Tobacco Road Report

By Michael

The Irish (6-1) used timely offensive shooting and better free throw shooting to down the No. 19 Terrapins (8-1) 81-74 in the BB&T Classic in Washington, D.C. TRR was in attendance for this game and was excited to see the Terrapins up close and personal for the first time this season. Just when we thought it was safe to start hyping the Terrapins, we're back to asking questions.

The refs were letting both sides play in the game, and normally that would play to the Terrapins defensive strength. The Terrapins were generally effective defensively, causing 18 Notre Dame turnovers, 11 steals, and registering 6 blocks.

The problem for the Terrapins, however, was that they were just as negligent with the ball, giving up 19 turnovers of their own.

Entering the second half, the Terrapins had a small 3 point lead, 32-29. Maryland stretched this lead to 8 at 42-34 with 14:03 remaining and looked poised to take control of the game.

Notre Dame wouldn’t give up so easily, tying the game at 49-49 on a Tory Jackson (5 points, 5 steals in 16 minutes) lay-up with 10:06 to play. Kyle McAlarney (18 points, 5 assists, 3-6 3-FG) then put on a clinic, draining a three point shot, two point lay-up, and three pointer in succession. The rest of the Irish took it from there as Colin Falls (14 points) hit from three and Rob Kurz (16 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks) hit from two. Suddenly, the Irish were up 62-51 at the 7:23 mark, and were ahead to say.

Maryland would never get closer than 7 points the rest of the way as the Irish kept nailing their free throws down the stretch. The Irish finished the night 22-30 from the free throw line, a respectable 73 percent.

Some final thoughts on this game:

• Notre Dame is better than advertised. The Irish sit at 6-1, having only lost to Butler in the Pre-Season NIT. I’m not completely ready to give the Irish a large boost yet, however, since Butler and Maryland are their only two real tests so far.

• The Irish had little luck offensively inside during the first half. Maryland’s bigs—Gist, Ibekwe, and Osby—were too good and altered a number of Irish shot attempts. The three combined for 30 points, 21 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots.

• Because of this, Brey adjusted his offense in the second half, using dribble penetration to find three point shooters instead of inside shots. Brey even had Kurz and Zeller spotting at the three point line on dribble penetration. Putting bigs on the three point like took some of Maryland’s inside presence out of the game.

• D.J. Strawberry (17 points) went out in the first half with what appeared to be a badly sprained ankle at the 11:44 mark. He came back to play shortly and would log 38 minutes. However, he looked like he was still moving gingerly, especially laterally. I noticed Strawberry was on McAlarney when the latter went on his run in the crucial moments of the game. Was D.J. at 100 percent? I didn’t think so. He also had 9 of his 17 when the game was (almost) out of reach.

• Mike Jones with 2 points, 0-5 FG, in 20 minutes? This is just unacceptable for a shooter of the caliber of Mike Jones. I can’t say anything more.

• Williams tried Vasquez at the point again down the stretch, perhaps trying to imitate some of the magic he displayed versus Illinois last week. It wouldn’t be the case tonight and Williams eventually went to Strawberry at point in the closing minutes. I didn’t think Vasquez played all that bad, but maybe Gary was working on some matchups that went in D.J.’s favor.