Tag: 2021 Maui invitational

Elijah Taylor no longer on Notre Dame roster

A little-used Irish forward is moving on.

Hours before Notre Dame tipped off its game against Clemson, sophomore forward Elijah Taylor made an announcement. Though perhaps the timing unexpected considering it’s the middle of the season, the announcement wasn’t very surprising. We learned that Taylor decided it was time to move on from being a Notre Dame basketball player:

Taylor, who hails from Philadelphia, had ankle surgery right before his freshman season and didn’t play at all. Although he was healthy to start this season, he never got much of an opportunity in Mike Brey’s short-rotation system. He scored eight points while playing a combined 12 minutes over three games: Nov. 23 against Chaminade during the Maui Invitational, Nov. 29 at Illinois and Dec. 3 at Boston College. He leaves the Irish without ever seeing game action at Purcell Pavilion.

While this surely is a disappointment for both Taylor and the Irish, let’s hope he finally gets a real opportunity somewhere. Best of luck to him in his future endeavors.

Rough second half costs Notre Dame against Texas A&M

Are the Irish already in trouble early in the season?

If Notre Dame is going to live up to the preseason hype as an NCAA Tournament team, it will have to do better than it did the past few days. Despite being in front for much of its third and final Maui Invitational game against Texas A&M, it proved to be for naught. The Aggies came back for a 73-67 win, forcing the Irish to a 1-2 record in the tournament and a sixth-place finish.

The Irish (3-2) led almost the entire first half and held a 14-point lead early in the second. However, the Aggies (6-1) took control when their bench went on a scoring tear that the Irish couldn’t stop. Once the Aggies took their first lead since 1-0, they never gave it back. With the Irish piling up turnovers and being forced into tough offensive possessions, a win was not to be.

The Aggies received little scoring help from their starters, which makes this game’s outcome even more surprising. Quenton Jackson scored all but three of his 18 points in the second half and finished with an 8-of-11 shooting performance from the field. Hassan Diarra was just behind Jackson with 17 points as he was 7 of 11 from the free-throw line. Wade Taylor IV scored 14.

Dane Goodwin paced the Irish with 18 points and made all eight of his free throws. Prentiss Hubb scored 11 points but also committed a career-high eight turnovers. Paul Atkinson Jr. also scored 11, and Blake Wesley had 10 off the bench.

Notre Dame runs away from Chaminade in second half

The Irish are back on track.

Bumped to the losers bracket of the Maui Invitational, Notre Dame appeared to struggle to find motivation to beat Chaminade of Division II. At some points in the first half, it appeared the Silverswords might deal the Irish perhaps the most humiliating defeat in program history. Instead, the Irish came out hot after halftime and won, 90-64. They now will play Texas A&M in the fifth-place game of the tournament.

The Irish (3-1) led by as much as eight in the first half but later trailed by four after the Silverswords (2-2) went on a 7-0 run. A Blake Wesley layup as time expired in the frame put the Irish up three, and that tiny margin left everyone wonder what would happen in the second half. What happened was the Irish decided to quit messing around, and they scored 21 points to open the half as part of a 23-0 run that put the game out of reach. It allowed Mike Brey to empty his bench for the final couple of minutes.

All five Irish starters scored in double figures. They were led by Dane Goodwin, who had a game-high 17 points. Nate Laszewski achieved a double-double of 15 points and 15 rebounds. In another sign of what could be a great freshman season, Blake Wesley scored 14 points coming off the bench.

Notre Dame suffers first loss of season to St. Mary’s

Tough defeat for the Irish.

Notre Dame found itself playing in the best quarterfinal game at this year’s Maui Invitational in Las Vegas. With the Irish locked in a tight battle with St. Mary’s from the opening tip, it was inevitable that this game would come down to the wire. That’s exactly what happened, and it didn’t go the Irish’s way as they lost, 62-59. As a result, they fall into the losers bracket and will face Chaminade of Division II in their next game.

The Irish (2-1) held a 58-57 lead with under a minute to play when Dan Fotu hit a big 3-pointer to put the Gaels (5-0) back in front. Trey Wertz, who had made the free throws to give the Irish what turned out to be their final lead, then made a critical error when he stepped out of bounds on a drive.

After Tommy Kuhse missed the front end of a one-and-one, Cormac Ryan was fouled with seven seconds left. He split the free throws, forcing the Irish to foul Kuhse again. This time, Kuhse made both free throws, though the Irish still had a chance to send the game to overtime with a 3. Ryan was unable to hit a buzzer-beating shot from there, and that was it for the Irish’s Maui Invitational title hopes.

