SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s basketball team (7-3) linked up with an old rival in Marquette (8-3) on Sunday, in what was the 119th meeting between the two. On this afternoon in Purcell Pavilion, it was the Golden Eagles who emerged victorious, 79-64.
It was a five-point game at the half and a seven-point game with 10:41 remaining, but Marquette fired off a pivotal 19-7 spurt in crunch time to open up a big lead. MU did the dirty work in the paint where they scored 50 of their points.
Notre Dame’s Nate Laszewski recorded his third 20-point performance of the season with 20 points to go with his team-high seven rebounds. JJ Starling was the lone other Irish in double figures with 12 points.
Irish shot 23-of-55 (42 percent) compared to Marquette’s 32-of-67 (48 percent). Rebound differential went to the Golden Eagles, 41-32.
How It Happened
Down 11-5 after a slow start, the Irish made five consecutive field goals, with a three from Starling and two treys from Wertz to garner an 18-15 lead at 12:25. Later, Laszewski drilled a shot-clock buzzer-beating three in the corner to maintain the back-and-forth chess match, tying the game at 24-all at 7:58.
At 5:43, a Ryan jumper made it 28-25 Irish, but unfortunately, that marked Notre Dame’s final field goal of the half, as Marquette surged to take a 34-29 halftime lead.
Notre Dame shot 10-of-28 from the field in the first half compared to Marquette’s 14-of-30. Laszweski was the lone Irish player in double figures, with 10 points and six boards at the midway point. Marquette scored 24 of its 34 halftime points in the paint.
The Golden Eagles came out in the second and connected on three straight makes for a quick 7-0 run to push the lead to double digits at 41-29, forcing a ND timeout at 18:47.
Laszweski ended the field goal drought at 17:59 with a much-needed three. Then that was followed up with a big three from Ryan, cutting the gap to 41-35. Yet, the Golden Eagles stymied the Irish rally with an immediate 8-0 run which included back-to-back three-point plays.
Working down 54-39, the Irish mustered a 6-0 run thanks to Lubin and Goodwin before the 10:41 media. Out of the timeout, Irish converted two free throws to push the run to 8-0.
The problem Notre Dame ran into in the second half was that Marquette answered after every big Irish basket. ND recorded a stretch in which they made five of seven, but on three separate occasions, MU responded with a three-point play. That subsequently led to a Marquette 11-0 run from 7:31 to 4:16 which put the game out of reach.
Up Next
The Irish have the next five days to concentrate on finals before jetting off to Atlanta for a Sunday contest against Georgia in State Farm Arena. The game on the 18th will tip off at 5:30 pm ET.
— ND –