Tag: Rex Pflueger

2016-17 Notre Dame teammates take in NBA playoff game

You just can’t break old teammates apart.

There was only one season in which the trio of [autotag]Rex Pflueger[/autotag], [autotag]John Mooney[/autotag] and [autotag]Matt Ryan[/autotag] played together at Notre Dame. That was the 2016-17 season, the last time the Irish made the NCAA Tournament before this past year. However, that was enough to make all of them good friends because Pflueger tweeted out this photo:

It appears the three were at Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics. The photos had to have been taken the day before these were posted because that series wasn’t in action the night of the tweet. Plus, you can see that the tweet was sent from California, so the conclusion is easy to come to.

It’s nice to see the strong brotherhood that college basketball provides on display. It always seemingly comes together after players have left their respective programs. No one at FTX Arena probably recognized them, but that’s probably how they wanted it. After all, it’s nice to watch basketball with your friends and not be bothered.

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

Watch: Notre Dame’s appearances in ‘One Shining Moment’

The Irish have made appearances in the annual NCAA Tournament montage.

When I was 14, I had the opportunity to visit the NCAA Hall of Champions during a family trip to Indianapolis. It was there when I was properly introduced to the annual video montage that has wrapped up TV coverage of every NCAA Tournament since 1987.

While I had seen “One Shining Moment” once before, I figured it was just a typical montage like any that played whenever the NBA Finals or World Series wrapped up. My discovery that this happened every year was my main takeaway from the museum that afternoon, and I’ve looked forward to it every year since.

Notre Dame has not appeared in “One Shining Moment” every year it has made the tournament since the montage began, but let’s not pretend it’s done something significant in every appearance. Case in point, the Irish were not featured prominently in any montage until the three straight years it qualified from 2015 to 2017, which included back-to-back Elite Eights. Take a look at all of them below:

2020 ACC Tournament Completion: Notre Dame barely falls to Duke in title game

The Irish lose a heartbreaker with the ACC’s automatic bid on the line.

This is the conclusion of a series in which we are simulating the remainder of the canceled 2020 ACC Tournament using the sports simulation tool WhatIfSports.com. For more information about the simulation, check out the introduction here. For the complete tournament results, refer to the bracket at the bottom of the post.

Notre Dame refused to back down to Duke in the 2020 ACC Tournament championship game, even when things looked bleak. In fact, it looked like the Irish might pull off an epic comeback and earn the ACC’s automatic bid to March Madness. Alas, it wasn’t to be, and the Blue Devils won their third ACC Tournament title in four years with an 83-81 victory.

The Irish initially staged a competitive first half before tailing off and falling behind by 16 at halftime. They trailed by 13 with seven minutes to go but went on a 14-2 run to cut the deficit to one after Cassius Stanley fouled out for Duke. Soon after, Rex Pflueger, no stranger to Notre Dame heroics, hit a jump shot to tie the game at 81 with 1:26 left. It appeared the Irish were poised to knock off their third straight higher seed.

Unfortunately for Notre Dame, it was at that moment when the offense ran out of gas. After Vernon Carey hit two free throws to give Duke a two-point lead, T.J. Gibbs missed a go-ahead 3, and Juwan Durham was way off-target on a shot that would have tied the game. John Mooney came up with a key block on Carey, giving the Irish one last chance with 14 seconds remaining. Dane Goodwin found an open shot on the right wing, but he missed as the buzzer sounded, breaking the Irish’s hearts and leaving them to hope the selection committee would be impressed enough by their resume and 21-13 record to grant them an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

All five Blue Devils starters reached double figures. Carey achieved a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, but Tre Jones’ 16 points and third straight nine-assist showing gave him Tournament MVP honors as those numbers aligned perfectly with his tournament averages over the three games he played. Stanley recorded 14 points and seven boards before his disqualification. Matthew Hurt scored 13, and Jordan Goldwire had 11.

Gibbs was the game’s top scorer with 22 points, including four 3-pointers. Pflueger scored 17 and led the Irish with five assists. Mooney had a trademark game of 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Goodwin scored 12 off the bench but undoubtedly cared more about his failure to send the game to overtime at the horn.

2020 ACC Tournament Completion: Notre Dame barely falls to Duke in title game

The Irish lose a heartbreaker with the ACC’s automatic bid on the line.

This is the conclusion of a series in which we are simulating the remainder of the canceled 2020 ACC Tournament using the sports simulation tool WhatIfSports.com. For more information about the simulation, check out the introduction here. For the complete tournament results, refer to the bracket at the bottom of the post.

