Notre Dame Basketball: Irish lack final push in loss to North Carolina

Notre Dame basketball suffered a crushing loss at the hands of North Carolina, despite John Mooney and Martinas Geben combining for 36-points.

Things got rocky at times as Notre Dame basketball traveled to North Carolina looking to take down the No. 14 team in the country.

Early on it looked like Notre Dame might be in trouble. Temple Gibbs stepped up to the line after being fouled on a three-point shot. The best free throw shooter in the ACC went one-of-three from the line. A few minutes later Martinas Geben picked up two early fouls and headed to the bench. Two things Notre Dame could not afford to be a problem against the No. 14 team in the country.

Then off the bench came John Mooney to the rescue. In his first few minutes on the court, Mooney hit not one, not two, but three huge threes. All the sudden the Irish were back in it. The scoring had to come from somewhere, as Matt Farrell and Gibbs struggled from the field for the majority of the first half.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish Basketball

Transition defense became an issue for the Fighting Irish. Unable to keep up with North Carolina’s pace and great spacing, the Tar Heels kept their lead. Despite being out-rebounded and Gibbs as well as Farrell being held without a field goal, Notre Dame went into the locker room at halftime down only 38-34. Geben’s three minutes in the first half was outweighed by Mooney’s 15-point first half performance.

Second half

Once Geben was released off the bench to start the second half, he wasted no time. Six points for the forward right away set him up just a couple rebounds away from a double-double.

But, the Irish couldn’t find their offense to start the second half allowing UNC their biggest lead of the game so far. Brey made the move to start Mooney in the second half, but his hot first half performance took a break. Farrell finally hit his first three of the game with 12:57 left in the game. Just over ten minutes left to play Mooney took his first shot in the second half. Of course, it went in. The Irish closed the gap to just four.

The very next possession Gibbs found himself with a three from the wing. An 11-2 run for Notre Dame brought the Irish back into a one-possession game down 57-58.

With a couple of empty Irish possessions, UNC capitalized and reopened their lead with less than five minutes left to play.

The Tar Heels got out and pushed and exposed the Irish’s transition defense just like they did in the first half. All the sudden UNC was back up by 13-points.

The Tar Heels expanded on that lead as Notre Dame went cold late in the game. The final score did not tell the true story of the fight. UNC went on to win 83-66.

Up Next:

Notre Dame will look to bounce back Saturday, Feb. 17th at Boston College. Tip-off is set for 4 PM ET.