Jerian Grant (22) dropped 23 points in Saturday’s 75-70 ACC win over Miami. Evan J. Thomas/The Pit
[dropcap]E[/dropcap]ntering Saturday’s contest, Miami was undefeated on the road, posting notable victories over then-No. 8 Florida and No. 4 Duke. And for much of the game, it seemed the Hurricanes would repeat that road success.
Miami led from the first 17 seconds of the game until half way through the second half by as much as 12 and as few as one. At the half, it was 30-29 in favor of the ‘Canes.
It wasn’t until 10:30 into the second half that the tides began to favor the Fighting Irish. In just under two minutes, Notre Dame went on a 9-0 run that saw Steve Vasturia sink two for his team’s first lead of the game. After trading shots for a bit, the Irish eventually pulled away for the 75-70 conference victory.
“They were really hard to guard,” head coach Mike Brey said following Saturday’s win. “I thought defensively, we won the game because we were consistent defensively. The first half, we were horrible on the offensive end, but yet we defended well to be down one at the half when it felt we should have been down 15.”
A three-pointer by Jerian Grant to extend the Irish lead 61-58 would be the last lead change in the game. Grant would go on to score 23 points in the contest, leading all scorers. Shooting a total of ten times, Grant only missed twice, including once from long-range.
His shooting success carried through to the line as well, with the guard going 5-for-6. Grant failed to notch a rebound through the afternoon, but had eight assists, a block and a steal.
Notre Dame had to switch things up against Miami, instead of relying on a post-defense, they had to go smaller. While Bonzie Colson and Zach Auguste were limited to the role, Brey switched things up with the rest of his squad. With Pat Connaughton being a guy that can not only guard anybody but also rebound, it was seen as a more defensive move to go smaller as opposed to offensive for the Irish.
“Your initial reaction is we won’t be able to guard or rebound. Hell, we can’t rebound anyway, so why don’t we just play small and have some more fire power on the floor,” Brey said.
The change in style for the Irish put more guys in position to rebound while opening up the lane for more scoring opportunities.
“Certainly then, when we got to the other end of the floor it was just open for drives,” Brey said. ” I thought that’s where Jerian was really able to score on a drive and kick the shooters off the drives.”
Connaughton had 11 rebounds on the day, 10 of which were on the opposite side of the floor. He would finish 3-of-10 overall, including a 2-of-8 mark from beyond the arc. After adding an additional two points at the line, Connaughton finished with just 10 points on the day.
“We needed to keep playing defense,” Grant said after the win. “Our offense was getting looks and we missed a couple shots. I was getting good looks so we just needed to refocus.”
Sheldon McClellan (10) notched 17 points to lead Miami. Evan J. Thomas/The Pit
Sheldon McClellan led Miami with 17 points with a 6-for-13 mark. Ten of those points came in the second half. Ja’Quan Newton followed closely with 16 points for the ‘Canes, putting up 6-of-9.
With the win, Notre Dame improves to 17-2, the best start for the school since the 1978-79 season. Notre Dame improve to 5-1 in the ACC, with their next game scheduled for Thursday on the road at Virginia Tech.
