Tag: Southern Utah

Notre Dame knocks out Kent State to begin NCAA Tournament

One down, five to go.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A No. 2 seed never had lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Notre Dame had no intention of becoming the first team to do that as it battled Kent State at Purcell Pavilion. With most of the crowd backing them, the Irish held a comfortable lead almost the entire game and advanced to the second round with an 81-67 victory.

BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY’s NCAA tournament bracket contest, create a pool and invite your friends!

Unlike last year’s first-round game against Southern Utah that pretty much was decided from the opening tip, the Irish (27-6) allowed the Golden Flashes (21-11) to score the first basket of this game and even keep the lead for the first three-and-a-half minutes. But the Irish were finished with generosity after that and proceeded to score 18 unanswered points with sound offense and forcing tough shots on defense.

The Irish mostly coasted from there, leading by as much as 21. There was a brief scare in the fourth quarter when the Flashes cut that lead to 12, but it was a passing threat at best. This wasn’t going to be anything but an Irish victory, especially with them scoring 23 points off 16 Flashes turnovers.

[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] was by far the Irish’s best player with a game-high 29 points. Several of her buckets came on passes from [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag], who achieved a double-double in her first NCAA Tournament game of 14 points and 11 assists despite shooting only 5 of 14 from the field. She also had six steals, five of them coming in the third quarter.

[autotag]Anna DeWolfe[/autotag] scored 10 of her 12 points in the first half, providing an early offensive spark along with Citron. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] flirted with her own double-double with nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

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Watch: Notre Dame’s Sarah Cernugel announced as scholarship player

Congrats, Sarah!

Few videos are more heartwarming in college sports than a coach announcing a walk-on is getting a full scholarship. The coach makes the announcement, often to the surprise of the player, and the rest of the players celebrate their teammate’s good news.

This happened to Notre Dame guard [autotag]Sarah Cernugel[/autotag]. Take a look at [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] making the announcement and her tweet congratulating her newest scholarship player:

Cernugel saw limited action in her first two collegiate seasons. Other than a seven-minute appearance early in her first season, she hasn’t seen more than three minutes of action in any game. In 39 minutes, she has shot 3 of 14 from the field for six points. In the Irish’s NCAA Tournament win over Southern Utah this past season, she recorded her first collegiate steal and block.

Here’s hoping Cernugel’s next two seasons provide her with more opportunities as a scholarship player.

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30 Most Important Bears of 2023: No. 3 Braxton Jones

Our No. 3 Most Important Bear of 2023 is Braxton Jones, who surprised everyone as a rookie but now needs to show he’s a franchise tackle.

The Chicago Bears are gearing up for the 2023 NFL season, which features plenty of new and returning faces within the organization. There are a number of players, coaches and front office members that are crucial to the team’s success this season.

Every day from now until the start of training camp, we’re counting down our 30 Most Important Bears for the 2023 season. We’ll recap their 2022 season, look ahead to 2023 and tackle the biggest question facing them this year.

At No. 3 is offensive tackle Braxton Jones, a pleasant surprise from 2022 who has big expectations going into this season.

Niele Ivey speaks ahead of Notre Dame’s second-round NCAA tourney game

How do you feel after reading these quotes from the coach?

SOUTH BEND – As a player, [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] experienced what Purcell Pavilion is like when it hosts the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Now as the coach at Notre Dame, she knows what it’s like from the sidelines. The Irish’s first-round win over Southern Utah confirmed what she knew about the warm atmosphere the program’s fans provide. She’ll get to experience it again in the second round against Mississippi State.

While she still was reveling about the win over the Thunderbirds, she has another tournament game to prepare for. She knows what the Bulldogs will bring, and it’s her responsibility to relay that information to her team. She did that during practice the day before the Irish’s next test, and she then relayed her thoughts to assembled media during a news conference afterwards. While she obviously wouldn’t give away her exact strategy, she showed she’s been paying attention to the Bulldogs’ game.

Here is what she said during her post-practice news conference:

Prosper, Watson speak ahead of Notre Dame second-round tournament game

How big of a role will these two play in their next tournament game?

SOUTH BEND – Two Notre Dame players on the opposite ends of the spectrum but also similar are [autotag]Cassandre Prosper[/autotag] and [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag]. Prosper enrolled early at the university and didn’t join the team until after the season already had begun. Watson is new to the Irish, too, but she already had two years at Oregon under her belt. She went to the NCAA Tournament in both of those years, and this is new for freshman Prosper.

In the Irish’s first-round win over Southern Utah, Watson shot a perfect 6 of 6 from the field for 12 points before fouling out. Prosper came off the bench and tied for the game high of 10 rebounds. Now, they will look to have similarly good games against Mississippi State in the second round. They recognize it will be more of a challenge, but that’s expected come tournament time.

Here is what they told the assembled media the day before their next win-or-go-home:

Tale of the Tape: Individual Leaders – Notre Dame vs. Mississippi St.

Does this chart make you nervous for the second round?

