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Notre Dame Basketball: Gibbs has to set the tone for Irish in 2019

By Ben Belden

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - FEBRUARY 16: T.J. Gibbs #10 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish shoots over Ty Jerome #11 of the Virginia Cavaliers in the first half during a game at John Paul Jones Arena on February 16, 2019 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - FEBRUARY 16: T.J. Gibbs #10 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish shoots over Ty Jerome #11 of the Virginia Cavaliers in the first half during a game at John Paul Jones Arena on February 16, 2019 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /
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For Notre Dame basketball’s TJ Gibbs, the 2018-2019 season didn’t turn out as planned. If the Irish want to improve upon last season’s efforts, much of that will fall on the play of Gibbs.

If you had any Notre Dame basketball fans what they expected from TJ Gibbs before last season, you probably would have gotten quite a variety of answers. Those answers, however, probably could have been summed up by merely saying “big things.”

Gibbs was coming off a sophomore year that saw him score 15.3 points in about 38 minutes per game. Although his two-point shooting percentage (41%) left a little to be desired, his shooting from behind the three-point arch (40%) made Irish fans excited about what they could expect from Gibbs in his junior season.

But Gibbs’ junior year was not one to remember for either Gibbs or for the team, in general.

The Irish suffered through a year of injuries, growing pains, and pressure to perform. The Irish lacked a true alpha dog on the court–someone who could create offense when the Irish needed it most. The Irish missed the postseason altogether and moved on, hoping an essential do-over would be the case in 2019-2020.

After initially declaring for the NBA Draft, Gibbs will return to South Bend next year for what he hopes to be a do-over type of season a year ago.

Gibbs’ teammates–Rex Pflueger, Dane Goodwin, Prentiss Hubb, Juwan Durham, Nikola Djogo, John Mooney, and company–will essentially stay the same. What those teammates will need–albeit a little less than last year, perhaps–is leadership. Pflueger, a fifth-year senior who will be back after tearing his ACL last season, will take much of that load off Gibbs’ shoulders.

At Notre Dame, basketball is secondary to football, but that doesn’t mean the expectations are much lower. The Irish have had plenty of success in the past decade–at least enough to warrant a great deal of disgust following the poor play of a 14-19 season.

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Despite the struggles of a season ago, the expectations on Gibbs and the Irish will still be high. If the Irish have any hope of reaching the expectations of the Notre Dame basketball program, Gibbs has to be the one to set the tone.