83 - 70 Mike Brey's home win streak in November has come to an end. The Irish need to rally in a hurry before getting into the meat of their non-conference schedule.
Mike Brey is no longer undefeated at home in November. His Irish were flat out embarrassed by the Indiana State Sycamores today, losing by 13 at a lifeless Purcell Pavilion.
Notre Dame turned it over 16 times, including 9 in the first half, while only earning 13 assists en route to the loss. That's a recipe for disaster for this Irish squad. To make matters worse, what is supposed to be one of Mike Brey's deepest rosters in his tenure at Notre Dame got very few contributions outside of the starting backcourt trio of Eric Atkins, Jerian Grant, and Pat Connaughton.
Tom Knight got the bench treatment after turning it over on the first possession of the second half. Garrick Sherman turned it over 4 times. Though he looked pretty good for stretches, including a key block that sprung a transition Connaughton three, Austin Burgett had 3 turnovers of his own before fouling out. The freshmen trio only shot 2 of 9.
The only good performance off the bench was from Zach Auguste, who appears to be rounding into form after his 6 point and 8 rebound performance today.
On the other side, Justin Gant (17 points) and Khristian Smith (15 points) stood out for a Sycamores team that was lights out from 3-point land. Their 11-20 performance from beyond the arc was absolutely the difference in the game.
The game was especially frustrating in the second half after the Irish, who were trailing by 10 at the half, took the lead just five minutes after the break. They apparently thought the game was over at that point, as Indiana State immediately went on a 10 point run of their own and never looked back. Instead of cruising to another home victory after a great and rapid comeback, Notre Dame was dominated the rest of the way.
I don't have much else to say about this one, but I hope to never see the Notre Dame team that showed up today again this season. The Irish desperately need to get back on track late Friday night (9pm) at home against Santa Clara, a game that will be available on ESPN 3.
