Notre Dame basketball drops its first game, dumped 63-51 by St. Bonaventure
If a game can be won or lost in the first half, it happened Friday for Notre Dame in a 63-51 loss to St. Bonaventure at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y., as part of the Guardian’s Classic.
The Bonnies (3-3) held Notre Dame (5-1) to 1-of-12 shooting to start the game while they built an 11-2 lead only six minutes in that the Irish never seriously threatened.
Notre Dame cut a St. Bonaventure lead that at times swelled to 13 points down to 7 points three different times in the second half. But the scrappy Bonnies from a school of about 1,800 undergraduates near Buffalo, N.Y., answered each Irish comeback push.
Notre Dame got good work from freshman forward Van-Allen Lubin, who finished with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting, to go along with a career-high 13 rebounds for his first career double-double.
Graduate Irish forward Nate Laszewski added 11 points and 8 rebounds. But no other Notre Dame player scored in double figures in a game the team finished only 19-of-55 (34.5 percent) field goal shooting, including 2-of-17 (11.8 percent) from three-point range.
This is from an Irish team that entered the game with all five of its starters averaging double-digit scoring.
The season lows for Notre Dame are too many to list, but the biggies include points and both overall- and three-point shooting percentages.
The Irish entered the game precariously undefeated, with three of those five wins against inferior competition settled by seven points or fewer. All of its defensive and offensive deficiencies collided Friday in the team’s first game away from Purcell Pavilion.
The Irish couldn’t control the Bonnies quick guards off the dribble and they couldn’t stop 6-foot-10 redshirt sophomore Chad Venning in the paint. The 270-pound force dominated under the basket and finished with 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting and added 11 rebounds.
Coming off his 23-point, 10-of-11 shooting performance Tuesday against Bowling Green, Irish freshman J.J. Starling went only 3-of-13 shooting Friday for 7 points, and added only 1 rebound and no assists.
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Playing flat-footed defense and disorganized offense, Notre Dame found no rhythm during the first half when it shot only 9-of-29 overall (31.0 percent) and fell behind 31-20 at the break. The Irish were also out-rebounded 21-14 in the first half.
St. Bonaventure, a dangerous program and an NIT semifinalist last season, built its first 13-point lead at 22-9 with 8:45 left in the first half. The Bonnies never trailed and the Irish never even sniffed a comeback from there.
The biggest difference in this game was that Notre Dame made only 2 three-pointers (a season-low) while the Bonnies made 10, a season-high for an Irish opponent.
The foul line has been a scoring advantage for Notre Dame this season. It entered this game ranked third in the country at 84.3 percent, and with a significant attempts advantage.
In what essentially ended up a draw, the Irish went 11-of-15 from the stripe, while the Bonnies weren’t far behind at 9-of-10.
Up next: Notre Dame hosts No. 12 Michigan State (3-2) Wednesday at Purcell Pavilion in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (9:15 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
