Notre Dame Basketball Tops Colgate 77-62 (Highlights)
Notre Dame got back in the win column Monday night at home against Colgate. The Irish topped the Raids by 15 but again couldn’t maintain a large first half lead. In back to back losses the last week and a half the Irish have jumped out to first half leads they were unable to hang on to. Monday night the Irish were able to hang it, but it never felt easy.
Notre Dame jumped out to 36-20 first half lead, but were outscored 42-41 by Colgate over the final 20 minutes of the game. It didn’t matter for the result but the continuing trend is becoming a bit concerning.
VJ got out of his funk Monday night with 20 points including knocking down 6 of 10 three pointers. It was a relatively quiet night for Bonzie Colson – by his standards anyway – as Notre Dame’s undersized big man put up 13 points and 7 rebounds.
Matt Farrell was the only other Golden Domer to top double figures with 13 but the highlight of his night came well after the final whistle. Farrell was surprised on court by his older brother Bo, a lieutenant in the Army, at the end of the game. Bo Farrell had a recorded message for his other brother following the game and then surprised him and the rest of the Farrell family on court.
It looked like Notre Dame was going to run away with this one in the second half after a Steve Vasturia three pointer gave the Irish a 21 point lead. After Vasturia’s bucket, however, the Raiders went on a 12-1 run and cut the lead to 10. They wouldn’t get any closer than 10 after their run thanks to a 9-2 run of their own by the Irish, but were still able to make this one much more uncomforatble than it needed to be.
In the end the Irish held on and got a much needed win after their back to back losses to Villanova and Purdue, but it wasn’t pretty. Notre Dame committed a season high 14 turnovers including 10 in the first half alone. The Irish entered the night leading the nation with just 8.4 a game.
Earlier in the day Monday the Irish fell to #25 in the polls thanks to their back to back losses.
Mike Brey and the Irish are off until December 28th for their last tuneup before they begin ACC league play. Notre Dame hosts St. Peter’s next Wednesday and then open ACC play against Pitt on New Year’s Eve. After the back to back losses and an uninspiring performance tonight, Brey will have plenty to work on with his troops between now and then.
I’m betting very concerned with how the Irish are coming out after halftime. They seem to come out flat and allow opposing teams to get back in the game, going back to the Fort Wayne game. They need to keep pushing hard. They had both Villanova and Purdue on the ropes. They could be undefeated and probably ranked in the top 10 if they had just finished them off.
Brey needs to fix this now, before ACC play starts, or what was looking like a promising season could end up becoming a dud. They have great 3 point shooters and they are excellent at the FT line. They also look better at rebounding and they have good stretches on defense. But they have to stay awake and keep it going.
Loading up on the Patsy’s. St.Peters next notch in Win column.