This is the same Notre Dame team that last time out fell to St. Bonaventure by a dozen, but welcome to college basketball. Notre Dame closed out their portion of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge with a home drubbing of No. 20 Michigan State, 70-52 on Wednesday. Cormac Ryan was a force for the Irish as he was 6 of 7 from beyond the arc leading all scorers with 23 points.
Behind Ryan’s huge first half where he scored 20 of those 23 points, Notre Dame burst out to a 42-24 lead at the break. It was also an incredibly clean game by the Irish as they didn’t commit a turnover until 17 minutes into the contest. JJ Starling added 14 points and Dane Goodwin scored 12 for Notre Dame.
The win moves Notre Dame to 6-1 on the year as the Irish get a preemptive start to their ACC season as they welcome 3-4 Syracuse to town this Saturday. Michigan State falls to 5-3 on the year and is now just 2-2 over their last four.
Notre Dame’s win was the ACC’s eighth in this year’s challenge which clinched the conference bragging rights for good as the series is being done away starting next year. ACC teams will instead challenge SEC opponents.
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