Notre Dame MBB: Irish Beat Tribe Despite Poor Shooting

It was a rough shooting performance inside the Purcell Pavilion as Notre Dame basketball limped to a 73-64 victory.

Just two games after head coach Mike Brey stated that it the Notre Dame basketball team needed to cut their rotation down, he was forced to go deep to the bench. Brey tried everything and every rotation he could to help the team find their offense. Even with his efforts, it never came.

DJ Harvey was the only light in the first part of the game scoring eight of Notre Dame’s first ten points. As his game started to slow down the guard Prentiss Hubb was able to fill the scoring role for a run.

Outside of that, Notre Dame struggled to get any shot to fall against one of the worst defensive teams in the nation last season. Of course, William & Mary is a much better defensive team than they were last season, but the overall effort of the Irish’s offensive game wasn’t there.

To give credit, W&M is known for their high performing offense and Notre Dame was able to hold them to 64-points. The Irish frustrated and forced many ill-advised shots.

Under nine-minutes left to play and the game still neck-and-neck, it was John Mooney and Temple Gibbs who was able to put together a run as well as give the Irish some breathing room.

For every run, Notre Dame had, W&M had an answer to continue to stay close.

While 70 percent free throw shooting is uncharacteristic of a Brey squad, the 14 made shots from the charity stripe in the second half is what gave Notre Dame the push they needed.

The Irish offense didn’t put on a performance to remember while shooting just 41.3 percent, but they made the right moves at the right time.

The Irish hit eight of their last 13 shots and answered on defense to escape with a 73-64 win while improving to 2-1.