Two weeks ago the defending champion Connecticut Huskies ended Notre Dame’s 29-game home winning streak. Today, Mike Brey and the Fighting Irish men’s basketball team got redemption, beating the Huskies 50-48 in Storrs despite a poor shooting effort from the field.
Notre Dame continues to struggle to consistently knock down shots, but the Irish continue to battle on the defensive end of the court. Notre Dame’s last three opponents have scored just 49.3 points.
The Irish have now three games in a row and five of seven, three of which have come over ranked opponents.
When the two teams last met the Huskies dominated in the paint, and during the early portions of today’s contest Connecticut freshman center Andre Drummond and junior forward Alex Oriakhi continued that interior dominance. The pair scored UConn’s first ten points as Oriakhi scoring four quick points.
He would not score again, and the Irish guards got their own level of redemption against the Huskies.
Sophomore guard Eric Atkins continued his strong play of late, getting the Irish on the board early, knocking down a jumper after a Scott Martin offensive rebound. Atkins found backcourt mate Jerian Grant for a triple to give Notre Dame its first lead of the game. Grant would repay the favor a few possession later, hitting Atkins for a triple to put the Irish back up 9-6.
Oriakhi answered with a dunk, but Grant again got a teammate free, this time hitting Martin for a triple.
Drummond answered with another strong dunk to cut into the Notre Dame lead, but the Huskies began to struggle against the Irish defense after his dunk. Connecticut missed its next three shots and turned the ball over twice, but Notre Dame could not capitalize on the offensive end of the court.
The defending champs started to heat up a bit as standout sophomore guard Jeremy Lamb scored five points as the Huskies went on a quick 6-0 run to take a 16-14 lead. Notre Dame freshman Pat Connaughton answered with a triple to put the Irish back on top. On Notre Dame’s next possession Grant hit Cooley for a deuce.
After another Drummond dunk Grant got himself going, hitting a jumper as the two teams battled back and forth heading into the break. Lamb and freshman guard Ryan Boatright, in his first game back from a three game suspension, hit jumpers to put the Huskies up 24-21 at the half.
Connaughton got the Irish rolling early in the second half, hitting a triple to tie the game at 24-24. Grant stole the ball from Drummond and found Atkins for a layup to put the Irish up 26-24 with 19:11 left in the game.
Notre Dame would not trail the rest of the game.
Connecticut missed its first six shots of the half thanks in large part to three Irish blocked shots as Notre Dame added to its lead. Atkins hit a triple and Martin followed with five straight points of his own as the Irish built a 34-24 behind a 13-0 run to start the half.
Drummond finally got the Huskies on the board in the second half as the Irish went on a cold streak of their own. Notre Dame missed its next five shots as Drummond and Lamb cut into the lead. Junior forward Jack Cooley ended Notre Dame’s three-plus minute dry spell with a tip in of a Grant miss, putting the Irish back up at 34-29.
Lamb and Drummond would not let the Huskies go away quietly. Lamb pulled the Huskies within five with a jumper. Drummond grabbed a Boatright miss and followed with two straight misses of his own. But Drummond picked up an offensive board after each miss before finally finishing off the possession. He threw down a dunk after his third offensive board and was fouled by Martin. Drummond made the free throw and cut the Notre Dame lead to 36-34.
Grant hit two free throws to put the Irish back up by four, but Boatright answered with a layup. The Huskies kept battling but the Irish had an answer for every UConn bucket.
Napier hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead back to two. Atkins missed a three-pointer and Connecticut had a chance to tie the game with less than five minutes left in the game. Grant came up with another big steal, driving down the court and finding Cooley for a dunk that put the Irish back up 42-38.
Martin came away with another big steal, finding Atkins for a lay in to put the Irish up 44-38 against the champs.
Notre Dame struggled from the floor down the stretch, as Atkins layup at the 4:04 mark was the final bucket of the game for the Irish. But Brey’s team nailed 6-of-8 from the free throw line as Connecticut continued to struggle against a smothering Irish defense.
Drummond threw down another dunk and Lamb hit a triple with 11 seconds left in the game but it was too little too late for the Huskies.
Grant made the first of two free throws to give the Irish a 50-47 lead with seven seconds left. Brey chose to foul Lamb instead of allowing UConn to attempt a triple to tie the game. Lamb made the first but intentionally missed the second free throw. He rebounded his own miss but missed a jumper as time expired, giving Notre Dame a huge road victory.
Notre Dame faced a significant size and length disadvantage inside, starting just one player who stands over 6-foot-5 while UConn started three. Despite the size differential the Irish out-rebounded Connecticut by a 33-29 margin.
Lamb led the Huskies with 16 points after scoring just six in the first matchup between the two teams. The sophomore hit 6-of-9 from the field and nailed three triples. Drummond had another big game against the Irish, scoring 15 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and blocking four shots.
The problem for Connecticut was that it received little scoring from anyone else. Boatright scored six points in his first game back from suspension but missed all three of his outside shots. Napier had a rough day from the floor, missing all seven of his shot attempts, including all four shots from behind the arc.
Oriakhi went scoreless during the final 33 minutes of the game, finishing with just four points after scoring 12 against the Irish in the first meeting.
All of Notre Dame’s scoring came from its starting rotation.
Atkins led the Irish with 13 points, keying the Irish early. Grant had a strong all-around game, scoring 11 points despite hitting just 2-of-9 from the field. Grant added five rebounds and led the Irish with six assists and three steals. His strong second half defense helped fuel the Notre Dame run. Martin chipped in 10 points and seven boards, continuing his strong late season run. Cooley and Connaughton added eight points apiece.
Connecticut has now lost three games in a row, all of which have come by three points or less. Jim Calhoun’s club is now 14-6 on the season and drops to 4-4 in the Big East. The road does not get easier for the defending champs as the Huskies travel to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to take on the No. 10 Georgetown Hoyas. They follow that up with a three-game stretch against Seton Hall, Louisville, and Syracuse.
Notre Dame improves 14-8 on the season and 6-3 in the conference, tying them for third in the Big East with Georgetown. The Irish have now won 5-of-7, including wins over three ranked opponents. Notre Dame’s late run has put them into NCAA tournament discussion after starting the season 9-6.
Notre Dame returns home for a Saturday matchup against No. 18 Marquette, a team that has won six consecutive games.
