Slap the Sign
Fansided

Notre Dame Basketball: Five best Eric Atkins moments

By Greg Hadley

Feb 13, 2016; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey celebrates with former players Eric Atkins and Pat Connaughton and Jerian Grant after Notre Dame defeated the Louisville Cardinals 71-66 at the Purcell Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 13, 2016; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey celebrates with former players Eric Atkins and Pat Connaughton and Jerian Grant after Notre Dame defeated the Louisville Cardinals 71-66 at the Purcell Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 6
Next

Notre Dame upsets No. 8 Kentucky behind 16 points from Atkins

Early on in the 2012-2013 season, the Fighting Irish welcomed a superstar Wildcat squad that featured a lineup full of talented freshmen. It was a classic clash between youth and experience, recruiting and coaching, one-and-dones and four-year players.

More from Notre Dame Men's Basketball

And in the end, it was the four-year players like Atkins who pushed the Irish to a 64-50 win. He led ND with 16 points and three steals, chipped in four assists and two rebounds and turned the ball over just once, while going 7-for-11 from the field.

The victory was the result of Notre Dame’s perfect execution of Brey’s style at the time: the burn offense. Things slowed down, both teams ran half-court sets and the Irish neutralized the Wildcats’ run-and-gun offense. Kentucky scored just four fast-break points.

Afterwards, Brey was effusive about how important Atkins was to making that system work.

“The way our guards were controlling things, I didn’t have to do a lot of coaching,” he said. “Those guys were coaching the team. Eric Atkins running things, calling sets. When you have a veteran backcourt doing that, I just don’t want to get in their way too much.”

The fans stormed the court after the win, including members of Notre Dame’s top-ranked football team at the time. Court-storming was something of a theme throughout EA’s career.

Next: ACC Player of the Week