Observations: Notre Dame ends regular season in style, beats Pittsburgh 78-54

That should just about do it.

Notre Dame has all but locked up its NCAA tournament spot. It has formally secured its ACC tournament seed and the most conference wins in league history.

The Irish brought their postseason picture into even clearer focus Saturday, beating Pittsburgh 78-54 to finish the regular season 22-9 and 15-5 in the ACC. They are the No. 2 seed in the ACC tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y. and will play their first game of it Thursday night. The 15 conference wins are the most in a single season in team history.

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Forward Nate Laszewski led Notre Dame with 17 points and was one of five players in double-figures. Guard Cormac Ryan added 15. Notre Dame shot 56.3 percent from the field and 58.3 percent on three-pointers.

Pittsburgh (11-20, 6-14) shot 35.9 percent.

Here are three observations from the game.

BOX SCORE

1. Another three-point clinic and Nate Laszewski’s role in it

Ryan offered a word of warning to teams that give Notre Dame open three pointers.

The Irish will usually pour them in, and sometimes at a 50 percent clip or higher. When they do?

“Good luck,” Ryan said.

Pittsburgh was the latest team which Notre Dame buried with a perimeter onslaught. The Irish put the game away by making four straight threes to open the second half and hit 11 of their first 19 attempts. All told, they were 14-of-24 from beyond the arc. Ryan and Laszewski were the primary assailants, combining to hit their first eight attempts.

This was the fourth time in ACC play Notre Dame shot at least 50 percent on threes. The Irish finished the conference season with a league-best 39.6 three-point percentage. There have been some lower than desired valleys for a team capable of such peaks – they shot below 30 percent on threes in five ACC games – but the explosive potential is clear by now, as is the ability to steadily generate open perimeter looks.

Laszewski made all three of his attempts from beyond the arc and shot a league-leading 53.1 percent on three-pointers in ACC games. He averaged 3.4 attempts per game. Notre Dame would benefit by pushing that average higher in the postseason.

2. Strong on defense

Following a few wayward moments in recent weeks, Notre Dame’s defense needed a get-right game to refuel the good vibes on that end heading into the postseason. Pittsburgh, a sub-220 offense in KenPom’s rankings coming into Saturday, provided a nice path.

Notre Dame locked down on that end, holding the Panthers to .86 points per possession, an 11.5 percent mark on three-pointers and just 10 assists on 23 baskets. This was the ninth time in 20 ACC games the Irish held their opponent below a point per possession, per KenPom.

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Pittsburgh’s offense isn’t too difficult to guard, especially when leading scorer and post force John Hugley sits the final 17:30 of the first half after committing two fouls in a six-second span. The Panthers often devolve into out-of-control drives and contested three-pointers. They missed their first 10 threes, and the first make came in transition off a Notre Dame turnover.

Notre Dame turned to its zone for a large chunk of the second half. Pittsburgh’s counter was to stick Hugley in the middle of it to either find shooters or take free-throw line jumpers. Notre Dame was content to give him the latter.

3. Cormac Ryan

Laszewski’s Feb. 5 lower leg bruise opened the door for Ryan to hop back into the starting lineup. Maybe that’s not the only reason he put forth the best four-week stretch of his career, but it coincides with his emergence.

Ryan shoved a four-point game at Florida State Wednesday in the rear-view mirror and poured in a career-high five three-pointers. He shot 42.3 percent on threes in ACC play, which ranked seventh in the conference. He also posted three or more assists for the sixth time in eight games since being re-inserted as a starter. His block on a transition layup attempt that he chased down from the other baseline typified his defensive effort.

Ryan emerging as a more reliable shooting threat forces defenses stick on him even closer and clear more space in the lane for primary creators Blake Wesley and Prentiss Hubb, as well as post presence Paul Atkinson Jr. His decision-making has been crisp lately too, with just two turnovers in his last five games.