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No. 12 Notre Dame Rallies, Tops Miami 75-70

By Nicholas D. Blazek

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The Miami Hurricanes had already waltzed into Duke and Florida and stepped away with upset victories. While it wasn’t easy, No. 12 Notre Dame rallied in the second half to send the Hurricanes back home with their first road loss of the season.

The Irish (17-2, 5-1 ACC) struggled from the field in the first half, unable to find the range from deep that had characteristically been there for them. They also found themselves on the short end on the glass, being outrebounded 33-32 – Miami entered next-to-last in the conference.

Zach Auguste returned for the Irish after missing a game to tend to academic matters, but was a non-factor as he seemed a bit out of sync, committing two travelling violations early in the game. He played only nine minutes, but that was somewhat by design as coach Mike Brey instituted a five guard lineup to speed up the tempo, and allow the Irish to switch on all ball screens to slow the Hurricanes (12-5, 2-2) three-point shooting.

After hitting on only two of their first 16 three-point attempts, they hit seven of their next nine, as the Irish didn’t take their first lead till the 9:31 mark of the second half. Jerian Grant led the charge for Notre Dame, becoming much more aggressive in the second half. He had eight assists to go along with his 23 points and was a catalyst in the comeback.

After a slow start, super-sub V.J. Beachem made three of his last four three-point attempts after missing his first three, finishing with 13 points.

Notre Dame was able to shut down Angel Rodriguez, holding him to 1-of-10 shooting and only four points. Sheldon McClellan and Ja’Quan Newton picked up the slack for the Hurricanes, scoring 17 and 16 respectively. Seven foot center Tonye Jekiri helped the Canes cause on the boards, pulling in 13 rebounds.

The 17-2 start matches the best 19 game start for the Irish since the 1978-1979 season, and the 5-1 start in conference is their best ever. Next up for the Irish, they will travel to play Virginia Tech on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.