Tag: Pat Connaughton

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: ’13-14 Irish Blow it Open vs. ’17-18 Irish

The 2013-14 Irish made it a clean sweep for lower seeds in the first round, beating the 2017-18 Irish, 78-66.

In the first game of our Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament in which no player was on both teams, the 2013-14 Irish made it a clean sweep for lower seeds in the first round, beating the 2017-18 Irish, 78-66. This was the first game in the tournament that was void of any drama. As a result, we’ll get our second game in this tournament featuring teams from back-to-back years when the victors in this game play the 2012-13 Irish in the second round.

The only lead for the ’17-18 Irish came when the score was 4-2. After it was tied at 6, the ’13-14 Irish scored 12 unanswered points and never relinquished the lead. The ’17-18 Irish never got closer than six the rest of the first half, and the deficit was double digits for most of the second.

Garrick Sherman dominated this game with 17 points and 16 rebounds, adding to the six double-doubles he achieved during the ’13-14 season. Pat Connaughton came within a couple of boards of joining him with 13 and eight. Zach Auguste scored 10 points, and Eric Atkins was balanced across the stats sheet with seven points, seven rebounds and a game-high eight assists.

Bonzie Colson was similarly dominant for the ’17-18 Irish as he achieved a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds. T.J. Gibbs scored 13 points to go with six assists, and Rex Pflueger scored 12. However, the bench let the team down as it was outscored, 26-9.

Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament: No. 14 Seed – 2013-14 Irish

For the first 13 years under Mike Brey, Notre Dame never missed out on either the NCAA tournament or the NIT.

For the first 13 years under Mike Brey, Notre Dame never missed out on either the NCAA tournament or the NIT. With that kind of record, Brey’s luck was due to run out at some point. It came during the 2013-14 season, the Irish’s first in the ACC.

Even before the growing pains of playing in a new conference began, the Irish started 9-4, which is a step down compared to the other teams we’ve previewed so far, and lost leading scorer Jerian Grant for the season after he was declared academically ineligible. Things momentarily looked up after they squeaked by Jabari Parker and Duke in their first ACC contest. However, it was all downhill after that, and they finished 15-17. It was the first time they had ended with a record below .500 and missed out on a postseason tournament in 15 years.

Without Grant and the 19.0 scoring average he achieved before being forced to leave the team, the Irish struggled to find another go-to player. Eric Atkins, Pat Connaughton and Garrick Sherman all averaged between 13.5 and 13.9 points a game, which made for good balance. However, there was a big drop-off after that, and the results were predictable. Fortunately for the Irish, their best days in years lay straight ahead.

John Mooney Reps Notre Dame on All-ACC First Team

Notre Dame is hoping against hope that it can win the ACC tournament and punch a ticket to the Big Dance.

Notre Dame is hoping against hope that it can win the ACC tournament and punch a ticket to the Big Dance. For the moment, however, it can celebrate the most reliable member of its program.

John Mooney has been named to this year’s All-ACC First Team, joining Bonzie Colson (2015) and Jerian Grant (2017) as the only student-athletes to earn that honor since the Irish joined the conference. He’s also the second Irish player after Pat Connaughton to make an all-conference team in consecutive seasons. Seventeen Notre Dame players have made all-conference between the ACC and Big East.

During the regular season, Mooney averaged 16.5 points and a conference-high 12.8 rebounds a game while achieving a record 16 double-doubles in 20 ACC games. He received 351 votes for the all-conference team, the third-highest total for anyone. He also finished third in voting for ACC Player of the Year. That honor went to fellow all-conference first-team member Tre Jones of Duke.

Notre Dame Basketball: Time to See the Seminoles

The Irish will play their final two regular-season games at the Purcell Pavilion, starting Wednesday against No. 7 Florida State.

With Notre Dame’s NCAA tournament hopes dashed short of an ACC tournament title, the only thing left is to see if it can finish strongly enough to get a home game in the NIT or one of the other lesser postseasons college basketball decided needed to exist. The Irish (18-11, 9-9) will play their final two regular-season games at the Purcell Pavilion, starting Wednesday against No. 7 Florida State (24-5, 11-4). Revenge will be on their mind after a one-point loss Jan. 25 in Tallahassee.

History stands to be made during this homestand. By playing in both games, Rex Pflueger will break Pat Connaughton’s record for most appearances in program history (139). Pflueger also is seven steals away from 150 this season, which would make him the fourth Notre Dame player with 700 points, 400 rebounds, 300 assists and 150 steals. Meanwhile, John Mooney needs two double-doubles to pass Luke Harangody for the single-season record (25) and to match Bob Whitmore for third on the career list (47).

All-Star Saturday: The best pictures

All-Star Saturday: The best pictures

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Pat Connaughton Competes in Controversial Dunk Contest

The dunk contest during this year’s NBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago will go down in infamy. A fantastic duel between the Miami Heat’s Derrick Jones Jr. and the Orlando Magic’s Aaron Gordon was ruined by questionable judging decisions in the final …

The dunk contest during this year’s NBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago will go down in infamy. A fantastic duel between the Miami Heat’s Derrick Jones Jr. and the Orlando Magic’s Aaron Gordon was ruined by questionable judging decisions in the final tiebreaking dunk-off. The debate as to who should have won this will live for years.

