Tag: Demetrius Jackson

Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament: ’06-07 Irish Topple ’14-15 Irish

In a Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament that’s had some surprises, perhaps the biggest one just happened.

In a Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament that’s had some surprises, perhaps the biggest one just happened. That surprise is the field’s top seed won’t play in the final. The fourth-seeded 2006-07 Irish convincingly upset the 2014-15 Irish, 97-83, in the first semifinal.

After falling behind by six early in the first half, the ’06-07 Irish went on a 10-0 and never trailed again. That first half saw the ’14-15 Irish cut a nine-point deficit to two before the ’06-07 Irish built their lead back up to 14, though they had to settle for an 11-point halftime lead after Jerian Grant hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer. In the second half, they led by as much as 19, and the ’14-15 Irish never got closer than nine. To say the least, this game played out in a way few could have expected not only in terms of the outcome, but also how it happened.

Russell Carter led all scorers and the ’06-07 Irish with 20 points. Luke Harangody had another quality game off the bench and scored 18 while shooting 8 of 11 from the field. Rob Kurz was 5 of 7 from the field and 6 of 7 from the free-throw line to score 16. Colin Falls scored 12, and Kyle McAlarney had 10 off the bench.

Demetrius Jackson paced the ’14-15 Irish with 19 points. Grant was close behind with 17 points while also dishing out a game-high eight assists. Steve Vasturia had 12, and Zach Auguste came close to a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds. Pat Connaughton was held in check with only nine points on 4-of-7 shooting.

Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament: ’07-08 Irish Squeak Past ’13-14 Irish

We no longer have a double-digit seed in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament, but oh Lord, was the last quarterfinal game exciting.

We no longer have a double-digit seed in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament, but oh Lord, was the last quarterfinal game exciting. There’s nothing more exciting than a Cinderella team giving a superior team all it can handle. In the end, the third-seeded 2007-08 Irish barely defeated the 14th-seeded 2013-14 Irish, 87-86, with a buzzer beater.

The ’13-14 Irish led by as much as 10 in the first half before the ’07-08 Irish bounced back and took a one-point halftime lead on a Luke Zeller 3-pointer at the buzzer. With just under seven minutes left in regulation, the ’07-08 Irish had built that lead up to 11, but a 15-3 run by the ’13-14 Irish put them up one with two-and-a-half minutes to go. They briefly lost the lead before going up four. A Kyle McAlarney 3 cut the lead to 82-81 going into the final minute.

Pat Connaughton got to the free-throw line with 18 seconds left and made two shots to give the ’13-14 Irish an 84-81 lead. Rob Kurz quickly tied it at 84 with a 3-pointer five seconds later. Connaughton put his team up two with an open fadeaway jumper with two seconds left. That was just enough time for Ryan Ayers to hit his only field goal of the game: a buzzer-beating 3 to send the ’07-08 Irish to the semifinals.

McAlarney led the ’07-08 Irish with 21 points, including five 3-pointers, and four steals. Kurz was just behind with 20 points while shooting 6 of 12 from the field and making all five of his free throws. Luke Harangody did his part with a double-double of 16 points and 15 rebounds.

Eric Atkins had 19 points, seven rebounds and a game-high eight assists for the ’13-14 Irish. Jerian Grant came off the bench and scored 18 on 7-of-9 shooting from the field. Connaughton scored 14, and Demetrius Jackson and Zach Auguste had 10 apiece.

Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament: No. 1 Seed – 2014-15 Irish

Now, we get to the heavy hitters in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament, beginning with the top seed.

Now, we get to the heavy hitters in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament, beginning with the top seed. The 2014-15 Irish represented the program’s second season in the ACC, but they made it clear to everyone that they intended to compete in perhaps the best conference in college basketball, not simply lay down for the likes of Duke, North Carolina and Syracuse. No one could deny it when this season was over.

En route to a 32-6 record, the program’s best since going 33-7 in 1908-09, the Irish jumped out to a 15-1 start and ended up winning 20 of their first 22 games, including eight of their first nine ACC games. That run ended with a four-point win over the No. 4 Blue Devils, at which point the Irish were ranked eighth, as high as they would get during the season. In spite of their 14-4 conference record, it only netted them a No. 3 seed in the ACC tournament. That didn’t matter, however, because the Irish squeezed out wins over Miami, Duke and North Carolina by an average of 8.3 points to win Mike Brey his first championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The close but meaningful games continued in March Madness. Seeded third in their region, the Irish needed everything to get by 14th-seeded Northeastern in a four-point first-round win, and the second-round win over in-state rival Butler required overtime. They breathed a little easier in an 11-point win over Wichita State in the Sweet Sixteen, setting up an Elite Eight matchup with Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Devin Booker and top-ranked Kentucky. The game was a classic, and the Irish would have made their first Final Four in 37 years had Jerian Grant not air-balled a corner 3 at the buzzer, giving the Wildcats a two-point victory.

