The youngest, worst ND hoops team in years performed about as well as we could expect against a brutally-efficient top-3 team in the country
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, unsurprisingly, lost in grand fashion to the #3 Virginia Cavaliers at Purcell Pavilion today, 82 to 55.
The Irish were never in it, down 12-0 through the first 6+ minutes of the game before John Mooney finally got a bucket to put ND on the board. It never really got better from there, though, as the Cavaliers rode 15 first half points on 6-7 shooting from Kyle Guy and 10 first half points from De’Andre Hunter to own a 42-25 halftime lead.
UVA shot 56% from the field and 44% from deep during that first period of play, while Notre Dame managed a measly 37% shooting overall and 33% from long range, led by Dane Goodwin’s 8 points and Mooney’s 7 points and 6 boards. T.J. Gibbs and DJ Harvey continued to struggle, combining to shoot 2-for-9 in the first half for 4 points.
In the second half, the Irish made a little noise on the back of some Mooney threes and on a particularly impressive sequence from DJ Harvey, who apparently forgot he usually disappears in second halves and instead began to put on a one-man show with an aggressive drive to the hoop, good defense at the rim, and a beautiful, deep three that got the crowd back into it and cut the Virginia lead to 12 with 13:24 to play.
However, just 3 minutes later, the Cavaliers had re-extended their lead to 18, and from there they coasted to a victory on the backs of their trio of talented starting guards: Guy, Ty Jerome, and Hunter. Guy finished with 15 points and 5 rebounds, Jerome had 13, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists, and Hunter led both teams in scoring with 19 points (and added 7 boards) as Virginia finished the game shooting 52% from the floor, 44% from deep, and out-rebounded Notre Dame 45 to 33.
Overall, Notre Dame was led by John Mooney’s 15 points and 10 rebounds, in addition to contributions of 9, 9, and 8 points, respectively, from DJ Harvey, T.J. Gibbs, and Dane Goodwin. Prentiss Hubb also chipped in 7 points and 5 assists. The Irish shot 36% from the field and 28% from deep, and also made just 3-of-8 free throws for a 38% performance from the charity stripe.
Notre Dame falls to 11-9 (1-6 ACC) on the season, and unfortunately has another horrifying test in two days when the #2 Duke Blue Devils come to town Monday evening.