SOUTH BEND – Notre Dame only needs to take one look at Mississippi State’s leaders and realize where it stands, at least on paper. Once again, the Irish find themselves on the short end of a few areas in part because of the absences of [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] and [autotag]Dara Mabrey[/autotag]. At least the win over Southern Utah put a couple of new names on the Irish’s leaderboard.

A lot of what the Irish do runs through the guard position while the Bulldogs seem to have more of a threat in the middle. But as we saw in the first-round win, the the Irish can force their will at the rim, too. Perhaps they will take the Bulldogs’ game and throw it right back in their faces. We’ve seen them win games in a variety of ways all season, so nobody can rule anything out, which is appropriate for the NCAA Tournament.

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Tale of the Tape: Team Stats – Notre Dame vs. Mississippi State

This opponent will present a little more of a challenge than Southern Utah.

SOUTH BEND – It doesn’t need to be said, but the competition gets tougher as a team gets deeper into the NCAA Tournament. While Notre Dame only has gotten to the second round thus far, it will learn very quickly that Mississippi State offers a lot more that Southern Utah.

The Irish will face a Bulldogs team that knows how to defend and shoot the 3-pointer. It almost seems like the Bulldogs were too good to be stuck in the First Four.

While a tougher opponent might stand in the way of the tournament’s second weekend, the Irish are just a little better in areas in which the Bulldogs thrive. They’re one of the best in the country at winning the rebounding battle, and like against most teams, they hold the edge in both scoring and allowing points.

Still, this game could come down to who does a better job shooting the ball. That’s when March Madness really lives up to its name.

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Photos of Notre Dame first-round NCAA Tournament win vs. Southern Utah

Here’s how the game looked in case you missed it.

SOUTH BEND – Notre Dame never allowed Southern Utah to get into its first-round game of the NCAA Tournament. It took control faster than a bar fills up on St. Patrick’s Day. That 82-56 final was a perfect representation of how lopsided it was. None of the many Irish fans inside Purcell Pavilion could have asked for much more.

Maybe the dominance made it a boring game for TV viewers who aren’t Irish fans, but sometimes, boring is good. It shows that you’re just that good when everything comes together, even when your best player is out for the season. Sure, the injured [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] only was able to watch in street clothes from the bench, but she surely knew deep down already that this team is good with or without her. The question now is how far it can go with both her and [autotag]Dara Mabrey[/autotag] out of action.

Here are some photos from a solid victory:

Niele Ivey, Maddy Westbeld, Lauren Ebo speak after NCAA Tournament win

What are your thoughts after this win?

SOUTH BEND – Notre Dame has to be feeling confident after knocking Southern Utah out of the NCAA Tournament, 82-56, in the first round. The Irish let the Thunderbirds know early and often that this game that was being played in their house would be played on their terms.

Whenever the Thunderbirds showed the slightest chance of coming back – and it was very slight – the Irish doubled down on both ends of the floor. It was such a blowout that little-used [autotag]Sarah Cernugel[/autotag] entered the game near its conclusion. The Purcell Pavilion definitely would have exploded had she made either of her two field-goal attempts, one which came from 3-point range. Alas, she remains scoreless for the season except for her lone basket Dec. 10 against Merrimack.

Cernguel was one of several people [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] talked about in her postgame news conference. She was joined by top scorer [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] (20 points) and dominant veteran big [autotag]Lauren Ebo[/autotag] (14 points, 10 rebounds). Here’s what they had to say:

Notre Dame dominates Southern Utah in first-round NCAA Tournament game

Can’t start the tournament any better than that.

SOUTH BEND – It was understandable if anyone was having doubts about Notre Dame after [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] was lost for the season. However, those same people might have forgotten one thing: The Irish still have some pretty darn good basketball players. That was on full display in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Southern Utah. In front of a mainly partisan crowd at Purcell Pavilion, the Irish owned the Thunderbirds throughout an 82-56 victory.

This game practically was over from the beginning as the Irish (26-5) rattled off 16 unanswered points at the start. Their offense found easy baskets almost at will, and their defense was as smothering as it’s been all season. The Thunderbirds (23-10) couldn’t respond with anything better than a 7-0 run. While they proved capable of being a tournament team at times, the Irish quickly erased those moments and asserted their authority as a third seed.

[autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] was the Irish’s dominant offensive force, scoring 20 points on 9-of-17 shooting. [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] also picked up Miles’ slack with 14 points, six points and three steals. [autotag]Lauren Ebo[/autotag], playing in her first tournament game for the Irish but not her collegiate career, showed her experience with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds. [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag] shot a perfect 6 of 6 for 12 points to go with seven rebounds, [autotag]KK Bransford[/autotag] finished with nine points and eight boards, and [autotag]Cassandre Prosper[/autotag] grabbed 10 of her own rebounds.

Given all of that, it should be no surprise that the Irish held a 53-25 rebounding advantage and a 50-18 edge in points in the paint, not to mention winning the second-chance points battle, 14-4. It’s unlikely every tournament game will be this easy, especially at the rim, but that didn’t make this win any less of a thrill. It’s why the Irish will play one final home contest this season with a trip to Greenville Regional 1 on the line.

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