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Notre Dame Hoops: Story Remains the Same With Loss to Virginia Tech

By Chase Eyrich

BLACKSBURG, VA - JANUARY 01: Nate Laszewski #14 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish passes past Kerry Blackshear Jr. #24 of the Virginia Tech Hokies in the first half at Cassell Coliseum on January 1, 2019 in Blacksburg, Virginia. (Photo by Lauren Rakes/Getty Images)
BLACKSBURG, VA - JANUARY 01: Nate Laszewski #14 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish passes past Kerry Blackshear Jr. #24 of the Virginia Tech Hokies in the first half at Cassell Coliseum on January 1, 2019 in Blacksburg, Virginia. (Photo by Lauren Rakes/Getty Images) /
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Notre Dame not only fell 59-67 to Virginia Tech but fell below .500 for the first time this season as well.

Now 13-14 on the season and a miserable 3-11 in the ACC, the story has remained the same as it has all season. Notre Dame is right there, but they’re not.

Virginia Tech led the game wire-to-wire. There really was never a point where you thought that they would find a way to lose this one. But, when you look at it from Notre Dame’s standpoint, the Irish seemed like they were one run short from making it a different game.

The story of this season has failed to change. An eight-point loss for the Irish at home started off with Notre Dame hitting only one of their first ten shots.

Efficiency hasn’t been Notre Dame’s forte this season when it comes to offense. It’s hard to win a game shooting 33-percent from the field. It becomes even more difficult when you only hit six of 25 three-point attempts.

No matter how bad the shooting was, Notre Dame still seemed to be one run away. The game was never out of reach. For the most part, it was a two to three-possession game.

The main reason – defense.

Notre Dame’s defense has been relatively locked down this season. The Irish forced 16 turnovers and held the Hokies to 36-percent shooting and 28-percent from beyond the arc.

Kerry Blackshear Jr. was the only exception against Notre Dame’s stout defense. The junior posted a huge double-double with 22 points and 14 rebounds. With him out of the equation, the Hokies shooting percentage drastically drops.

The second leading scorer for Virginia Tech was Nickeil Alexander-Walker with 12 points on two-of-eight shooting.

Temple Gibbs continued his recent surge on the offensive end with 18 points. Additionally, John Mooney had another double-double in this one.

But, the biggest takeaway was Nate Laszewski’s 12 points on four-of-nine shooting in only 20 minutes of action.

dark. Next. Notre Dame Hoops: The Irish Are Right Where They Should Be

Now under .500 for the season, the Irish are in danger of missing out on even a bid to the NIT tournament. Notre Dame continues to fall victim to open shots that won’t fall this season.