After entering Saturday’s game at Virginia Tech with six-straight victories and jumping out to a 40-32 halftime lead, it appeared it would be more of the recent same for Notre Dame, but instead some old demons showed their ugly heads to stunt the Irish winning streak.
Paul Atkinson, Jr. led the way for Notre Dame with 19 points Saturday night in Blacksburg with five coming in the first few minutes of the second half to stretch the Irish lead to 10. Old problems with closing showed their ugly head once again for Notre Dame however as they simply couldn’t close the deal.
A Dane Goodwin jumper moved the Notre Dame lead to 62-57 with 6:31 to play but the Irish would convert just a pair of field goals the rest of the way as Virginia Tech outscored the Irish 22-11 from there.
The tough loss puts Notre Dame at 10-6 on the year overall and 4-2 in ACC play. The Irish return to action on Monday afternoon when they travel to Howard.
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