But before the panel of Dwyane Wade, Common, Candace Parker, Chadwick Bosman and Scottie Pippen made its biggest blunder of the night, it made one that served as a precursor to what eventually happened. Notre Dame legend Pat Connaughton, now with the Milwaukee Bucks, didn’t make it out of the first round even though a strong case could be made for it.

This first dunk, for which Connaughton was dressed in “White Men Can’t Jump” garb and Milwaukee Brewers star Christian Yelich was involved, only netted him a 45, but tell me this shouldn’t have been a 50:

Connaughton’s second dunk involved teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo. He got a 50 this time, but it wasn’t enough to escape the undeserved low score of the first dunk.

Oh, and perhaps in the ultimate show of disrespect, DJ Khaled, who was tasked with introducing the participants, admitted to the whole world he couldn’t pronounce Connaughton’s last name, even though he should have had more than enough time to learn beforehand.

Oh well. Enter the contest again next year, Pat. Maybe things will go a lot better.

Notre Dame/Virginia Basketball: Five Numbers to Know

Notre Dame is still pretty far from serious NCAA Tournament consideration this March but a win over bubble team Virginia would certainly be a nice step Tuesday night.

Notre Dame has won four straight games as their ACC record has gone from just 2-6 to a much more respectable 6-6.  Things get tougher starting tonight though as Mike Brey and the Fighting Irish are in Charlottesville, Virginia to take on the defending national champions.

Notre Dame is still pretty far from serious NCAA Tournament consideration this March but a win over bubble team Virginia would certainly be a nice step Tuesday night.

With that preface, here are five numbers to be aware of heading into tonight’s Notre Dame vs. Virginia match-up.

Five Numbers:

1 – That’s the number of ACC teams who are scheduled to play three conference road games in a seven day stretch that season.  Which team is it, you ask?  Notre Dame as game two of three (at Duke, Saturday) takes place tonight.

2 – The number of wins Notre Dame has all-time in basketball against Virginia.  It leaves a lot to be desired seeing as the Cavaliers have taken 12 versus the Fighting Irish.

4 – Where Mr. Double-Double, John Mooney could be by the end of this evening in total rebounds by any Notre Dame player during the Mike Brey era.  His 815 are the sixth most for any Notre Dame player since Brey took over and with nine or more this evening he’ll pass both Zach Auguste (822) and Pat Connaughton (823) on the all-time list.

6 – Where Notre Dame enters Tuesday night’s contest ranked nationally in terms of assists per game.  Their 17.2 assists per night are the best in the ACC.  For comparison, Virginia is averaging 11.2 per game.

19.4 – That’s the amount of points per game more that Notre Dame scores than Virginia (76.2-56.8).  However, the Cavaliers also allow just 51.7 to Notre Dame’s 68.4 and have found success in their ways with a 15-7 overall record and 7-5 ACC mark.

Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. ET from Charlottesville, Virginia and can be seen on ESPN 2.

Report: Pat Connaughton To Participate in NBA Slam Dunk Contest

Pat Connaughton of the Milwaukee Bucks will be participating in the annual Slam Dunk Contest

Notre Dame may only currently have one player on an active NBA roster but that one player will be in the spotlight this coming All-Star Weekend as Pat Connaughton of the Milwaukee Bucks will be participating in the annual Slam Dunk Contest.

Shams Charania of The Athletic released that news on Monday:

A few of the responses are incredibly predictable:

LMFAOOO TRASH

You gotta be kidding me lol

white men can’t jump lmao

What?

Huh

Those that watched him at Notre Dame remember his athleticism but in case you’ve forgotten, here’s some of his best from 2018-2019:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjEDre8tyQY&w=560&h=315]

Connaughton averages 17.8 minutes per game for the league-best, 42-7 Bucks.  He’s averaged 4.9 points per game this season and over four rebounds per outing.

Watch: Pat Connaughton Posterizes the Chicago Bulls

What you need to know is that the owners of the best record in the NBA right now are the team that employs that one former Notre Dame cager.

Coincidence?

I think not.

You may or may not be aware that there is currently one former Notre Dame basketball player on an active NBA roster.

What you need to know is that the owners of the best record in the NBA right now are the team that employs that one former Notre Dame cager.

Coincidence?

I think not.

Pat Connaughton was an absolute beast for Mike Brey’s Fighting Irish, starting the second half of the season his freshman year and never looking back.

As you remember he was a very-key piece on the 2014-15 ACC Tournament Champion team that went to the Elite Eight and nearly knocked off unbeaten Kentucky and with a Final Four bid on the line.

Connaughton decided to follow the NBA route after the Portland Trail Blazers drafted him in 2015, opting for basketball instead of baseball where the Baltimore Orioles selected him previously as a pitcher.

Connaughton is still in the league and playing for the Milwaukee Bucks where he’s averaging over 17 minutes per game this season.

His biggest highlight to date in a Bucks uniform came Monday night as he did his best Vince Carter impression against the Chicago Bulls.

The Bucks wound up winning the contest 123-102 to improve their league-best record to 30-5.