After Notre Dame lost in heartbreaking fashion to North Carolina at home, it hoped for a better outcome on the road at NC State. If these past two games are any indication though, Irish fans are going to experience a lot of pain during the ACC schedule.
The Irish held a 10-point lead late in the first half and a seven-point lead with 3:39 remaining. They stopped scoring field goals after that though, and the Wolfpack mounted their largest comeback win of the season, 66-65.
[autotag]Matt Allocco[/autotag] made two free throws with 2:06 left to give the Irish (7-8, 1-3) a 65-61 lead. But the Wolfpack (9-6, 2-2) cracked down defensively and shined in both the full-court and half-court offense until they tied the game up and then had a chance to take the lead after [autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag] fouled Ben Middlebrooks.
Middlebrooks split a pair of free throws, so a one-point game meant the Irish had a chance to salvage the victory. Out of a timeout with 8.3 seconds remaining [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] fired a shot that hit the room shortly before the clock hit zero and left the Irish wondering what could have been.
All five Irish starters scored in double figures, led by Burton with 15 points. Davis had 14 points and six assists, and [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag] achieved a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds. That should have been enough to top the Wolfpack, who saw Marcus Hill score 15 points to lead four starters with double figures. And somehow, it wasn’t.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Irish, who now have to go to Duke after seeing two straight winnable games slip away. This season could get ugly fast if they let things spiral further.
Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.
Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89