Rebounding difficulties vs. North Carolina leave Notre Dame just short once again in 63-59 loss

Notre Dame nearly threw a monkey wrench in the ACC title race four days ago by coming within a missed 3-pointer at the buzzer of beating Virginia on the road. It nearly ended the preseason No. 1 team’s NCAA tournament hopes Wednesday.

Nearly. There’s that familiar word again.

A season with several chapters full of close calls and almosts keeps adding more of them. The latest is a 63-59 loss to North Carolina Wednesday, when a chance to crush the Tar Heels’ at-large bid case slipped away.

PROMOTION: Join for only $29.99 to unlock premium access of the best Notre Dame coverage in the market. This is a limited-time offer, so act fast!

The Irish (10-18, 2-15 ACC) – playing out the string of disappointing season that’s careening toward 20 losses – lost games at Duke, at Virginia and at home against North Carolina (17-11, 9-8) by a combined eight points. In order, that’s the ACC’s most talented team, its highest-ranked team and the nation’s most disappointing one in desperation mode. None of those games was decided until the final seconds.

The Irish keep fighting. But ending those battles in the same place offers little solace at this point.

“We are in position, but that’s the thing that has been very, very frustrating,” head coach Mike Brey said.

This season is well past the point of moral victories. Never was there to begin with, really. Not for a team that dreamed as big as the Irish did in the preseason. But there’s not much else left to highlight or no larger goal to play for when the end is near for this season, for Brey’s tenure and for half this roster’s college careers.

“You have to give them something to hang their hat on,” Brey said. “We put ourself in position, and let’s see if we can close. But we haven’t been able.”

Notre Dame’s undoing in this one was a break in character on the defensive glass. The Irish entered the game 41st nationally in defensive rebounding rate, their best attribute on that end of the floor.

But on this night, their hands and the basketball were like oven mitts meeting a greased-up rock. North Carolina had 5 dead-ball offensive rebounds that Notre Dame couldn’t corral. As if that wasn’t enough, three Tar Heels players had at least 5 of their own. All told, North Carolina grabbed 23 offensive rebounds – half its misses – to mitigate a barrage of bricks. It shot 33.3 percent overall and 8.7 percent on 3-pointers. Notre Dame dropped 38 spots in defensive rebounding rate as a result.

“I thought we defended fabulously,” Brey said. “They’re going to get to the backboard, because they’re athletic as heck. But we had chances.”

The decisive dead-ball rebounds came with 11 and 9 seconds left, and North Carolina leading 59-58. The former was a Leaky Black missed floater that never hit the rim and veered out of bounds before a Notre Dame player could snatch it. Black’s missed layup that hit the bottom of the rim with 1 second on the shot clock went in and out of Irish forward Nate Laszewski’s hands, landing out of bounds and resetting the shot clock.

A clean defensive rebound gives Notre Dame a chance to win. Instead, the Irish had to foul. Guard Caleb Love made both free throws to take a 3-point lead, and North Carolina intentionally fouled after that.

The Tar Heels filched the lead for good on Love’s putback with 3:22 left, which ended a possession with 5 offensive rebounds. Love darted into the paint and scooped up a missed layup without much resistance.

“They’re a little much for you – 23 offensive rebounds, whew,” Brey said.

The second half was, if nothing else, an entertaining back-and-forth that featured nine lead changes and three ties. Laszewski gave Notre Dame its last lead on a free throw with 5:56 remaining, but the Irish then went 3:35 without a point. They still shot 50 percent in the second half.

It was a contrast to an unspeakable first half where both teams traded clanks. Notre Dame shot 31.3 percent in the first 20 minutes. North Carolina, facing KenPom’s No. 288 defense, shot 18.5 percent, missed all 10 of its 3-point tries and committed 8 turnovers.

Even some of the first-half made baskets were ugly. A Dane Goodwin 3-pointer that gave Notre Dame a 16-15 lead was the product of Cormac Ryan airballing a baseline floater, grabbing his own rebound on the other side and flinging a pass to an open Goodwin in the corner.

That basket was, though, part of a 13-2 spurt that gave Notre Dame a 27-19 lead at halftime.