Hello everyone, it’s Patrick Nolan here, and I’m excited to be back for another season of Irish basketball. To this point in the season, the Irish have won three games against teams near the bottom of the KenPom
rankings, and we haven’t quite learned all that much yet about this year’s squad. While Notre Dame did a good job of making sure those contests were never in doubt, they didn’t convincingly put the hammer down on any of them such that we’d alter our preseason expectations. Today’s game against a strong but unranked opponent in the Ohio State Buckeyes represented Micah Shrewsberry’s first real test of the season.
The game started off very slow for both teams, and while the Irish were missing good looks, Notre Dame played a pretty inspiring brand of defense. Braeden Shrewsberry deserves particular praise here, as he forced opponents into multiple turnovers off the dribble early on. The Irish did leak a couple threes, but a Garrett Sundra three and floater, plus a bucket and an assist from Sir Mohammed gave the Irish an early edge. It was 11-6 Notre Dame at the first media timeout.
Jalen Haralson checked in after the first break and made his impact immediately known by making a contested one-hander on a drive, and minutes later, made a laughably-much-less-contested second. Kebba Njie followed with a beautiful spin move to his left for a bank shot off the glass, which did not look like something he had in his bag of tricks last season. Meanwhile, the Irish defense was suffocating as they defended relentlessly for all 30 seconds of the shot clock. Good looks were hard to come by for the Buckeyes, and they were forced to put up pretty miserable shots. The Irish boosted their lead to 19-10 halfway through the period.
The energy stayed up on the other end of the media timeout, as Ohio State alternated between contested looks and turnovers. Haralson continued to have success attacking downhill, very reminiscent of Tae Davis, and even Logan Imes smelled blood in the water, hooking a difficult contested layup around the Buckeye bigs. Unfortunately, a particularly bad turnover stretch from Markus Burton gave Ohio State some momentum back. The Buckeyes were able to get some transition offense, particularly from John Mobley Jr., and made three straight shots to narrow the lead to 23-17.
The Irish went cold for a bit as Markus Burton headed to the bench and the Ohio State defense picked up. Notre Dame got to the line a couple times, but the easy buckets considerably slowed down. After that tough stretch, Haralson and Mohammed created open looks for Shrewsberry and Carson Towt to give Notre Dame a little breathing room. A bad Shrewsberry foul of a three-point shooter allowed the Buckeyes to narrow the gap before the half. Despite making only one three, the Irish led 34-31 at halftime on the strength of their massive edges in the paint and bench scoring, in what qualifies as a valiant attempt to confuse the heck out of Mike Brey.
Notre Dame finally got back into the three-pointer column when Shrewsberry finally got a bit of daylight behind a good Towt screen. A fadeaway and-1 from Burton would then stretch the Irish lead to eight after a…we’ll say “questionable” call on a ball ruled to be tapped out of bounds by Ohio State. After the Buckeyes answered back with a Bruce Thornton three, Sir Mohammed counter-punched with a difficult and impressive and-1 of his own. The Irish were up 44-37 with 15:46 to play.
Thornton continued to be a thorn (heh) in the Irish’ side by drilling another three, and Amare Bynum bullied Njie for another bucket, which cut the lead to two. The Irish began to take and miss difficult shots, and Bynum tied the score with a couple free throws after driving and getting bumped by Sundra. Another Shrewsberry three behind a Towt screen ended a brutal field goal drought, but Bynum laid down a thunder dunk on Mohammed while getting fouled to give Ohio State a one-point lead. The score was all tied up at 53 at the under-8 timeout.
Fouls were beginning to be a significant issue for Notre Dame, as they struggled to keep seven-footer Christoph Tilly off of the free throw line, which kept the Buckeye momentum strong during slower points of the game. A foul off of a rebound on Haralson gave Ohio State a two-point lead. Haralson would travel by dragging his pivot foot on the next possession, in what was (to that point) a nightmare second half for him.
Carson Towt would draw Tilly’s fourth foul when battling him for a rebound, but he’d airball the front end of the 1-and-1, making the good feelings short-lived. A Mobley pull-up jumper extended the Ohio State lead to six, and the Irish were searching for answers. Towt would draw another foul on a put-back, but he’d miss both chances for redemption at the line.
Then, as it looked like the Irish were letting it all slip away, things changed on a dime. Haralson would stop the bleeding by rebounding an Ohio State miss and driving the length of the floor for an and-one. He’d get downhill in transition again to find Mohammed for a layup, cutting the deficit to one, and after a badly bricked three by the Buckeyes, Burton got hacked on a drive, which put the Irish in the double-bonus and tied the game.
Burton and Haralson would create back-to-back turnovers on Ohio State possessions following another Thornton three, and an awkward-looking baseline jumper from Shrewsberry went down to give the Irish a one-point lead with two minutes to play. Back-to-back empty possessions ensured to take us down to the final minute. Mobley would miss a contested floater, but he’d get redemption by forcing Burton into a miserable shot on the next possession, giving Ohio State the ball with the shot clock off.
Ohio State coach Jake Diebler called timeout with 23.8 seconds to play to set something up. The ball found Tilly’s hands and he drove on Towt. He got a half-step on him and was able to use his long arms to put the ball off the glass and in. The Irish still had 12 seconds to make something happen, but a Burton tough contested three over Tilly was all that they managed. It clanged harmlessly off the rim, sending Notre Dame home disappointed.
While this was Notre Dame’s first loss, it arguably was their best-played game of the season, and their 10-slot boost in the KenPom rankings confirmed that. The defensive effort was legitimately exciting. The Irish will just need to find a way to find themselves on the right side of these close games as the season wears on. It was notable that Micah Shrewsberry did not call a timeout to set up a play during the final 12 seconds and the Irish settled for a wild shot borne out of hero-ball. The coaching needs to improve.
Bullet Points:
- Shrewsberry committed a bad travel by jumping and not shooting directly in front of his dad. Micah got extremely pissed and yanked him from the game immediately. As frustrating as the travel was, the aftermath was funnier.
- Sundra continues to be a weak link defensively. He got in foul trouble early and just doesn’t seem to have the strength to hang with power conference bigs.
- That being said, Shrewsberry had Sundra in the game for some reason out of the timeout on Ohio State’s final possession. He didn’t offer much in the way of rim protection on Tilly’s drive past Towt, and Njie probably could have done better.
- Micah Shrewsberry won a coaches’ challenge on an out-of-bounds call around the middle of the second half, but Mohammed traveled on the ensuing possession, rendering it moot.
- The Irish won the rebounding battle on the strength of 12 from Towt, and dominated points in the paint 38-to-1. However, a pretty disappointing 12-for-20 from the free throw line (19-for-23 for OSU) really hurt, as was the fact that the Irish only found a way to attempt ten threes over the course of the afternoon.
- Burton had four turnovers (all in the first half) against only one assist on the afternoon. I wouldn’t mind seeing Mohammed and Haralson handle the ball more, as they seem better able to create opportunities for the other players.