Jerian Grant was named to the Consensus All-American First Team alongside Stein, Jahlil Okafor, D’Angelo Russell and Frank Kaminsky. He led the Irish with 16.5 points and 6.7 assists a game. Zach Auguste, Pat Connaughton and Demetrius Jackson all had scoring averages in the neighborhood of 12, and Steve Vasturia averaged 10.1 points a game. All of this made the Irish the second-best shooting team in the nation (50.9 percent), the third-best scoring team (2,963 points) and the ninth-best passing team (576).

Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament: ’13-14 Irish Get By ’12-13 Irish

A second Cinderella team has emerged in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament.

A second Cinderella team has emerged in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament. For the second time in the second round, a lower seed from the first round has advanced to the quarterfinals. In this case, the 14th-seeded 2013-14 Irish defeated the sixth-seeded 2012-13 Irish by the slimmest of margins, 70-69.

An omen made itself known when the ’13-14 Irish started the game 4 of 5 from the field to go up, 9-0. The ’12-13 Irish bounced back to take a five-point halftime lead, but the ’13-14 Irish had their own comeback and led by as much as 10 in the second half. Despite all that effort, they found themselves down, 69-66, with less than 50 seconds left.

Pat Connaughton made a close shot to bring the ’13-14 Irish within one. The ’12-13 version of Eric Atkins then lost the ball to Demetrius Jackson, giving the ’13-14 Irish a chance for the win. Garrick Sherman came up long on a shot, but Jackson got the offensive rebound, and soon after, the ’13-14 version of Atkins hit a pull-up jumper with four seconds left to give his team a one-point lead. After a timeout, the ’12-13 Irish inbounded at half-court got the ball to their version of Sherman, who missed a contested shot from the free-throw line, and that was the end of the closest game of the tournament so far.

Atkins led the ’13-14 Irish with 18 points. Connaughton scored 15, and Sherman came just short of a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. Jerian Grant scored 12, and Jackson dished out seven assists.

Atkins also was the leading scorer for the ’12-13 Irish with 17 points, and he also had a game-high eight assists. Jack Cooley had a double-double of 14 and 12, and this team’s version of Sherman scored 12 points off the bench.

Both teams had the exact same field-goal numbers at 28 of 63 (44.4 percent).

 

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: No. 7 Seed – 2015-16 Irish

It seems odd that a team that made the Elite Eight would be seeded so low in our Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament.

It seems odd that a team that made the Elite Eight would be seeded so low in our Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament, but that goes to show this team wasn’t expected to repeat what it did the year before. Yet somehow, it happened. The 2015-16 Irish finished the season 24-12. You never would have thought this team got on a roll when it counted the most.

The Irish never had a winning streak longer than four games, which resulted in an 11-7 ACC record. The highlight of the regular season was an 80-76 win over No. 2 North Carolina in South Bend, so at 16-7, all they had to do after that was tread water, and they’d make the NCAA tournament. They did just that, even securing a second-round bye in the conference tourney. What followed was a March Madness no one could have expected.

As a No. 6 seed, the Irish got to play 11th-seeded Michigan in the first round and needed a second-half comeback to earn a seven-point win. Against 14th-seeded Stephen F. Austin, they nearly fell a team threatening to make a deep Cinderella run but for Rex Pflueger’s thrilling last-second tip-in that gave them a one-point victory. They defeated Wisconsin by five in the Sweet Sixteen before the Tar Heels got their revenge from earlier in the season by dealing the Irish a 14-point loss. Having gotten that far, there was nothing to be ashamed of.

All five of Notre Dame’s regular starters finished with scoring averages in double digits, paced by 15.8 points a game from Demetrius Jackson, who also led the Irish with 4.7 assists a game. Zach Auguste averaged a double-double with 14.0 points and 10.7 rebounds a game. Rounding out the high scorers were V.J. Beachem (12.0), Steve Vasturia (11.4) and Bonzie Colson (11.1).

Notre Dame Viewing Tonight – 2015 ACC Basketball Tournament

Before the NCAA Tournament run came the ACC Tournament where Mike Brey’s Fighting Irish, led by Pat Connaughton, Bonzie Colson, Demetrius Jackson, Jerian Grant and a slew of others went from the first team eliminated in the 2014 tournament to champs a year later.

Got plans tonight?  Sorry for the late notice but this just popped into my feed and I wanted to share it because it should be a fun watch.

Five years ago Notre Dame’s Men’s Basketball team went on a run to the Elite Eight and came within one field goal of knocking off Kentucky and heading to the Final Four for what would have been just the second time in program history.

Before the NCAA Tournament run came the ACC Tournament where Mike Brey’s Fighting Irish, led by Pat Connaughton, Bonzie Colson, Demetrius Jackson, Jerian Grant and a slew of others went from the first team eliminated in the 2014 tournament to champs a year later.

The link takes you to the ACC Facebook page where the showing will begin tonight at 8 p.m. ET.  I’d be lying if I said I knew anything about what previously unseen footage will be shown or if some unknown stories will be shared but just going back to Mike Brey’s best season at Notre Dame should mean for a fun program tonight.