Fotu led all scorers with 22 points on 8-of-9 shooting over 22 minutes. Kuhse chipped in 14 points.

Ryan was the Irish’s top scorer with 16 points, including three 3-pointers. Paul Atkinson Jr. scored 13 on 6-of-9 shooting, and Dane Goodwin scored 10.

Everything we know following Oregon’s 73-49 win over Chaminade

The Ducks were able to dispatch Chaminade with a big second half and advance to the Maui Invitational semifinals.

It took Dana Altman’s Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team a little while to find their footing, but once they did, it was smooth sailing.

Coming off a huge loss to BYU, the Ducks rebounded nicely with an easy — win over Division II Chaminade 73-49. The Silverswords were able to hang in there for a half as they found themselves down just 29-22 at halftime. But then Oregon used their transition game and attacked the hoop a lot more in the second half to outscore Chaminade 44-27 in the final 20 minutes.

Altman also found out a big lineup consisting of some combination of Franck Kepnang, N’Faly Dante, Nathan Bittle, and Isaac Johnson can be effective. All four centers looked a lot more comfortable playing their game in just the fourth contest of the season.

How to watch, listen, stream No. 12 Oregon vs Chaminade in Maui Invitational

Oregon opens the Maui Invitational with “host” Chaminade in Las Vegas. This is how you can watch, listen or stream the game.

It may be the Maui Invitational, but the annual tournament will take place in Las Vegas due to pandemic restrictions. While it’s not the nice beaches of Hawai’i, Vegas is still a premier destination for any basketball tourney and the Ducks open up with “host” Chaminade.

The Division II Silverswords have a history of pulling off upsets in this event, so the Ducks need to be on guard in the first meeting between the two schools.

Assuming Oregon is able to defeat Chaminade, the Ducks will play the winner of the St. Mary’s/Notre Dame game Tuesday night.

The entire tournament will be televised on the ESPN family of networks.

Television: ESPNU, 6:00 p.m. PT
Play-by-Play: Dan Shulman
Analyst: Jay Bilas or
Play-by-Play: John Schriffen
Analyst: Cory Alexander

Radio: Eugene: KUJZ 95.3 FM | Portland: KFXX 1080 AM
Play-by-Play: Joey McMurry
Analyst: Jerry Allen

LIVE STREAM: fuboTV (try it free)

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COVID-19 restrictions move Maui Invitational to Las Vegas

No Hawaii experience for the Irish this year.

Players on teams invited to the annual Maui Invitational usually consider themselves lucky. They get to play basketball at a popular destination that not everyone has a chance to go to. That didn’t happen last year as COVID-19 relocated the event to Asheville, North Carolina. It won’t happen this year, either, as continued strict pandemic restrictions and protocols in Hawaii mean the tournament will be played in Las Vegas.

Over the summer, it was announced that Notre Dame will play in the tournament for the first time since winning it in 2017. Its opponent in the first round will be St. Mary’s. Depending on the result of the game, the Irish next will play the winner or loser of the game between Oregon and Chaminade. They will know which team awaits afterwards because they play the last game of the round.

While it’s disappointing that the Irish won’t get to go to Hawaii and Asheville is fine in its own right, Las Vegas is a nice alternative. Plus, Las Vegas is considered the “Ninth Island” because of its strong embracing of all things Hawaii. It will be a nice opportunity for Hawaiians on the mainland to attend the tournament for once.

Aloha, Irish! Notre Dame Headed Back to Hawaii in 2021

It’s not one that screams blue bloods as no Duke, North Carolina, Kansas or Kentucky will be playing but Oregon and Wisconsin have been strong programs both for sometime and Butler is always there to be a pain in, well, everyone’s rear end.

Notre Dame basketball will return to the Maui Invitational in the fall of 2021 according to a report from Jon Rothstein on Tuesday evening. It will be Notre Dame’s first trip back to Hawaii since winning the tournament in November of 2017.

Rothstein had the rest of the eight team list of Maui Invitational teams for 2021.

It’s not one that screams blue bloods as no Duke, North Carolina, Kansas or Kentucky will be playing but Oregon and Wisconsin have been strong programs both for sometime and Butler is always there to be a pain in, well, everyone’s rear end.

Get those plane tickets and hotels booked now, we’ve got Mike Brey in a t-shirt to go watch!