The #14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s basketball team opened their season at Depaul, winning 72 to 58 behind hot second half shooting and a BONZIE double-double
The #14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s basketball team opened their regular season today, defeating the Depaul Blue Demons 72-58 in the inaugural game at their new home, Wintrust Arena.
The Irish and Blue Demons both got off to a slightly sloppy start to begin the 2017-2018 season, with ND leading 29-25 at intermission. Depaul shot an abysmal 28% from the field and 23% from 3 in the first half, while the Fighting Irish managed a slightly better 39% overall shooting, but also turned the ball over 6 times and made just 3-of-15 three pointers.
At the break, Notre Dame F and preseason ACC Player of the Year BONZIE COLSON tied for the lead with TJ Gibbs for top scorer, as both netted 9 points in the first half. COLSON also tied for most rebounds with Rex Pflueger at 6. The Blue Demons were paced by 8 points each from G Devin Gage and F Tre’Darius McCallum, along with 5 points from Max Strus and 4 points from Eli Cain.
The second half saw more of the same in the early going, as the two teams managed to score a combined 0 points through almost 3 minutes of play. The Fighting Irish began to take control, though, hitting 8 of 10 from deep to begin the half and jumping out to a 44-38 lead at the under-12 timeout. The Irish extended their lead to 9 after a TJ Gibbs three with about 10 minutes to go. He finished 4-of-7 from three point land.
From there, the Irish continued to unleash a barrage of three pointers on the Blue Demons, leading 60-47 by the time the game reached the under-8 media timeout. Gibbs, Pflueger, Farrell, and Harvey all contributed to the 3-point party in the 2nd half, and Gibbs/Farrell were especially on fire from deep. The team had made 8 in a row before a Gibbs deep ball finally rimmed out.
The ND lead grew to 14 with about 5 minutes to go, and from that point forward the two teams traded some baskets, with the Irish ultimately winning by 14.
TJ Gibbs led all scorers with 21 points, while BONZIE COLSON notched his first of likely many double-doubles on the year, scoring 18 points and snaring 13 rebounds while also dishing out a game-leading 5 assists. Matt Farrell added 15 points on 5-of-9 three-point shooting. The Irish improved dramatically on their first half stats, shooting 47% from the field overall and 44% from deep.
Depaul was led by McCallum (14 points, 6 rebounds), Cain (14 points, 5 rebounds), Strus (11 points, 5 rebounds), and Gage (10 points), and the team shot 34% from the field and made just 5 of 22 three-pointers (23%).
The 1-0 Fighting Irish will face Mount St. Mary’s on Monday evening at Purcell Pavilion, tipping off at 7 PM in their regular season home opener.
