Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech Boxscore
The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team (21-8, 14-4) earned its largest Atlantic Coast Conference victory since it joined the league in 2013-14 with a 90-56 victory over Georgia Tech (11-18, 4-14) in Purcell Pavilion on Saturday evening.
The victory assures the Irish a double bye in the upcoming 2022 ACC Championship in Brooklyn, New York, in two weeks while also locking in at least a third-place finish in the final league standings.
Senior Dane Goodwin set the tone in the contest, leading the team with 17 points – all of them coming in the first half. Freshman Blake Wesley added 15, while senior Prentiss Hubb scored eight of his 13 points in the second half.
Jordan Usher led Georgia Tech with 16 points on six-of-eight shooting.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Goodwin was focused on a bounce back game after being held to seven points in the victory over Syracuse on Wednesday and that showed in the game’s first few minutes. The senior from Upper Arlington, Ohio, scored seven of Notre Dame’s first nine points on two free throws to open the game, a drive at the rim then a three pointer off an offensive rebound.
The Irish used a 7-0 run to build an 18-10 lead, as Trey Wertz came off the bench and immediately connected on a corner three pointer followed by an Atkinson Jr. reverse lay-up for an eight-point lead with 10:57 left in the first half.
Four turnovers in a row limited Notre Dame’s ability to stretch the lead, but the Irish continued to defend. Wesley leaked out on a missed shot, hit a lay-up and was fouled to give ND a 24-15 lead with 7:30 left.
It turned into Goodwin time yet again, as he connected on a corner three pointer, then a pull up three in transition to give the Irish a 34-19 lead. Notre Dame was stringing together the stops and getting out in transition, as Wesley drove for a lay up followed by Goodwin and Georgia Tech had to call timeout to pause a 12-2 home team run.
By the time the first 20 minutes ended, the Irish were 18-27 from the field for a 66.7 percentage – the best of the season and tops since the team had the exact same shooting statistics in the first half of a victory at Boston College on February 27, 2018. Goodwin led the way with 17 first half points and the Irish lead was 46-27 at the break.
Notre Dame built the lead quickly to as many as 28 points in the second half. Wertz connected on two more three point field goals, as did Cormac Ryan during the run. The Irish hit 12 of their first 18 shots from behind the arc.
Eventually, all of Notre Dame’s scholarship players saw over three minutes of action in the game and the Irish back ups ended the contest on a 10-0 run to finish off the victory in style.
UP NEXT
The Irish will head to Florida State for the final road game of the regular season, taking on the Seminoles Wednesday, March 2, 2022, at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.