No one is going to remember the details of Notre Dame’s game Wednesday against Louisville. No one will care that Nate Laszewski was out with an injury. It won’t even matter that the Irish nearly coughed up an opportunity they had been waiting for. The only thing to take away is that the Irish have the outright lead in the ACC standings after beating the Cardinals, 63-57.
The Irish (17-7, 10-3) had everything in order with a 14-point lead early in the second, but the Cardinals (11-13, 5-9) hung around to show they weren’t going to just give the Irish sole possession of first place. As proof of this, the Cardinals went on a 12-3 run to turn an eight-point deficit into a one-point lead with over six minutes to go. However, the Irish decided enough was enough and scored eight unanswered points before the Cardinals made their final basket. That was the final act needed to put the Irish in a position that was unthinkable two months ago.
Paul Atkinson Jr. followed up his ACC Player of the Week honor with a double-double that featured an Irish-leading 17 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Dane Goodwin was just behind with 16 points. Blake Wesley continued to bounce back from his recent shooting slump by shooting 5 of 10 from the field on an 11-point night.
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