Notre Dame refused to back down to Duke in the 2020 ACC Tournament championship game, even when things looked bleak. In fact, it looked like the Irish might pull off an epic comeback and earn the ACC’s automatic bid to March Madness. Alas, it wasn’t to be, and the Blue Devils won their third ACC Tournament title in four years with an 83-81 victory.

The Irish initially staged a competitive first half before tailing off and falling behind by 16 at halftime. They trailed by 13 with seven minutes to go but went on a 14-2 run to cut the deficit to one after Cassius Stanley fouled out for Duke. Soon after, Rex Pflueger, no stranger to Notre Dame heroics, hit a jump shot to tie the game at 81 with 1:26 left. It appeared the Irish were poised to knock off their third straight higher seed.

Unfortunately for Notre Dame, it was at that moment when the offense ran out of gas. After Vernon Carey hit two free throws to give Duke a two-point lead, T.J. Gibbs missed a go-ahead 3, and Juwan Durham was way off-target on a shot that would have tied the game. John Mooney came up with a key block on Carey, giving the Irish one last chance with 14 seconds remaining. Dane Goodwin found an open shot on the right wing, but he missed as the buzzer sounded, breaking the Irish’s hearts and leaving them to hope the selection committee would be impressed enough by their resume and 21-13 record to grant them an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

All five Blue Devils starters reached double figures. Carey achieved a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, but Tre Jones’ 16 points and third straight nine-assist showing gave him Tournament MVP honors as those numbers aligned perfectly with his tournament averages over the three games he played. Stanley recorded 14 points and seven boards before his disqualification. Matthew Hurt scored 13, and Jordan Goldwire had 11.

Gibbs was the game’s top scorer with 22 points, including four 3-pointers. Pflueger scored 17 and led the Irish with five assists. Mooney had a trademark game of 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Goodwin scored 12 off the bench but undoubtedly cared more about his failure to send the game to overtime at the horn.

2020 ACC Tournament Completion: Notre Dame knocks off Louisville

The Irish are going to the championship game!

Well. Notre Dame has put itself on the cusp of an unlikely ACC Tournament championship. It wasn’t all easy as the seventh-seeded Irish had to survive a scare from third-seeded Louisville in an 81-78 semifinal victory. Still, they will have a chance to avenge their 2017 title game loss to Duke when they face the Blue Devils for the 2020 title.

Notre Dame went on a 9-0 run beginning around the midway point of the first half and rode the momentum to a 17-point halftime lead. It held a double-digit lead as late as the 14:37 mark of the second half and an eight-point lead with 44 seconds left. Louisville then made 3-pointers on four consecutive possessions, but the Irish made enough free throws to stay in front as the time ticked away. The Cardinals had a chance to send the game to overtime in the final seconds, only for David Johnson to clank a 3 from straight away and give the Irish their second straight upset of the tournament.

T.J. Gibbs shot 6 of 15 from the field to lead Notre Dame with 17 points. John Mooney had 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Dane Goodwin came just short of a double-double with 12 points and nine boards, and Prentiss Hubb scored 12 to go with a game-high six assists. The Irish shot 90.9 percent from the free-throw line, which it needed to counter an abysmal 7-of-25 showing from beyond the arc.

For the Cardinals, Jordan Nwora missed a double-double by one rebound while leading all scorers with 22 points. Johnson had 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting and five assists off the bench. Malik Williams also shined for Louisville’s second unit with a double-double of 12 points and 10 boards. Steven Enoch fouled out with eight points in the final seconds, giving Rex Pflueger the opportunity to go up four, but Pflueger split his free throws, giving the Cardinals the aforementioned opportunity to tie.

2020 ACC Tournament Continuation: Notre Dame upsets Virginia at buzzer

The Irish take down the defending national champs in epic fashion!

Notre Dame might have gotten the 2020 ACC Tournament victory it needed to earn an at-large spot in March Madness, and in an epic way. Facing an uphill battle in the quarterfinals against No. 2 seed and defending national champion Virginia, the Irish needed everything they had to pull off the upset. It was enough to celebrate an 80-79 win in overtime.

Notre Dame set the tone for this game early, beginning it on a 12-2 run. Virginia rallied to tie the game at 17, but the Irish caught fire again, going on a 21-4 run to take a 17-point lead with two-and-a-half minutes left in the first half. That paved the way for a 10-point advantage. However, that was only the beginning.

