Irish Emerge 83-81 Over Hokies
It wasn’t without a fight, but Notre Dame secured its fourth conference win in six tries on Wednesday night at Purcell Pavilion.
The Irish (13-5 overall and 4-2 in the ACC) snagged a late second-half lead to emerge with an 83-81 win over visiting Virginia Tech (12-7, 4-2 ACC).
After Virginia Tech grabbed a 45-37 halftime lead, Notre Dame clawed back to close the deficit in the second half on several occasions — sometimes to a two-point gap, others one. A few times they even tied the score.
But the Hokies always had an answer. There was the 48-46 margin before the first media timeout of the second half, when Virginia Tech answered with a quick 4-0 spurt to grab a 52-46 lead with 15:40 to play.
Then it was 54-54 following a bucket from sophomore forward Bonzie Colson with 13:23 remaining in the game, and the Hokies hit a three. The Irish came close again at 61-59, yet Buzz Williams’ team nailed another three-pointer to jump back ahead five with 9:48 left to play.
Other times the Irish cut into the lead, but just couldn’t quite get over the hump — until after a 73-73 tie, the Irish grabbed a lead at 76-75 with less than four minutes to play.
Mike Brey’s team eventually held on for the eventual 83-81 final, after a three-point attempt by Virginia Tech just barely rimmed out as the clock expired.
“These last three games for us were all hard games,” Brey said. “We had to be mentally tough to figure out how to win them, so I do think we’ve grown in that area.
“Tonight was the ultimate — every time you cut that thing to one possession, they make a big play, or we foul on an and-one. Or we get screwed up on a matchup and they hit a three in the corner. But we kept coming back and kept digging, so we’ve grown in that area.
“I’ve really liked how Zach Auguste has led. He’s taken responsibility to try to talk to guys. He was great at halftime, and it was a frustrating halftime. And he was great throughout the second half kind of being a calming guy and talking positively to guys. I give him a lot of credit there. He really wanted it for his team, and he went on the backboard to do it.”
Virginia Tech — which regularly excels at getting to the free throw line — sent drivers towards the rim repeatedly in the first period to carve out their eight-point halftime lead. Instead of fouling the Hokies early, Notre Dame seemed more content to give up those layups at the rim.
That enabled the Hokies to make 12 of 18 (66.7 percent) two-point attempts in the first period, in addition to a still solid 9 of 13 (69.2 percent) free throws. They ended up making 20 of 36 (55.6 percent) two-pointers for the game, and reached the free throw line a total 27 times, making 20 of those shots (74.0 percent).
“We talked about it,” Brey said, when asked if they wanted to keep Virginia Tech off the charity stripe. “They score 20 points a game from the line.
“I think each game, I’ve been on us about not fouling as much. And each game we give up about 20 points from the line. I think it’s really hard with the new rule. I think it’s one of those things that you try to investigate and should we maybe be trying to play a little more zone? We played a little bit tonight. Because if a guy puts his head down — and look at Demetrius and Steve tonight, too — it’s almost impossible to guard them with this new rule. Twenty points from the foul line is a lot to absorb, so I’m not quite sure how to attack that. I think we’ve got to talk about that here tonight.”
Going forward, the Irish will get some rest tomorrow before a tuneup on Friday and hosting Boston College on Saturday. Tipoff for the game is set for 12 p.m. ET.
Box Score: LINK.
Game Notes:
• The Irish improved to 6-1 all time against the Hokies, and 3-0 all time at home.
• Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey remains unbeaten against Virginia Tech in his Irish career, now owning a 6-0 record against the Hokies.
• Zach Auguste earned his tenth double-double of the season with 22 points and 15 rebounds.