Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
One player for Notre Dame is on the list.
College basketball is entering the final full week of January. Not to worry about the games ending anytime soon though. We still have a long way to go this season, and there are many things to decide. There’s no sense in missing any of it.
Here are the leaders in the ACC right now:
No Notre Dame players.
College basketball is entering the final full week of January. Not to worry about the games ending anytime soon though. We still have a long way to go this season, and there are many things to decide. There’s no sense in missing any of it.
Here are the leaders in the ACC right now:
The Irish have enough to finish off the Cavs.
With Notre Dame being one of the better ACC teams, those that aren’t so great are gunning for them. While that doesn’t necessarily mean an opponent win, it’s a sign the Irish can’t think any game they play is in the bag at any time. They were reminded of that in an 86-76 win over host Virginia.
The Irish (13-3, 4-2) led by as much as 20 in the third quarter and entered the fourth in front by 17. But the Cavaliers (8-9, 0-6), looking for their first conference win, refused to quit and slowly chipped away until they cut the deficit to six late in the quarter. It didn’t help that the Irish didn’t make a field goal for over five minutes.
The last couple of minutes showed which team is better and thus more deserving of the win. [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] made a layup to put the Irish up eight with 1:12 to go. From there, the Irish made six free throws, and they had their third straight win.
[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] led all scorers with 28 points, and that included making all 12 of her free throws. One of those free throws made her the 43rd player in Irish history to score 1,000 career points. She briefly checked out late in the game after being shaken up on a physical play but returned before the contest ended.
Hidalgo scored 23 points, picked up six steals and finished one assist shy of a double-double. This was a historic game for her, too. Now with 91 steals, she broke [autotag]Skylar Diggins[/autotag]’ Irish record for steal by a freshman. This also was her ninth game with at least six steals and 14th game with at least 20 points, both of them program freshman records.
[autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] still wore a mask from the injury she suffered earlier in the month but continued to prove that she only needed to miss one game. She scored 14 points, came a rebound short of a double-double and blocked two shots.
The Irish also were resourceful once again, scoring 26 points off 23 Cavaliers turnovers.
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
No Notre Dame players.
The college basketball regular season might be half over but not the ACC season. No, we’re still getting warmed up, and the conference action continues to heat up with each passing game. The next couple of months promise to live up to the conference’s billing as one of the best in the country. You won’t want to miss it.
Here are the players to watch as of this moment:
No Notre Dame players.
ACC play officially is in full swing. Now, we’ll really get to see what the teams are made of as they start to play each other. As that happens, we’ll get to see which players stand out the most. It might be too early to distinguish that right now, but we at least have an idea.
Here’s who continues to stand out in the conference at the moment:
No Notre Dame players.
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Here are the ACC’s major statistical leaders as we begin 2024:
The Irish haven’t had many recent wins like the one against Virginia.
In a season that figures to have few true highlights, Notre Dame had one Saturday. Virginia entered Purcell Pavilion with a 10-2 record and having received votes in the most recent Top 25 poll. That didn’t matter to the young Irish because they crushed the Cavaliers, 76-54. If anyone tells you they saw that coming, they’re lying.
This wasn’t only an upset against a quality program and Micah Shrewsberry’s first ACC win. It represented a rarity for Notre Dame in recent years. The Cavaliers’ record coming into this game meant they were eight games above .500. Since the Irish last made consecutive NCAA Tournaments from 2015 to 2017, they have beaten opponents who were at least eight games above .500 coming in only seven times.
So forgive the Irish if they go a little over the top in celebrating this latest such instance. This doesn’t happen to them very much these days, so they definitely are cause for celebration every time. Here are the most recent of these occurrences:
Did anybody expect this?
Notre Dame began its real ACC schedule at home Saturday against Virginia, a program that has been receiving Top 25 votes. You would have been forgiven had you chosen to opt out of viewing this game. But if you had, you would have missed the Irish’s biggest win of the season. They never trailed in a 76-54 upset victory.
The Irish (6-7, 1-1) scored the game’s first 13 points, and nearly five minutes passed before the Cavaliers (10-3, 1-1) got on the board. From there, it was a perfect display of offensive and defensive execution. The Irish got good looks when they had the ball and frustrated the Cavaliers by staying in front of the ball and taking care of it when it was up for grabs. At halftime, they were shooting an obscene 69.6% from the field.
The second half began with the Cavaliers scoring seven unanswered points to cut the deficit to 10. After [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] called a timeout, the Irish got back on track and never allowed the game to get any closer than that. By the time they increased their lead to 20 with less than nine minutes to go, it was clear that there would be no collapse on their part.
[autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag] scored all 17 of his points in the first half, making all six of his field-goal attempts, including four from 3-point range, during that time. He was kept out of the scoring column in the second half but grabbed seven of his eight rebounds in that frame.
[autotag]Carey Booth[/autotag] also scored 17 and came within a rebound of a double-double. [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] also flirted with a double-double by picking up 15 points and a game-high eight assists. [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag] had 10 points and six boards. [autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag] briefly exited with an injury but returned to the game to record five rebounds and make his only shot attempt.
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
Guess who’s leading the way on behalf of Notre Dame?
First of all, we hope you have a very Merry Christmas. We appreciate everyone who comes to our site to read our content because we wouldn’t be here without your support. Whatever reason you have to come to this site, we hope you continue to do so for a long time to come.
Now that the holiday greetings are out of the way, let’s take a look at the ACC’s major statistical category leaders:
No Notre Dame players.
First of all, we hope you have a very Merry Christmas. We appreciate everyone who comes to our site to read our content because we wouldn’t be here without your support. Whatever reason you have to come to this site, we hope you continue to do so for a long time to come.
Now that the holiday greetings are out of the way, let’s take a look at the ACC’s major statistical category leaders:
