Denver, CO (UHND.com) – Notre Dame made sure that George Mason would not have another magical run through the NCAA Tournament this year with a 68-50 win over the Patriots that was never really in doubt. The Irish jumped out to a 23-7 lead in the early goings of Thursday night’s first round tournament matchup and never looked back.
Ryan Ayers and Luke Zeller hit back to back three pointers less than eight minutes into the game to open a 16 point lead that would never get reduced to less than 12 for the rest of the game. The Irish were able to keep Mason at a reasonable distance thanks in large part to some ice cold shooting from the Patriots for most of the game.
George Mason connected on just 19 of 58 shots from the field and hit only 20% of their attempts throughout most of the first half. Will Thomas was the only offensive threat for George Mason Thursday night with 25 points on 10 of 14 shooting. The rest of the Patriots combined to shot just 20% from the field highlighted by Folarin Campbell’s 1 of 12 performance.
Notre Dame on the other hand, shot 46.4% (26 of 56) from the field including 45% (9 of 20) from three point range. Luke Harangody led the Irish with 18 points and 14 rebounds despite shooting just 40% from the foul line. Kyle McAlarney chipped in 15 points including 9 points from downtown and Ryan Ayers added 12 points.
After coming off a fairly dreadful defensive performance in their early exit from the Big East Tournament last week, the Irish were able to force George Mason into bad shots for most of the game. During the first half, George Mason was routinely caught with little time on the shot clock and no open looks which resulted in a 3 for 17 outing from beyond the arc.
Despite some poor rebounding over the final ten minutes, Notre Dame still out rebounded George Mason by a 42-31 margin – – a nice turnaround after being outrebounded by a smaller Marquette team last week.
Whether or not George Mason’s struggles from the field were a result of Notre Dame’s defense or just an off night is up for debate. The Irish certainly made George Mason worked for every shot in the first half, but the Patriots were even missing wide open looks throughout most of the night and appeared tired and fatigued by the midway point of the second half.
Notre Dame opened the second half up 12 points and never led by anything less over the final 20 minutes and led by as much as 19 after a McAlarney three pointer with 10:33 remaining.
Zach Hillesland had another all around nice game for the Irish with 6 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a block. Hillesland played outstanding during the first half of the Marquette loss last week and had another well rounded performance Thursday night. Rob Kurz also had a nice defensive showing with 4 blocked shots before fouling out towards the end of the game.
The win was the first Tournament win for Notre Dame in five years after an early exit in last year’s first round at the hands of Winthrop and has earned the Irish a second round matchup with 4th seeded Washington State. The Cougars dispatched Winthrop by holding them to just 11 second half points.
All in all, it was a nice win for the Irish, but it was a far from perfect outing. Sloppy ball handling resulted in 12 turnovers and a cold streak in the first half could have let George Mason right back into the game had they been able to convert on a couple of golden opportunities.
The Irish will have to play more sound offense on Saturday if they are to advance to the Sweet 16. Washington State plays outstanding defense, as evidenced by holding Winthrop to 11 second half points, which will make the Irish work harder for their points.
For tonight though, the Irish should be fairly pleased to avoid the upset in a dreaded 5/12 matchup and advance to the second round for the first time since 2003.
