Kamari Murphy slams home the dunk and simultaneously sucks the air out of Purcell Pavilion en route to a 68-50 Miami win Wednesday night. Evan J. Thomas/The Pit
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Fighting Irish controlled their own destiny Wednesday evening, needing just two wins to secure a double-bye berth in the upcoming ACC Tournament. Unfortunately, the Irish ran into a brick wall with seventh-ranked Miami.
Arguably the best team in the ACC – and Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey’s early bet to be national champions – Miami (24-5, 13-4 ACC) devastated Notre Dame (19-10, 10-7 ACC) and made themselves right at home in Purcell Pavilion, walking out with the 68-50 win.
“They are really good and they are really old,” Brey said. “Their men were playing against our boys for most of the night. We can’t get off to a start like that and try to dig out of a hole against a team like that.”
Notre Dame has one of the most potent offenses in the country, but that potency was minimized by Miami. Shooting for just 34-percent on the night, the Irish at one point early in the first half were down 21-3.
Zach Auguste led his side with 18 points and 11 rebounds for his 17th double-double of the year, but only one other player broke double-digits in scoring; Bonzie Colson came off the bench with 11 points. Miami held Demetrius Jackson to just 7 points and Steve Vasturia wasn’t a factor, shooting 0-for-9 on the night.
Coach Brey said that the Irish haven’t been in rhythm since the bye week.
“We are struggling right now on offense,” he said. “Defensively, even though they got some layups and they got some putbacks, we did enough, that is, if we are in any kind of semblance of our offensive rhythm. We are in search mode and we have to figure out how to find it.”
For the first time since the 2013-14 season, Notre Dame has lost back-to-back games after entering the contest coming off a loss to Florida State on Saturday.
“It’s tough,” Auguste said. “We came in here trying to get a confidence boost and another win to help us get better, but we didn’t come out strong enough and we didn’t come out to execute.”
Auguste attacked down low for the Irish, giving Notre Dame momentum at times. Miami Head Coach Jim Larranaga was worried about that but came out prepared.
“It was clear from the very beginning that they were going to go inside with us and try to draw fouls. I was very concerned about that, because we did get a couple of fouls on our key guys and that changes a lot of things,” Larranaga said. “Fortunately, we were able to rotate Tonye Jekiri, Ivan Uceda, Anthony Lawrence and Kamari Murphy all on Zach (Auguste) and they all picked up like one foul. So we didn’t end up with any one guy on the bench in foul trouble. But he played a very good game, he was very aggressive and they found him a lot.”
With 2:45 remaining in the first half, Notre Dame pulled within 7 points after Jackson sunk a layup. And as fans inside Purcell began to find some life, Kamari Murphy sucked the air out of the arena with a big dunk that propelled the ‘Canes back to a 13-point lead entering the break.
The Irish would pull within 9 twice in the last half, but each time Miami would surge ahead, leaving the Irish players looking dazed and confused on the court.
“The KU-Texas game motivated us to come out hungry, Angel Rodriguez said about Miami’s fast start and surging offense. “We saw how they went on the road and they got off to a great start. We really wanted to do the same thing. I thought our team was very focused and very energetic.”
Rodriguez led the ‘Canes with 19 points, while Sheldon McClellan followed with 17 points. The focus for this team is to win an ACC Championship, according to Rodriguez.
“I just really want to win an ACC Championship and we are in a position to do that. Plus, it is my last year so I have to give it my all,” he said.
Notre Dame will look to finish on a high note and build some confidence in the regular season finale Saturday afternoon when the Irish host NC State for a noon tipoff.
The Irish now need a win Saturday and a Duke loss to North Carolina to earn the double-bye.
“We can continue to be aggressive, just focus more on our defense,” Auguste said. “Our offense is going to come. We’ve always been good offensively, we’ve just got to continue to lock down and get those critical stops.”
