Tag: D.J. Harvey

Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament: ’15-16 Irish Hold Off ’18-19 Irish

Was it possible for the lowest seed in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament to work its magic again in the second round?

Was it possible for the lowest seed in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament to work its magic again in the second round? It nearly happened, but the fates said enough was enough. The 2015-16 Irish held on for just long enough to defeat the 2018-19 Irish, 85-78.

John Mooney closed a back-and-forth first half with a buzzer beater to give the ’18-19 Irish a two-point halftime lead. In the second half, they held a five-point lead and briefly turned a four-point deficit into a one-point lead with five minutes to go. But the ’15-16 Irish followed that with a 9-0 run to go up by eight. Over the final minute-and-a-half, unlikely hero Austin Burgett hit a dagger 3-pointer, then made all eight of his free throws to seal the win, scoring 11 of his 14 points during that stretch.

Steve Vasturia led all scorers with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Zach Auguste scored 16 points, and V.J. Beachem had a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds. Demetrius Jackson coupled 10 points with six assists, and Bonzie Colson grabbed a game-high 14 boards.

Despite shooting 5 of 18 from the field, T.J. Gibbs led the ’18-19 Irish with 16 points. D.J. Harvey scored 15, and Mooney added another double-double to his resume with 12 points and rebounds apiece. Prentiss Hubb scored 11, and Nate Laszewski came off the bench with 10.

Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament: ’18-19 Irish Better Than ’19-20 Irish

Only two games into the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament, and the lower seeds already are 2-0.

Only two games into the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament, and the lower seeds already are 2-0. In this case, the 2018-19 Irish, the lowest seed in the field showed that perhaps, they could have had a better season than the most recent iteration of the Irish. They won the first-round matchup in which players basically played against each other, 80-71.

Despite the closeness of this game, the ’18-19 Irish never trailed in the first half and had a four-point lead at the break. Early in the second half, the ’19-20 John Mooney hit a shot to give his team a one-point lead, but the younger Mooney answered back with his own bucket 12 seconds later, and the ’18-19 Irish led the rest of the way. They went on a 13-4 run to break it open and ultimately grew their lead to 13. Though the ’19-20 Irish cut the deficit to five with just over a minute left, they made too many mistakes to give themselves a shot at late heroics.

Five players scored in double figures for the ’18-19 Irish, led by Mooney’s 20 points and 13 rebounds. Dane Goodwin paced the second unit with 13 points. D.J. Harvey and T.J. Gibbs put up 12 points apiece, and Prentiss Hubb had 10 while shooting all but one of his field-goal attempts from 3-point range.

The ’19-20 Irish were paced by Mooney, who had 22 points and 16 rebounds. Hubb wasn’t far behind with 17 points. This Irish team had fewer free-throw attempts (11) than free throws made by its opponent (16), and the number of free throws this Irish team made (seven) was the difference in the game.

Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament: No. 15 Seed – 2018-19 Irish

Notre Dame hasn’t had many lean seasons since Mike Brey took over, but as far as badness, the 2018-19 Irish take the cake.

Notre Dame hasn’t had many lean seasons since Mike Brey took over, but as far as badness, the 2018-19 Irish take the cake. That’s not to say they didn’t have the talent to compete, at least at the start of the season. The team was ravaged by injuries, particularly a torn ACL for Rex Pflueger, and that made it impossible for them to compete in a top-heavy ACC.

As is typical for them, the Irish had a good nonconference showing at 10-3. But with their depth suddenly thin, once conference play began, they never got anything going. Losing streaks of five and seven gave them an ACC record of 3-15, their worst conference showing since going 4-14 in their inaugural Big East campaign in 1995-96. They salvaged a win in the conference tournament over Georgia Tech before Louisville ended their season in the next round and brought their final overall record to 14-19, their worst since going 14-16 in John MacLeod’s last season in 1998-99.

In spite of the team’s troubles, John Mooney averaged a double-double with 14.1 points and 11.2 rebounds a game. T.J. Gibbs averaged 13.4 points a game, and D.J. Harvey had a scoring average of 10.7 in his final season with Notre Dame before transferring to Vanderbilt. In Pflueger’s absence, the Irish went through a revolving door for the fifth player in their starting lineup, which was consistent otherwise.

The Irish committed the fewest fouls in the country (455) and the third-fewest turnovers (306). Opponents realized they were facing a team that wasn’t going to beat itself, but they mostly won anyway.