Pat Connaughton became the 56th player in Notre Dame history to break 1,000 career points in Friday’s season opener. The Irish beat Binghamton, 82-39. Pit file photo
[dropcap]D[/dropcap]uring a media timeout in the second half of Friday night’s season opener, Notre Dame fans cheered loudly at Purcell Pavilion as Pat Connaughton was announced as the 56th player in Irish history to break 1,000 career points.
The record-setting shot for Connaughton came just before the pause in action as he took a long-range shot to further put his team ahead in what would become a 82-39 rout of the Binghamton Bearcats.
“That’s amazing what a great man,” Irish coach Mike Brey said following the victory. “He is a flat out class act … He leads this team, his voice is the strongest in there and I know he plays with that. To score 1,000 points in a college career you got to be pretty darn efficient.”
Connaughton finished the night with a double-double, tallying 17 points and 10 rebounds. The 6’5″ senior from Arlington, Massachusetts was 6-for-9 in attempts, including 4-for-5 from long range and splitting free throws in his sole trip to the line. Nine of his rebounds were on the defensive side of the ball.
“I honestly wasn’t thinking about it too much,” Connaughton said of his performance. “I try and focused on the team and didn’t have it in my head. It’s cool to join all the great players that are also part of the 1,000 point club but it’s important to move forward from here.”
In addition to Connaughton, three other players scored in double digits. Zach Auguste led the team with 19 points while Jerian Grant had 14 and Demetrius Jackson finished with 10 points.
Auguste dominated inside the arc, shooting 7-of-11 on the night while completing 5-of-7 shots from the line. He finished with seven rebounds and one block that nearly smacked a courtside fan in the face.
“He’s playing at a nice pace, he’s out there with some guys who really know how to pass and he’s getting stuff, easy stuff,” Brey said about Auguste. “I thought he defended his body well on the rebounds and hitting the outlet. He’s playing confident and he’s slowed down this year, which helps.”
Grant contributed on both ends of the court, finishing with six defensive rebounds, five assists, five steals and one block. He made just one of his seven 3-point attempts but was shooting 6-of-13 overall on the night.
Notre Dame opened scoring 22 seconds into the game when Connaughton struck for the first time on the night but was answered quickly when Binghamton forward Nick Madray nailed a 3-pointer to give the Bearcats their sole lead of the game.
From that point, Notre Dame would go on a run that lasted 7:18 and put them up 20-3 before the Bearcats would sink a shot again. A personal foul allowed Willie Rodriguez to sink two from the line, but scoring would be slow for Binghamton throughout the night.
The Irish held a 41-23 advantage at the half and continued to surge forward through the remainder of the night. Auguste would sink three field goals followed by two three’s from Connaughton — which put him over 1,000 — to open up the first half.
During the opening two minutes of the second half, only Madray scored for his team while Notre Dame racked up those points.
Both teams would put in a number of guys from the bench, giving most, if not all, of their teams a chance to get minutes to open the season.
With the win, Brey earned his 400th career victory as a college basketball head coach.
“I was driving here today and I was remembering my first win against Washington College when I was at the University of Delaware in 1995,” said of the occasion. “I have had, between the University of Delaware and Notre Dame, really really good players, they make me look good and I’ve had great assistant coaches wherever I’ve been and this coaching staff has been tremendous.”
The triumphant win for Notre Dame was a heartbreaking loss for Binghamton (0-1) coach Tommy Dempsey.
“It was just a struggle,” he said. “There’s no way to come out now and try to find positives right now. I just told the guys this is our starting point. It feels terrible, but it’s a thirty-game season. If this is where we are to start the year, then we certainly have to get a lot better. I believe that we will, but we got our bell rung tonight and we have to respond and get back to practice and get better. We weren’t ready for this moment, but we’ll grow from it.”
Notre Dame (1-0) will host Navy (0-1) Sunday at 2 P.M. as the Irish look to continue building momentum early in the season. Notre Dame will host Coppin State (0-1) Wednesday at 7 P.M.
