Tag: Round of 32

Tale of the Tape: Team Stats – Notre Dame vs. Texas Tech

Which team’s strength will give?

Notre Dame will face Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament’s round of 32. In order to get to the Sweet 16, it surely would help to bring the 3-point shooting that seems to be getting better with each passing game. The Irish also continue to shoot well in general, so scoring from either the field or the free-throw line is coming easier for them all the time. As long as they play average defense, their game plan has a good chance of coming together.

The story of the Red Raiders is defense, defense and more defense. They are among the best in the country at it, and it’s at least a contributing factor for their high national rank in scoring margin. The question is whether it will be enough to counter the Irish’s hot shooting. Something will have to give, but from an outsider’s point of view, the Irish might be the team in more need of magic.

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No. 6 Texas vs. No. 3 Purdue: Stream, broadcast info for Sunday

Texas and Purdue will battle it out with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.

No. 6 Texas took down No. 11 Virginia Tech in the first round of the NCAA tournament behind a valiant second-half performance.

Each Texas starter finished the game in double digits leading Texas to its first March Madness victory in eight years.

The win sets the Longhorns up with a round of 32 matchup against No. 3 seeded Purdue. The Boilermakers are led by the dangerous duo of Jaden Ivey and Zach Edey. The two combined for 38 points in Purdue’s dismantling of Yale in the first round.

Courtney Ramey will likely be tasked to slow down Ivey while it will take a strong effort from the entire Texas frontcourt to keep Edey in check.

Here is how to tune in as the Longhorns and Boilermakers play for a spot in the Sweet 16 on Sunday.

The officiating in UNC’s meltdown against Baylor was horrendous and the internet didn’t hold back

These refs were just bad.

After North Carolina’s strong finish to the season and first-round beatdown of Marquette in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Tar Heels were a sneaky good value pick to upset the East region’s top seed Baylor on Saturday.

At the very least, they could cover a 5.5-point spread.

Once the game got under way, not only did North Carolina look primed to cover, the game was trending in the direction of its 32-point win over Marquette. UNC led by 25 with 10 minutes left and appeared to be on its way to an easy win before a questionable flagrant foul that got forward Brady Manek — their leading scorer at the time — ejected. More questionable calls from the refs and a big foul discrepancy followed and UNC fell apart.

Baylor came all the way back to force overtime and the reaction on social media was all aimed in the direction of the refs.

Although North Carolina pulled through for the win in overtime, 93-86, the team certainly didn’t help itself with poor inbounding, execution advancing the ball against the press, free throw shooting or just dealing with late-game pressure in general. But there’s no doubt UNC was fighting poor officiating in addition to Baylor in this one.

That’s unfortunate at this stage of the season with the stakes so high.

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Cormac Ryan carries Notre Dame past Alabama in NCAA Tournament

The season continues!

When Cormac Ryan began his collegiate career at Stanford, he never could have envisioned where he would be in a few years. He certainly couldn’t have anticipated playing the starring role for Notre Dame in an NCAA Tournament game. But that’s exactly what happened as he poured in a career-high 29 points to lead the Irish to a 78-64 win over Alabama. That gives the Irish a spot in the Round of 32 and a date with third-seeded Texas Tech.

The Irish (24-10) played a back-and-forth first half with the Crimson Tide (19-14) and took a five-point lead into the break. Just beyond the midway point of the second half, that lead grew to 14 thanks to the Irish making some timely baskets and not allowing many second chances. Consequently, the Tide never got closer than eight the rest of the way, though they were dealing with an early game-ending injury to Jahvon Quinerly, their second-best scorer and assists leader. While the Irish certainly would have preferred to beat a Tide team that was fully healthy, that doesn’t always happen.

Not only did Ryan play the best game of his career, but he did it at the most opportune time possible. His scoring total is a program record for an NCAA Tournament game, as are his seven 3-pointers. Since being reinserted into the starting lineup in February, he now is averaging 13.8 points a game. Him emerging as a player who leads by example on the court is a development few could have expected, but who’s complaining?

Equally lethal was the duo of Blake Wesley and Paul Atkinson Jr., who combined for 31 points and seven steals. Atkinson also led the Irish with eight rebounds, and Wesley had a couple of fast breaks off steals for easy buckets in the second half. Off the bench, Nate Laszewski scored 10.

If all those details are boring to you, you can just watch this:

And don’t forget about a few words from Mike Brey:

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame ready to battle Alabama in NCAA Tournament

Hopefully, the basketball team fares better against the Tide than the football team.

All too often over the past decade, we’ve heard that Notre Dame never can beat Alabama in football. That’s because they’ve been correct, and those can’t stand the Irish will blurt that out for all the world to hear. However, they haven’t said anything about basketball, and the Irish can write a new narrative when these programs meet in the Round of 64 in the NCAA Tournament.

These programs last played each other at Walt Disney World in November 2015, and the Crimson Tide’s 74-73 win cut the Irish’s all-time lead in the series to 3-2. Now, they’ll be playing on the other side of the country in San Diego. The winner of this game will advance to play either Texas Tech or Montana State in the Round of 32.

Can the Irish count on another big game from Paul Atkinson Jr.? His 26 points, which included the game-winning putback in the First Four against Rutgers, set a record for the highest scoring total in a player’s debut NCAA Tournament game with the program. Or maybe the Irish should look to Cormac Ryan and his 12.3 scoring average since joining the starting lineup in February. It really doesn’t matter who steps up as long as the Irish are ahead when the clock hits zero.

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

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Notre Dame volleyball wins first-round match of NCAA Tournament

The Irish are moving on in the NCAA Tournament.

Notre Dame has advanced in the NCAA Tournament after defeating Army in four sets, 23-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-11, in the first round. This is the 12th time the Irish (15-3) have made it to the Round of 32 in their history, and they did it in their first-ever meeting with the Black Knights. They will continue their tournament stay Thursday against Oregon (14-4), which swept the Irish in the teams’ only previous meeting Oct. 20, 1985.

Among the key contributors for Notre Dame were Charley Niego with 12 kills and 11 digs, Caroline Meuth with 10 kills and five blocks, and Zoe Nunez with 30 assists, 12 digs and three of the team’s season-high 10 service aces. The Irish got a match-high eight blocks apiece from Hannah Thompson and Lauren Wenzel. Hattie Monson contributed 14 digs.

If the Irish defeat the Ducks, it will mean the seventh Sweet 16 trip in program history. They now have won four matches in a row and six of their past seven.