Observations: Notre Dame wards off Louisville, takes sole possession of first place in ACC

Surely, sole possession of first place in the ACC wasn’t going to come that easily – even at home against a sub-.500 team with an interim coach. Notre Dame expected to get a battle from Louisville Wednesday night.

The Cardinals eventually provided one. It was upgraded to a scare when they took a one-point lead with about six minutes to play. Notre Dame, like it has several times this year, brushed it off and closed the door.  

The Irish beat Louisville 63-57 Wednesday night, fueled by an 8-0 run that immediately followed their brief deficit. At 17-7 overall and 10-3 in the ACC, they’re alone atop the league standings with seven regular season games left.

“It’s special,” forward Paul Atkinson Jr. said.

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Atkinson led Notre Dame with 17 points and 15 rebounds, his third straight double-double. Guard Dane Goodwin added 16. Notre Dame shot 45.5 percent from the field and 25 percent on three-pointers. Louisville (11-13, 5-9 ACC) shot 38.5 percent overall.

Here are three observations from the game.

BOX SCORE

1. Notre Dame staved off a size mismatch

Even if forward Nate Laszewski (lower leg contusion) was healthy, Louisville is bigger than Notre Dame in the frontcourt and on the wing. The Cardinals’ size advantage is even more pronounced against the Irish’s four-guard lineup. They needed an entire half to realize it, stop hoisting contested threes and try to take advantage. When they did, though, they stormed back.  

Louisville scored 26 of their 34 second-half points in the paint, the result of a deliberate post-up effort and 11 second-chance points. Seemingly every Louisville possession for a 10-minute stretch in the second half started with a post-up or isolation against a guard.

The primary assailant was 6-8 forward Jae’Lyn Withers, who scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half. If not him, Dre Davis (6-6, 210 pounds) leaned into his size advantage and was 4-of-5 on two-pointers in the second half, including a transition dunk with 6:14 left that gave Louisville a 55-54 lead. As if that wasn’t enough, Louisville rebounded seven of its first 12 missed shots.

Withers went to the bench with 5:15 left, though, after picking up his fourth foul. He sat for about 90 seconds. Notre Dame regrouped on defense, forced Louisville to revert to the contested jumpers it took in the first half and held the Cardinals scoreless for nearly six minutes.

2. Cormac Ryan’s energy

Without Laszewski, Notre Dame needed one of its two primary bench players to provide a lift. Guard Trey Wertz did Feb. 5 against North Carolina State after Laszewski left.

Wednesday, guard Cormac Ryan raised his hand when he drew the start and played 37 minutes. The numbers are relatively modest (seven points, four rebounds, four assists, two steals) but he was a burst of energy from the opening tip to final buzzer. He pulled down the first available defensive rebound, dished two assists and drove from the baseline for a reverse layup all before the first media timeout.

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Later in the first half, he made a three-pointer and had an assist on a dump-off pass to Atkinson in the post. Arguably his best play was a poke-from-behind steal that led to his layup in transition after a pass from Prentiss Hubb.

In the second half, he consistently walled off Louisville’s guards and stripped the ball on a layup attempt for his second steal. Notre Dame was plus-nine with him on the floor.

As long as Notre Dame employs a six-man rotation in Laszewski’s absence, it needs impact games from at least one of Ryan or Wertz every night. The Irish played six on Wednesday, with forward Matt Zona logging just two first-half minutes. They’ll presumably do so again Saturday at Clemson after Brey said Laszewski is a “longshot” to play.

3. Senior-heavy second half

For the second straight game, Notre Dame pulled away and put the clamps on an opposing offense with freshman guard Blake Wesley on the bench for a prolonged stretch. Sitting the second-leading scorer and the most athletic player on the roster when already whittled down to a six-man rotation is a bold move, but Brey trusted his seniors’ cohesion and steadiness would pay off.

Brey subbed Wesley out with 6:05 left in the half after Withers picked his pocket at the top of the key and started the run-out that led to the go-ahead dunk. Wesley didn’t return until 37 seconds remained. Notre Dame kept the Hubb, Ryan, Wertz, Goodwin and Atkinson lineup on the floor the entire time.

Brey made a similar move at North Carolina State, though it was not prompted by a Wesley turnover. The senior quintet played more than eight straight minutes and was plus-11 in that stretch. The best version of Notre Dame includes Wesley, but to see the senior core put away two straight games is a welcomed development.