SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s basketball team (10-13, 2-10) was in control early, building a 12-point lead in the first half. Then Wake Forest (15-9, 7-6) found its stroke and converted 11 three-pointers in the second half to take it 81-64 inside Purcell Pavilion on Saturday afternoon.
It was just a one-point game at the half, with the Demon Deacons holding the slight edge at 27-26; however, the visitors exploded for 54 points in the second half behind 58.6 percent shooting, plus 11-of-19 from deep (they were 3-for-11 in the first half).
Nate Laszewski led the Irish in scoring for the seventh time this season with 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting. Both Laszewski and Dane Goodwin had a team high seven rebounds. Goodwin added six points to see his double-digit scoring streak end at 10 games.
Ryan posted his fourth game in a row in double figures, 14th overall on the year, with 12 points. Marcus Hammond added 10 points and five boards.
Wake Forest was led by Damari Monsanto, who poured in a career high 28 points, and did most of the damage behind the arc with eight three-pointers.
How It Happened
Marcus Hammond scored five points early and got Notre Dame off to a 10-4 start at the first media timeout at 14:39. The Irish ultimately fired off a 16-2 run over a near six-minute stretch, connecting on 6-of-7 from the field during that time. Defensively, ND forced seven turnovers in seven minutes and held Wake scoreless from 18:07-9:49, building a lead as large as 16-4.
Then Wake Forest flipped the script and from 9:48-3:58 they connected on 7-of-10 from the floor and evaporated the Notre Dame lead to one possession at 22-20. By 1:44 remaining in the first half, Wake took the lead at 24-25, capping a 12-2 run.
The Demon Deacons then took a 26-27 halftime lead. Both sides made exactly 12 field goals in the half, except the Irish had nine more attempts, thus a lower shooting percentage. However, the Irish defense did force 11 turnovers in the half.
Furthermore, at the midway point, all seven Irish players that saw time on the court had points, though no one had more than Ryan’s six at the time.
Wake Forest than just couldn’t miss from three to begin the second half, starting 7-of-9 from deep to go up 46-58. That three-point shooting mark then became 9-of-15 and a 55-72 advantage. Wake’s hot shooting and constant conversions from three negated an Irish attempt to rally for at one point midway through the second ND made 7-of-10 from the field.
Notre Dame cut it to as low as seven but the 11 threes were too much as the Demon Deacons rolled off with the 81-64 win.
Up Next
The Irish head to Atlanta on Wednesday, Feb. 8, and look to complete a season-sweep of Georgia Tech. Game will air on RSN at 7 p.m. ET.
— ND –