Notre Dame falls flat in ACC Tournament semifinal vs. Louisville
The odds were stacked against Notre Dame from the start. The Fighting Irish were playing without superstar point guard Olivia Miles for a second straight game, and they were up against a full-strength opponent who didn’t want to lose to Notre Dame for a third time in two and a half weeks.
Saturday’s final score highly reflected the combination of the two.
No. 4 seed Louisville 64, No. 1 seed Notre Dame 38 in the semifinal round of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, N.C.
“Obviously a rough game today,” Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said. “I felt like the pressure really bothered us. Hats off to Louisville. I felt they came out really locked in and shot the ball really well and had a really great game.”
All Miles — and graduate student guard Dara Mabrey, for that matter — could do was sit and watch while the Cardinals took it to the Irish in every facet. Louisville started slow but got it in gear in the third quarter, outscoring Notre Dame 21-9 in the frame. The Irish did not reach double digits in any of the first three quarters, including a season-low 7 in the first quarter.
The offensive formula for the Irish without Miles for the previous game and half, including 20-plus minutes vs. Louisville on Sunday, Feb. 26, was a heavy dose of sophomore guard Sonia Citron and adequate contributions from one or two other players. That combination was nowhere to be found Saturday. Citron scored the first bucket of the game for the Irish but then did not score again until the third quarter.
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Citron finished with 8 points after averaging 27.5 in the previous two games. The Irish shot 31.4 percent from the floor as a team. Citron was not the issue there; she shot a respectable 3-of-7 from the field. She just didn’t get enough looks, and her teammates didn’t pick up the slack. Junior forward Maddy Westbeld led the Irish in scoring with 9 points. All eight Irish players who saw the floor scored at least two points.
Louisville ate the Irish up in the paint and on the run, meanwhile. Foul trouble to Notre Dame’s post players allowed the Cardinals to take advantage of the areas around the rim. They outscored the Irish 30-20 in the paint. All-day full-court pressure led to 22 Notre Dame turnovers and a 12-5 edge for the Cardinals in fast-break points, too.
Louisville went up by 30-plus points in the fourth quarter. By then, it was just a formality. And it was also an indication of how tough the NCAA Tournament could be for Notre Dame if Miles is not able to suit up. What she does on the floor is invaluable. But so too is the positive effect her presence has on the psyche of her teammates. Both were missing in Saturday’s semifinal, and it got ugly as a result.
“We will learn from this,” Ivey said. “We got struck with a lot of adversity, but no matter what there are lessons to learn from moments like this and losses like this.”
