Jerian Grant (22) charges the net past Grambling State defenders in Notre Dame’s 81-54 win Wednesday night. Photo/Damien Dennis
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ednesday night’s game was a quick one. It took less than two hours for Notre Dame to rout Grambling State, 81-54, a win the Irish needed after suffering their first loss of the year over the weekend.
“That had to be the quickest college basketball game in history, because they’re holding the ball, they’re burning and they’re playing zone,” Irish coach Mike Brey said following the game. “The game went fast, but it was kind of a unique thing to mentally play against because you’re guarding the last ten seconds of the shot clock and then you’re playing against zone. I thought overall we did a pretty darn good job with that, and I thought we were efficient offensively and it was good to play against a zone offensively for forty minutes.”
Notre Dame lost to Providence Sunday for their first loss of the season, 75-74. That game was one that looked like the Irish should have won, but Brey said that their defensive play was not good that night.
“One of the things I talked to them about was defending,” Brey said. “We weren’t good defensively on Sunday. Then it was tricky to evaluate our overall defense because you’re chasing the burn and then you’re guarding at the end. We played a little bit of zone. I think for the most part I’m just happy we shared the ball and moved and we got some zone offensive work.”
Notre Dame needed to regain momentum Wednesday with some tough competition looming in Michigan State next week. And the team stepped up.
Again, the Irish offense dominated with four starters earning double-digit scores while 13 players all saw minutes.
Demetrius Jackson led the Irish with 17 points, shooting 6-for-8 with a 4-for-6 mark from far range with four assists.
“It was good to see Demetrius Jackson rise up and shoot his three-point shot and not overanalyze it,” Brey said. “With him and Jerian, when the ball reverses to you and you have a clean look we want you to shoot it. Not can I get closer and `can I drive one more time?'” He turned one down early and I got on him and then he stepped up and shot that ball for us”
Brey said that in the second half, he shifted Jackson to the corner and was trying to go three deep because the Tigers were in a 1-2-2 zone.
“It was a different look where we have two guys up top and three on the baseline,” Brey said. “Usually your guards are always up top, but I wanted more size up top, to look over the top, so Steve and Jerian were up there. We kind of experimented with that tonight, and I like it. Demetrius is down on the baseline and he’s a really good corner jump shooter. It’s tough as a small guard to always face guys in an open stance, so that was interesting and we talked about that on the bench as a staff. It’s something to remember against a 1-3-1 or a 1-2-2 zone.”
Jerian Grant came in second in terms of scoring, totaling 13 points. Grant went 4-f0r-5 in field goals, including 2-of-3 three’s made. Pat Connaughton was 4-for-8 with a 2-for-6 mark from long range with eight assists for 10 points. Zach Auguste shot 100-percent in field goals, making all five attempts. He was 2-for-3 from the line for a total of 12 points.
Notre Dame (5-1) will go on to face Chicago State on Saturday while Grambling State (1-5) will travel to Air Force next week.