The Irish continue to hold the lead during the second half, answering every Cavaliers run. They were up, 68-62, with 22 seconds left in regulation, but John Mooney missed the front end of a one-and-one, allowing Casey Morsell to cut it to 68-65 on a 3 with six seconds left. Dane Goodwin was fouled with three seconds remaining, but he also missed the first shot of a one-and-one. That allowed Mamadi Diakite to grab the rebound and launch a prayer from three-quarter court at the buzzer — and hit it, tying the score to force overtime and send the Greensboro Coliseum into a frenzy.

The teams traded leads in overtime and even were deadlocked a few times before Braxton Key made a 3 to give the Cavaliers a 79-76 lead with 39 seconds left. Mooney cut the deficit to 79-78 with a free-throw line jumper, then rebounded a missed one-and-one before clanking the go-ahead jumper and being forced to foul Kihei Clark with 10 seconds to go. Clark also missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Juwan Durham got the rebound. Durham had just enough time to go the length of the court, put up a finger roll and watch the ball go through the hoop as time expired, making his teammates and the Irish contingent of fans in attendance go absolutely bonkers.

Mooney was the big player for the Irish, leading them with 28 points, 14 rebounds and three steals. Prentiss Hubb scored 15 points, including three 3-pointers, and dished out seven assists. Durham flirted with a double-double with a line of 10 points and eight rebounds. Rex Pflueger established his own presence with 10 boards.

Diakite achieved a double-double of 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavaliers before fouling out in overtime. Jay Huff nearly joined the double-double club with 16 points and nine rebounds. Clark did the same in finishing with 11 points and a game-high nine assists, as did Key with nine points and 11 boards. Tomas Woldetensae scored 12 points, all of which came on 3-pointers.

Watch: Rex Pflueger’s game-winning tip in 2016 NCAA Tournament

Five years ago Saturday, one of Notre Dame’s most memorable NCAA Tournament moments took place.

Five years ago Saturday, one of Notre Dame’s most memorable NCAA Tournament moments took place. Needing a basket in the final seconds to avoid an embarrassing second-round loss to No. 14 seed Stephen F. Austin, the Irish did everything they could to get as close a shot as possible. Demetrius Jackson missed a layup, and Zach Auguste did the same with a putback attempt. Then came freshman Rex Pflueger, who averaged 2.3 points a game that season:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qerNHCMqL5s

As excited as much of the Barclays Center crowd was that Sunday afternoon, it was a particularly emotional moment for me. Ten years to the day, I lost my grandfather, a proud Notre Dame alumnus. He and my grandmother had football season tickets for several years, but I never heard him talk about the basketball program. Despite that, I couldn’t help but think he gave Pflueger a spiritual lift at the most opportune time.

Whatever the reason, the Irish road the momentum from Pflueger’s heroics to their second straight Elite Eight appearance. Pfleuger, of course, would go on to become a mainstay in the Irish’s starting lineup. Had COVID-19 not shut down the ACC Tournament during his final season, maybe he would have found one more bit of magic before riding off into the sunset. Still, he has his March Madness moment, and that never can be taken away.

 

Notre Dame Basketball Won’t Be Able to Gather This Summer

When Notre Dame’s president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins, announced that the university would open for the fall, moods everywhere brightened

When Notre Dame’s president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins, announced Monday that the university would open for the fall semester, albeit two weeks early and with no fall break, moods everywhere brightened. The announcement meant a possible light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel. Maybe football would go on as scheduled. Just about anything was possible now.

However, what won’t be possible is the Notre Dame basketball team’s annual summertime spent together. Though the university will open Aug. 10, the second summer school session was canceled. That means the Irish basketball players won’t be on campus over the summer for the first time since 1998, the last year of the John MacLeod era.

Though Mike Brey’s staff hopes the team can gather at some point in July, it would be nothing compared to the six weeks the Irish usually spend working and bonding together. While some teams might embrace having to go right at it when they’re finally able to gather again, this is an especially challenging time for Notre Dame. With John Mooney, Rex Pflueger and T.J. Gibbs all having graduated, the 2020-21 season represents a changing of the guard by way of the junior class leading the way. Now comes a challenge Prentiss Hubb, Nate Laszewski and Dane Goodwin couldn’t possibly have prepared for.

True college basketball fans love seeing videos of their team working out together and maybe even taking trips together over the summer. They serve as hype for the coming season at a time when college basketball is out of the spotlight. This year, the world has changed, and no one knows what will happen when the games return. Summer school or no summer school, it will be time to play before the Irish know it, and with everyone is eager to get back on that court and win, no opponent’s going to feel sorry for them if they’re ill-prepared this fall.

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 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.