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Notre Dame Basketball Unable to Run With Louisville

By Chase Eyrich

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 21: Head coach Mike Brey of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish reacts against the Colorado Buffaloes in the first half of the 2016 Legends Classic at Barclays Center on November 21, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 21: Head coach Mike Brey of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish reacts against the Colorado Buffaloes in the first half of the 2016 Legends Classic at Barclays Center on November 21, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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Notre Dame’s efforts ran short during the second half versus Louisville in a 75-61 loss.

At this point of the season, teams know their identity. It’s no longer about finding out who you are, rather how well you can adjust. Sunday it was Louisville who were able to adjust and secure the win over Notre Dame.

Coming into the game, we knew there was one constant between these two teams. Both have struggled with confidence. Notre Dame being the young team that they are have struggled to find ways to close out games and Louisville has been derailed ever since the beginning of February.

For the first time in a while, the Cardinals were able to find their offense, scoring 75-points. The last four games, they were unable to surpass 60 points.

While Louisville is normally a well-rounded three-point shooting team, their success was not going to be found there on Sunday.

Shooting only two-of-22 from downtown, the Cardinals had to adjust their offense. Notre Dame had no answer for defending inside the arc.

Louisville was able to put together a 48-percent shooting performance thanks to a balanced attack.

John Mooney was able to rack up his 18th double-double of the season with 22-points and 13-rebounds. His effort was really the only one Notre Dame had on the glass.

The Irish were out-rebounded 49-30, which wrecked their offensive push. While Notre Dame has been trying to run a faster offense out of transition, their opportunities were taken away by the rebounding battle.

Notre Dame did find success when they were able to push the ball.

It created a sense of rhythm between Mooney and Prentiss Hubb that could be a nice glimpse of the future. With Hubb’s 16 points and six assists, most of the day was spent seeking another offensive option.

Temple Gibbs found 11 points, but he did so on 4-of-12 shooting.

For the most part, Notre Dame seemed to be only a few possessions away from making it a game. Just as we’ve seen all season long, those few possessions were never found and all momentum was killed in the second half.

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Notre Dame now falls to 13-16 with two more games left in the season.