Notre Dame Basketball Blows Out Syracuse: The Highlights

Notre Dame rebounded nicely from their first conference loss of the season on Saturday afternoon with a 84-66 victory over Syracuse in front of a home crowd at Purcell Pavilion. The Irish jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they coasted to their sixth win in seven tries in ACC play after dropping their first conference loss Wednesday night to Florida State.

The Irish were lead by VJ Beachem’s career high 30 points to go with seven rebounds while knocking down six three pointers.  Beachem was one of four Notre Dame starters to score in double figures.  Bonzie Colson chipped in 14, Matt Farrell 15, and Steve Vasturia 11.

Unlike Notre Dame’s previous five wins in ACC, no heroics were needed this time around.  The Irish have played nail bitter after nail bitter so far in conference play but that wasn’t the case on Saturday afternoon.  The Irish coasted to an 18 point victory over the Orange.

Notre Dame improved to 17-3 on the season overall and will likely stay ranked relatively close to their current 15th ranking despite their narrow loss to Florida State earlier this week.

The Game Was Over When

This one, unlike every other Notre Dame ACC contest this year, was never in doubt.  The Irish lead wire to wire essentially with the only Syracuse lead of the day coming seconds into the game at 2-0.  From that point on, it was all Notre Dame as the Irish now sit at 6-1 on the season.

Notre Dame Basketball Players of the Game

• VJ Beachem – Beachem’s career high continues his sea-saw season of ups and downs.  If Notre Dame is able to get more consistent play from Beachem at a level near what we saw on Saturday afternoon, this team could easily make another NCAA Tournament run like we’ve seen the past two seasons.
• Matt Farrell – Farrell came up just short of a career high in assists with 9 on the afternoon including one of the prettiest plays of the season (see above).  Farrell’s 15 points were also second on the squad.  Farrell has now scored in double digits in every ACC contest this season for Notre Dame.
• Bonzie Colson – Another game, another double-double for Notre Dame’s undersized big-man.  Colson picked up 14 rebounds to go with his 14 points for his 12th double-double of the season.  The 14 rebounds were tied for Colson’s second highest output of the season.

Up Next for Notre Dame Basketball

After three straight road games before today’s contest, Notre Dame returns to action on Tuesday when they host #16 Virginia at home.  Game time is set for 8:00 PM and will be broadcast on The ACC Digital Network (available via Watch ESPN).  The Cavaliers are coming off a 62-49 victory over Georgia Tech this afternoon.