear Coach [Williams] talk, it’s kind of been then when they got after it defensively, and it sure has — but if you can win both in this league this year, my hat’s off to you.”
Despite earning a double bye in the ACC Tournament and winning three of the last four against the Tar Heels, the No. 6-seeded Irish find themselves listed as 10-point underdogs as of Saturday afternoon. That’s a larger projected deficit than even No. 10-seeded Syracuse versus No. 1-seeded Virginia (8.5).
No sweat, according to senior forward Zach Auguste.
“We’re used to it,” the big man said. “That’s something they’ve been saying about us for a while. That’s our tendency to be an underdog and no one really gives us a chance.
“You have to give them a lot of credit. They’re playing some great basketball right now, maybe some of the best in the country. At the same time, we’re used to them, we understand their personnel. We had two shots at them, one we came out on top and the second we lost.
“But we’re ready for it and we’re excited about the matchup.”
Tipoff between the Irish and the Tar Heels is set for 8:49 p.m. ET on Sunday night. It will be televised live on TBS.