Tag: Charlottesville

Notre Dame not much of a threat to Virginia in loss

Another dull loss for the Irish.

It would have been nice to see Notre Dame sweep the season series with Virginia. But unlike the first meeting a month ago, Wednesday’s game was in Charlottesville, which alone made it a tall order. Also, the Cavaliers were prepared for the Irish this time and won, 65-53.

The Irish (7-14, 2-8) never led in this game, but they never trailed the Cavaliers (16-5, 7-3) by more than 16, indicating that they could make a run anytime. But they never scored more than four unanswered points and were routinely bullied by a strong defense from the Cavaliers, who scored 20 points off 18 Irish turnovers.

The Cavaliers also made a season-high 13 3-pointers, a far cry from when they tied their season low with two in South Bend. So while the Irish hung around, few if any felt they were going to complete the season sweep. They proved their inexperience yet again in this game by looking completely outmatched. Plus, the moment was just too big for them.

Reece Beekman led the Cavaliers with 21 points. He also had six assists and four steals, showing why he’s the ACC leader in those two categories. Isaac McKneely scored nine of his 11 points on three 3-pointers to prove that he leads the conference in 3-point shooting. Off the bench, Jacob Groves got all 18 of his points on a career-high six 3s.

[autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] paced the Irish with 17 points. [autotag]Braeden Shrewsberry[/autotag] came off the bench and scored 16 points, including four 3s.

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2022 ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchups announced

Besides the one involving the Irish, which game most interests you?

Few things draw more excitement during the early part of the college basketball season than the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Every team from one power conference matches up against one from the other. Whether the opponent is good or bad, it also is nice for these teams to see how well they do against a similar level of competition. It definitely is one of the major tuneups for when the conference schedule begins.

The 2022 matchups have been announced, and the ACC would like to change its luck. The conference won this series, which began in 1999, in each of its first 10 seasons. Since then, its only wins have come in 2016 and 2017, the latter of which saw it post a series-best 11-3 record. The Big Ten has had the upper hand in each of the past three years, so a changing of the guard is overdue.

Here are the matchups for this year’s edition:

ESPN releases Power Rankings through Week 11

No movement from the Irish in this week’s rankings.

With Virginia missing star quarterback Brennan Armstrong, Notre Dame rolled to an easy win in Charlottesville. By simply earning the victory, the Irish held steady in the latest ESPN Power Rankings. While some might have preferred that the win give ESPN cause to move the Irish up a spot, it still is nice to see the Irish still in the top 10. Here is the complete top 10 of the Power Rankings through Week 11: