Notre Dame withstood NC State's rally for win
NC State overcame a brutal start, but one thing was consistent throughout the game — difficulty making three-point shots.
NC State shot 7 of 24 from three-point land en route to falling 69-57 to Notre Dame on Saturday. The Fighting Irish started hot and also threw a defensive wrinkle by playing some zone defense against the Wolfpack.
NC State fell to 10-14 overall and 3-10 in the ACC, and host Wake Forest at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Notre Dame improved to 16-7 overall and 9-3 in the league.
“I thought we stood around against Notre Dame’s zone and didn’t have a lot of player ball movement,” NCSU coach Kevin Keatts said. “I think that hurt us a little bit. We settled.”
NC State climbed out of a 17-point first-half hole and were poised to upset Notre Dame with inspired play in the second half. Notre Dame put the hammer down with a 13-2 run to put away the game.
NC State has seemingly relied on the “big three,” but that because just one Saturday — freshman wing Terquavion Smith, and even that wasn’t working for the first 11 minutes of the game. Smith did finish with a team-high 19 points.
NC State redshirt sophomore guard Dereon Seabron and senior forward Jericole Hellems both had difficult games for different reasons. Hellems hurt his left finger and then when he returned, picked up two quick fouls and finished with zero points in 17 minutes of action.
Seabron had defenders waiting for him on his drives throughout the game. He went 5 of 16 from the field for 14 points, plus nine rebounds and three assists.
Keatts said Seabron didn’t practice the last two games after suffering a neck injury against Syracuse on Wednesday. Keatts pointed out the Wolfpack are a "beat-up team."
“It was a tough game for us in the sense that we didn’t have our big three play well,” Keatts said. “I thought Terquavion Smith did, but you look at Seabron and look at Jericole, they didn’t have great games. If those three don’t play great, it’s always a tough situation for us.”
NC State got off to an uncharacteristically show start on offense. The Wolfpack missed their first eight shots before Smith hit a three-pointer with 13:33 left in the first half. NCSU was lucky to only be down 11-3 at that point.
That luck didn’t last long because Notre Dame stretched the lead to 16 points after center Paul Atkinson, freshman wing Blake Wesley, junior wing Dane Goodwin and senior Trey Wertz all scored near the basket to make it 19-3. Notre Dame started the game making 8 of 10 layups to push the lead to 23-6 with 8:39 left.
NC State inserted sophomore center Ebenezer Dowuona to help protect the rim with 9:30 left in the first half. Dowuona missed the Syracuse game Wednesday with a lower leg injury, but he returned Saturday wearing a knee brace.
When Dowuona went out, the Wolfpack went to small ball with 6-7 Hellems at “center.” The move sparked the Wolfpack, who went on a 8-0 run to cut the lead to 27-20 with 3:32 left ion the first half. Smith drained a pair of three-pointers with the better ball movement from playing four guards and Hellems.
Just like that, the poor play of the first 14 minutes of the game gave hope again.
Dowuona checked in for the stretch drive, and Notre Dame put Atkinson back in with his two fouls. Dowuona added a free throw and then Smith got a break-away dunk. Hellems even blocked Atkinson at the rim, and all was good again, though Notre Dame led 27-23.
Notre Dame took a 33-28 lead at halftime, but also had an injury of its own. Stretch four Nate Laszewski, who really hurt the Wolfpack in the first meeting with 18 points, 11 rebounds and four three-pointers, proved a non-factor due to injury. He collided on a charge call and suffered a bruise, and exited the first half with 15:18 remaining. Notre Dame typically only plays seven players.
NC State then lost Hellems to a finger injury with 19:18 left in the game. He returned with 7:24 remaining. In Hellems’ absence, sophomore point guard Cam Hayes (11 points) came in for him and provided a lift. He made a nice left-handed layup, and then made a three-pointer as the shot clock wound down, and NC State led 38-37 with 15:02 left. The 23-6 early hole had been long forgotten, but Notre Dame didn’t take long to get the momentum back.
NC State had been struggling guarding three-point shooters the last three games, including the first meeting against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish made 11 three-pointers in a 73-65 win on Jan. 26. North Carolina made 15 in a win last Saturday, and Syracuse connected on 11 on Wednesday.
Notre Dame finished 9 of 12 on layups, but just 3 of 8 on three-pointers in the first half. The absence of Laszewski helped in that regard.
The Fighting Irish finished shooting 6 of 17 on three-pointers, but found a way to go 17 of 23 on layups and dunks for the game.
“We did a good job of defending the three-point line,” Keatts said. “We felt we got hurt at their place behind the arc. Today we gave up six.
“We got beat off the dribble a little bit. For the most part, we wanted to stay on their shooters. They’ve had a lot of success shooting the basketball. The last couple of games they haven’t shot it great. Now, they are scoring in the paint.”
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