 NOTRE DAME 69, AKRON 56 As the 15th seed in the Southwest Regional, UA knew that since the tournament expanded to 64 (now 68) teams, only four of them had won a tournament game and none since 2001, when Hampton defeated Iowa State.
Akron, nonetheless, gave the second-seeded Irish all they could handle before the opponent from the Big East Conference pulled away in the second half for a 69-56 victory Friday afternoon. Notre Dame now advances to face Florida State, who defeated Texas A&M, 57-50, in the other first round game..
ND - NO FIRST ROUND STUMBLE THIS TIME
Senior guard Ben Hansbrough, the 2011 Big East Player of the Year, led all scorers in the contest with 15 points. Tim Abromitis added 14 and Scott Martin 11 as Notre Dame (26-6) avenged a first-round loss in last season’s tournament to Old Dominion, picking up the first Irish NCAAA Tournament win since defeating George Mason in 2008.
“It took us a long time to kind of calm down.” ND head coach Mike Brey said after the game. “I am glad the halftimes were 20 minutes because we needed all of it just to kind of ratchet our blood pressure down at bit.”
For Akron (23-12) a season that had many twists and turns ended with the Zips losing for just the third time in 14 games after winning their second Mid-American Conference Tournament championship in the last three years.
“We fought back, but we just could not put enough (baskets) together on a continuous basis to win.” Zips head man Keith Dambrot said afterwards. “That’s what a mid-major has to do to beat a high-major with a seed that high … you have to shoot the ball better than that.”
DIGGS ONLY ZIP TO REACH DOUBLE FIGURES
Sophomore guard Quincy Diggs, who came off the bench, was the only UA player in double figures. He registered 11 points, going 5-for-7 from the field.
On a day where the Zips needed their big guns to pull off the upset, their bigs struggled, starting with sophomore center Zeke Marshall. The 2011 MAC Tournament MVP did have four blocked shots but scored just five points, going just 2-for-13 from the field.
“I had four two-foot layups I missed in the early part of the game.” Marshall said. “I don’t really recall that it was their (ND) defense that caused me to miss. It was just me missing.”
Senior Brett McKnight, who was the spark for the Zips all-season coming off the bench, had just seven points, hitting 3-for-12 from the floor. Junior forward Nikola Cvetinovic, a second-team All-MAC selection, had six points but tied Marshall for the rebounding lead with six.
SLOW START
The game started sluggishly as the first points were not registered until the 18:24 mark when junior guard Brett McClanahan fouled Abromitis attempting a three-pointer. Abromiis made all three. UA then got a jumper from senior Darryl Roberts and two McClanahan free throws to take their only lead of the contest 4-3 at the 17:16 mark.
A Hansborough jumper gave the Irish the lead for good as they put together a 16-4 run to open an 11-point advantage, 19-8, at the 12:07 mark on a three by Eric Atkins.
Akron kept chipping away at the deficit After ND moved the lead back to 10 at 28-18 following a Hansbrough layup at the 6:44 mark, UA outscored the Irish 12-6 to narrow the margin to four at halftime thanks to a three by freshman guard Alex Abreu.
Neither team shot the ball well in the first 20 minutes. Notre Dame connected on just 39 percent from the floor (11-for-28), while UA was at 36.4% (12-for-33). The Zips, meanwhile, had a surprising 21-19 rebound advantage.
IRISH FIND THEIR TEMPO
The game was decided in the early portion of the second half, when the Irish scored the first nine points of the period to open their largest lead, 43-30, at the 15:00 mark after a Martin jumper.
“We were much better in the second half because our tempo was better.” Brey said.
The Zips weathered the storm and closed the deficit to five on two occasions, the last at 49-44 on a layup by Marshall with 10:05 remaining. It would be the closest UA could get for the remainder of the game
“We felt like we got good shots, even from the outside, that just did not (go) in for us.” Dambrot said. “We thought we could score on them. But we just didn’t”
The Fighting Irish started to pull, away opening their game’s biggest lead (14 points) on two occasions, the last coming on a Martin layup with 61 seconds remaining, before winning by 13.
IRISH SEIZE THE BOARDS
When ND found its stride, the Irish were tough to handle as they shot 52.2% from the field in the second half (10-for-19). They also had a decisive rebounding edge 21-11 and were 13-for-16 from the free-throw line.
Conversely, UA was just 11-for-31 from the floor (11-for-31) and went to the foul line just four times (converting one)
With the game decided, Dambrot pulled his starters, including seniors. McKnight, forward Mike Bardo, Steve McNees, and Darryl Roberts saw their last action for the Akron Blue and Gold.
That quartet can look back at careers that brought Akron Basketball to heights not seen since the days when Bob Huggins was the Zips coach over 25 years ago. During their time at UA, the Zips won two MAC Tournament titles and made four post-season appearances (two NCAA, an NIT and a College Basketball Invitational)
UPON FURTHER REVIEW
KEY MOMENT: Notre Dame came out of the halftime break scoring the first mine points to push a 34-30 lead into a 43-30 advantage from which UA could never catch up.
STAR OF THE GAME: BEN HANSBOROUGH-NOTRE DAME. The senior from Poplar Bluff, Missouri led all scorers in the game with 15 points - 11 of those points in the first half.
KEY STAT OF THE GAME: 1) Notre Dame had a 21-11 rebounding edge in the second half. 2) The Fighting Irish shot 52.6% from the field in the second half (10-for-19). 3 ) Akron’s Zeke Marshall was just 2-of-13 from the field
NOTES: The game was the third lifetime meeting between the two schools with Notre Dame winning all three…Akron is 0-3 lifetime in NCAA Division I Tournament games…Akron is 13-22 lifetime against the Big East Conference…Steve McNees-AKR ends his career playing in 142 games, a school record, with his appearance Friday in Chicago…Brett McKnight-AKR finished his career with 1,127 career points 29th on the school all time list…Akron played two other teams that made the field of 68 (Arkansas-Little Rock and Temple)…Quincy Diggs-AKR lead the team in scoring for the third time in the last six games…Notre Dame is 54-17 lifetime against the MAC and 31-34 lifetime in NCAA Tournament games
|
