Irish Push Past Louisville, Claim First Place In The ACC

Notre Dame vs. Louisville Box Score

The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team (17-7, 10-3) utilized a 12-2 run with under six minutes remaining to put away Louisville (11-13, 5-9), 63-57, in Purcell Pavilion Wednesday night for its 10th win of the season and move into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. 

Graduate student Paul Atkinson Jr. delivered his third consecutive double-double performance by dominating in the paint with 17 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Notre Dame scoring effort, while senior Dane Goodwin added 16 points and five rebounds. Jae’Lyn Withers paced Louisville with 20 points on 9-for-17 shooting. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

Notre Dame spread around the scoring early in the contest, with four different players converting at the rim for the team’s first eight points. Atkinson Jr. connected on his first three shots from the field and the Irish owned a 15-12 lead with 11:38 left. 

The lead grew when Trey Wertz hit a corner three within seconds of entering the contest. The Irish defense, which posted its sixth consecutive game of holding its opponents below 65 points, started to assert itself by holding Louisville to 2-for-10 shooting and scoreless for over three minutes. Back-to-back transition drives to the bucket from Goodwin put the Irish up 22-14 with 8:04 left. 

The lead grew to double digits on a Blake Wesley drive, a Cormac Ryan three pointer and an Atkinson lay up off a nifty find from Wesley. The rookie then scored on a shake-and-bake jumper and a post up to help Notre Dame hit their final three shots of the half and take a 35-23 lead into halftime. 

The Irish shot 53 percent in the second half, while the Cardinals could manage just 33 percent. But as karma dictates, those numbers flipped the visitors’ way in the second 20 minutes. 

A Notre Dame scoring drought early in the second half enabled Louisville to cut into the lead and for a few possessions, the Irish answered every surge. Atkinson Jr. pushed the lead back to 11 and a Goodwin three pointer put the lead back to nine but the Cardinals just would not go quietly. 

A 12-2 Louisville run allowed the Cardinals to take a brief lead at 55-54 with 6:05 remaining, but like the Irish have done for the last two months – they immediately answered after calling a timeout. 

Notre Dame got the ball into Atkinson Jr. who was fouled and tied the game with a free throw. A defensive top led to a great drive to the hoop from Wertz to give the Irish the lead. Two more free throws from Atkinson Jr. built the lead to six after yet another defensive stop. Senior Prentiss Hubb then delivered the big blow, an end-of-the-shot-clock step back three pointer to cap an 8-0 run and Notre Dame would not look back the rest of the game. 

NOTES

Senior forward Nate Laszewski was unavailable due to an injury suffered at NC State last Saturday, it was the first game missed by Laszewski this season and ended a 34-game streak of game starts • the third consecutive double-double for Paul Atkinson Jr. is the longest such streak since John Mooney posted 12 straight double-doubles during the 2019-20 season • the 15 rebounds are a career-high for Atkinson Jr. and he matched his season-high with 37 minutes played.

UP NEXT

The Irish will be back on the road for an ACC matchup at Clemson on Saturday, February 12, at 7 p.m. ET on the ACC Network.