SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s basketball team (6-1) answered the challenge and then some, rolling to a 70-52 victory over No. 20 Michigan State (5-3) on Wednesday night inside Purcell Pavilion. It was the first ranked opponent the Irish faced this season, picking up a big win as they improved to 5-0 at home, 20-1 over the past two seasons.
Cormac Ryan resumed his March form of Scoremac and went off in front of the near 8,000 in attendance, posting a season high 23 points behind a perfect 6-for-6 night from beyond the arc. Ryan was 8-of-11 overall from the field, with 20 of his points coming in the first half.
Freshman JJ Starling took the mantle in the second half, where he scored nine of his 14 points. Grad student Dane Goodwin rounded out the Irish scorers in double figures with 12, connecting on 2-of-4 from three. Nate Laszewski added nine points and eight boards, while Trey Wertz supplied a season high seven assists. Wertz has dished out 19 assists over the last three games.
And just as great as the Irish were offensively shooting 50 percent from the field and converting 11 treys, the defense made Michigan State score a season low 52 points. In fact, that marked the first time in 29 games against MSU and first time since 1952, in which the Irish held the Spartans to below 55 points in the storied 98-game series rivalry.
How It Happened
What a half for Cormac Ryan, going a perfect 5-for-5 from three and 7-of-8 overall from the field to score 20 of the team’s 42 halftime points. Sparked by Ryan, the team shot 8-of-13 (62 percent) from deep and 55.2 percent (16-of-29) in the half.
The three party started with the Irish up 7-2 five minutes into the contest. That’s when Ryan (x2), Goodwin and Wertz connected on four straight three-pointers to open up the game and garner a 21-8 lead.
Ryan was a man possessed as ND fed the hot hand – by the time of his fifth three-pointer, the Irish pushed the lead to 39-15. In fact, Ryan scored nine straight points from 5:23 to 2:41.
MSU did fire off a short 6-0 run before Starling ended the half with a driving floater to make it 42-24 Irish.
Almost all the Irish got in on the fun in the second half. First Starling scored five straight then Ryan made it 6-for-6 from deep at 13:59, keeping the Spartans at bay at 50-32. Next, Goodwin scored four straight, then five straight from Laszewski off a three-pointer and dunk.
It was the freshman Starling who led in the second half, pouring in nine points. Goodwin put the exclamation point on the game with a three-point dagger with 1:08 remaining.
Up Next
The Irish remain at home to kick off ACC play. First up is Syracuse on Saturday, Dec. 3, at Noon ET on ESPN2.
— ND –