Has the Notre Dame Basketball Team Found Depth at a Pivotal Time?

Last year, the turning point in the Notre Dame basketball season was the suspension of Zach Auguste. Could missing Demetrius Jackson be a similar point in this season?

The Irish have a real shot at a decent seed in the NCAA tournament. They’ve got a number by their name again, if that even matters. If they keep winning, I’d say we’re looking at a five seed, depending on what happens in the ACC tournament. However, going .500 the rest of the year and we could be out. Win the ones we’re supposed to, we may be looking at an eight seed.

One major issue: DJ is out. And they haven’t said when he’s coming back. For sure, we know that he’ll miss the Syracuse game. What makes this a bit easier to stomach is that other members of the Fighting Irish are stepping up and the team is showing depth. Whether it’s enough to bolster the Irish until their quarterback and leader returns remains to be seen, but here’s a little bit on the contributions of the rest of the Irish, and what they’ll need to do as a trip to Syracuse and the rest of the ACC schedule looms.

Matt Ryan

Matt Ryan was inserted into the starting lineup to spread the floor. He’s responded by shooting 41 percent from the floor and 36 percent from the three-point line, essentially doing what he’s supposed to do from a numbers standpoint. I don’t mean at all to downplay the contributions of Matt Ryan; he’s doing some pretty impressive stuff for a freshman. His deficiency in rebounding can be somewhat overlooked because not only is something like that understandable for a freshman and first-time starter, but it’s also a frustrating trait shared by the rest of the team at times.

Ryan’s first start was against Georgia Tech. In that game, Zach Auguste and Demetrius Jackson found their pick-and-roll game, and Auguste went for 24 points. At one point, Auguste had scored seven straight, somewhat due to Matt Ryan being on the floor to spread things out for Auguste. In the four wins since Ryan was inserted into the starting lineup, Auguste has gone for nine against Duke (that was just Bonzie Colson’s day), 22 against Virginia Tech, but only 10 against Boston College. We’ll call the Matt-Ryan-in-the-starting-lineup judgment “still out”. As long as Matt Ryan continues to hit shots, I don’t think we’ll see his minutes or contributions change.

Rex Pflueger

Mike Brey seemed hesitant to put the former four-star recruit on the floor at the beginning of the season. As time progressed, we saw Pflueger eat up Matt Farrell’s minutes in becoming what other writers are calling “a dependable contributor”. For what it’s worth, I’m always going to love the kid for knocking down a stone cold three when the Irish needed it against Duke.

Pfleuger shows flashes of being a star, even as a freshman. We don’t have a big enough sample size to look at any of his stats, and his defense could definitely stand to improve. He also fouls too much, but they tend to call a lot of fouls on young guys who don’t move their feet. With that said, I can’t really tell you how exciting the prospect of Pfleuger playing with four-star recruit and heir apparent to DJ Temple Gibbs next year is to me. There will be a time for that.

I’m not sure we can expect Pfleuger to do anything more than what he’s done so far in the absence of Jackson, but that may just be enough. Because of the older guys.

The Older Guys

Vasturia, Beachem, Colson, Auguste. Carrying this Notre Dame team through a stretch in which we don’t know when we’ll get the leader and best player back is a turning point in this season. Like last year when Auguste went out, the leaders of the Irish carried the team until his return and subsequently a run to the ACC Tournament Championship and the Elite Eight. Can Vasturia, Beachem, Colson and Auguste rally around the contributions of Ryan and the toughness Pflueger has shown? We’ll see how the Irish answer that question Thursday at Syracuse.