CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Notre Dame men’s basketball squad (8-8, 0-5) fell 81-64 to the North Carolina Tar Heels (11-5, 3-2) on Saturday morning inside the Dean E. Smith Center. With a pretty even second half (UNC 40-36 ND), the difference in the game was a 16-3 UNC run midway through the half in which the Irish had led 18-15. Notre Dame rallied down 16 in the second half to cut it to seven, before the Tar Heels pushed it back to double digits for the victory.
Nate Laszewski continues to find success against North Carolina, leading the team today in points (17) and rebounds (8). Laszewski shot an efficient 7-of-10 from the field. In addition, he now has 86 points (17.2 ppg) against the Tar Heels in his five last games against them.
Dane Goodwin reached double figures for the fourth straight game with 10 points on Saturday, shooting 5-of-10 from the floor. He also grabbed the second most boards with seven. Freshman JJ Starling matched him with 10 points of his own, along with three assists.
Notre Dame shot 25-of-60 (41.7 percent) compared to North Carolina’s 31-of-65 (47.7 percent). The Tar Heels grabbed 45 boards to ND’s 32, which included 13 offensive rebounds.
How It Happened
North Carolina scored five quick points in the opening minute, but Notre Dame weathered the storm, scored its first eight points in the paint, and after a 7-0 run, found itself with a 13-10 lead. Hammond had two early three-pointers for the Irish as his second gave the visitors an 18-15 advantage at 10:47.
However, the Tar Heel response was a 16-3 scoring spree from 9:48 to 6:02, claiming a double-digit scoring lead at 31-21. Irish added a bucket each from Wertz, Ryan and a Starling but ultimately trailed 41-28 at the half after UNC connected on a 6-for-8 stretch. The half featured four lead changes and two ties.
The Tar Heels used it size advantage, owning the halftime boards 24-15, which included seven offensive rebounds. They also used that height and recorded five blocks as the Irish tried to drive inside. North Carolina shot 16-of-32 in the first half compared to Notre Dame’s 12-of-31. The Irish were solid from deep where they were 4-of-8.
UNC’s Armando Bacot had his double-double by the team’s opening offensive possession in the second half with 14 points, 10 rebounds. He finished with 21 points and 13 boards. On the flip side, Laszewski got two of the squad’s first three buckets and was already in double figures with 11 points.
The Irish defense did post a nice stretch from 17:11-13:27 where they didn’t allow a single UNC field goal. Dom Campbell checked in around this time and became a physical presence. His offensive rebound and putback score sparked a stretch in which ND made 7-of-10 from the field as a Ryan three-pointer on the tail end cut it to 49-60.
Ryan connected on another trey just moments later at 8:25 and the lead was shortened once more to 54-61.
The game turned against the Irish on the following couple of possessions, especially when a flagrant-2 was called which opened up a 7-0 Tar Heel run. With the lead back to double-digits, the Tar Heels secured the 81-64 win.
Up Next
The Fighting Irish return home to South Bend for Jan. 10 clash with Georgia Tech. Tip is set for 7 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
— ND –