Tag: North Carolina

Notre Dame falls short in regular-season finale vs. Virginia Tech

The Irish made it interesting until the end.

After being crushed by North Carolina in its last game, Notre Dame hoped for a better showing at Virginia Tech to close the regular season. That was the case, and the possibility existed that the Irish might steal a second game from the Hokies this season. That wasn’t the case with the Irish losing, 82-76.

While the Irish (12-19, 7-13) never led in the second half, they kept the Hokies (18-13, 10-10) on their toes until the final minute, never trailing by more than seven after halftime. It wasn’t until a layup, steal and then another layup by Sean Padulla in the final minute to put the Hokies up six that this game essentially was decided.

Although [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] brought the Irish within three with a layup and free throw after that, little time remained, and the Hokies only had to make their free throws to with the Irish forced to foul, which they did.

A few things could have made this game turn out differently. The Hokies held a considerable 15-5 advantage in offensive rebounds and used that to outscore the Irish in second-chance opportunities, 17-8. They also blocked six shots while the Irish got only one of those from [autotag]Carey Booth[/autotag]. It was a hard lesson to be learned for sure.

Pedulla led all scorers with 28 points. MJ Collins had the best all-around game with 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. Off the bench, Tyler Nickel scored 15 points.

Burton scored 24 points, giving him 535 for the year and breaking [autotag]Troy Murphy[/autotag]’s Notre Dame freshman scoring record of 519. [autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag] scored 13 points, which included making all five of his free throws, and grabbed six rebounds. [autotag]Julian Roper II[/autotag] scored 11 off the bench, and [autotag]Braeden Shrewsberry[/autotag] added 10.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame annihilated by North Carolina in worst loss of season

Glad this one is over with.

North Carolina hopes to win a national championship, and it didn’t care how well Notre Dame played lately before Tuesday’s game. While the Irish weren’t expected to beat the Tar Heels, there was at least the hope that they could make it a game as they have every game for the past few weeks. Instead, the Tar Heels dealt the Irish their worst defeat of the season, 84-51, to clinch a share of the ACC regular-season title.

Even though the Irish (12-18, 7-12) never led, there was a brief moment in which it appeared they might actually go in front of the Tar Heels (24-6, 16-3). They kept it close during the first 11 minutes of the first half, culminating a potential go-ahead 3-pointer from Markus Burton. But Burton didn’t get the friendly roll, and the floodgates opened from there.

After Burton’s miss, the Tar Heels outscored the Irish, 23-9, before halftime. The break in the action did nothing for the Irish as the Tar Heels scored 16 unanswered points over the first five minutes of the second half. From there, it was just a big senior night party in Chapel Hill for the departing players who were playing their final home game.

Leading ACC scorer RJ Davis played his part with 22 points as well as a game-high six assists. Armando Bacot, the conference’s top rebounder, had 14 points and was one of four Tar Heels with five boards. Former Irish guard Cormac Ryan scored 14 of his own points, and two other Tar Heels off the bench also reached double figures.

[autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag] being the only Notre Dame player in double figures with 11 points said it all. Still, even if the Irish had made more than 18 field goals and shot better than 30.5% from the field, it’s unlikely they could have done much to stop the Tar Heels, who are on a level with the best teams in college basketball.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

ACC men’s basketball leaders as of March 3

No Notre Dame players on this list.

Well, we finally have reached March. The spotlight will shine bright on every team from here on out. But nowhere where the spotlight shine brighter than on the players most expected to lead their teams. That includes the ACC’s major statistical leaders, and you can find those players below:

Micah Shrewsberry speaks after Notre Dame wins home finale vs. Clemson

Hear from the coach.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] was in a great mood after Notre Dame beat Clemson, 69-62. How could he not after a  second straight win over a team headed to the NCAA Tournament? The team is playing a lot better than it was earlier in the year, which is impressive for a team that wasn’t expected to accomplish much.

Fighting Irish Wire was on hand to hear a relaxed Shrewsberry give his take on the game as well as the things that have happened this season. Given that there are no more games at Purcell Pavilion this season, the time felt appropriate to ask questions about the season itself. He seems to be settled in a lot more with where he is with his team and his place within the university.

Listed below are Shrewsberry’s opening statement and his answers to the questions he was asked by Fighting Irish Wire:

ACC men’s basketball leaders as of Feb. 18

No Notre Dame players.

The ACC is in its final few weeks before its tournament. If any team lying in the weeds is going to make a move, now is the time to get moving. Otherwise, they might as well just sit back and let the teams that deserve it more grab the best positions. Speaking of the best, here are the best statistical players in the conference:

Five Notre Dame Connections to celebrate Michael Jordan’s birthday

Happy birthday to a true GOAT

The greatest basketball player to ever walk the earth is turning 61 today as Michael Jordan celebrates his birthday (sorry Kyle Hamilton).  Jordan starred at North Carolina long before Notre Dame joined the ACC but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have connections to Notre Dame throughout his playing days.

Five of these connections were highlighted during the 2020 documentary series, “The Last Dance”.  For a kid growing up in the ’90s, that documentary was a great walk down memory lane and incredibly informative for stories about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty.

What connections to Notre Dame did that documentary have?  Let’s look back at just a few:

ACC men’s basketball leaders as of Feb. 11

No one from Notre Dame on this list.

We’ve reached the halfway point of February. That means teams only have a month left to build their NCAA Tournament resumes. If teams aren’t on track to make that tournament, they at least want to play strong over the next month. Here are the players most likely to help their teams do that:

Kliff Kingsbury’s addition doesn’t mean Commanders will go all-in on Caleb Williams

Kliff Kingsbury’s connection to another one of the top three 2024 QB prospects.

When the Washington Commanders hired Kliff Kingsbury as offensive coordinator last week, the natural assumption was this move was made to make a play for Caleb Williams.

Williams, the USC quarterback and presumed No. 1 overall pick, has a close relationship with Kingsbury. Once the news broke of Kingsbury’s hiring, Williams congratulated him on Instagram. Their relationship began after Kingsbury was fired by the Cardinals and took on the position of senior offensive analyst at USC for his good friend, Lincoln Riley.

Here’s the problem with the Kingsbury/Williams theory: The Commanders have no control over whether they can pair Kingsbury with Williams. The Chicago Bears hold the No. 1 overall pick. They are likely to select Williams, leaving the Commanders to choose between quarterbacks Drake Maye (North Carolina) and Jayden Daniels (LSU) — both phenomenal prospects, too.

So, while it makes for good podcast chatter, so much must happen for it to become a reality. In all likelihood, new Washington coach Dan Quinn wanted to hire the best offensive mind possible to develop a young quarterback, and Kingsbury’s reputation with quarterbacks is outstanding.

After Washington hired Kingsbury, it also added former Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson to a prominent role on staff. The Commanders also retained quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard, giving their young quarterbacks (a rookie and Sam Howell) multiple voices in 2024.

While Kingsbury doesn’t have a direct connection to Daniels — the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner — he does have one with Maye.

During Maye’s first two seasons at North Carolina, his offensive coordinator was Phil Longo — also Howell’s college offensive coordinator at UNC. Maye started two seasons, as he was Howell’s backup in 2021, and his best season was in 2022. That was Longo’s final season at North Carolina, as he left last offseason to be Luke Fickell’s new offensive coordinator at Wisconsin.

How does Longo figure into the mix with Kingsbury?

Longo was a high school coach in 1996 when he became fascinated with the Air Raid offense. So, one summer, he packed his bags and drove to Texas to learn from the offense from the great Mike Leach.

That was the start of a mentorship between Leach and Longo that lasted until Leach’s death in Dec. 2022.

Leach was also Kingsbury’s mentor, coaching him for three seasons at Texas Tech. Kingsbury broke numerous school and NCAA records while playing for Leach. It was during those trips to see Leach that Longo met Kingsbury.

In a story from Jesse Simonton for On3, he detailed Longo taking over as Wisconsin’s offensive coordinator last year. Longo talked about how he would talk offensive football and the Air Raid with Leach, Kingsbury and current Purdue offensive coordinator Graham Harrell every offseason until Leach passed away.

Around that same time, Kingsbury was fired as Arizona’s head coach.

“And then Kliff Kingsbury is the other one I love talking Xs and Os with and he’s was out galavanting around in Taiwan and overseas for a while,” Longo said last spring. “Neither one of them had been around as much at all, and it’s been a very quiet spring for me. It’s been so strange.”

Don’t you think Longo can offer Kingsbury some details on Maye — and Howell? Both have played in Longo’s version of the Air Raid.

This also doesn’t mean the Commanders will sell select Maye, either. But Kingsbury will have some inside intel on two of the top three quarterback prospects, and general manager Adam Peters will lean into Kingsbury’s evaluation of Daniels, too.

So, there are plenty of connections here. Right now, they mean nothing. If Washington somehow trades up for the No. 1 pick, then we have a different story.

 

ACC men’s basketball leaders as of Feb. 4

No Notre Dame players.

We’re getting into the first full week of February now. It doesn’t seem like we already should be at this stage of the season, but we are. It’s another reminder for ACC teams that haven’t made their moves yet that the clock continues to tick. If they don’t, they’ll be put in their place by players like these conference statistical leaders:

ACC men’s basketball leaders as of Jan. 28

No Notre Dame players.

We have reached the point in the season where the calendar flips to another month. The contenders and pretenders slowly are starting to distinguish themselves from each other. February will separate the pack even further. Until that happens, here are the major statistical leaders in the ACC: