March Madness: West Virginia overwhelms Notre Dame on way to Sweet 16
West Virginia is headed back to March Madness’ Sweet 16 for the second time in three years after beating Notre Dame in Buffalo.
In the first game of the 2017 NCAA Tournament second round, the West Virginia Mountaineers jumped out to a 10-0 start on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and put their foot on the gas until the final buzzer sounded. The Mountaineers never gave up the lead for a second as they knocked off Mike Brey and Co., 83-71, to advance to the West region’s Sweet 16 next week.
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While Notre Dame certainly didn’t play their A-game, the Mountaineers had something to do with that as their play on both ends of the floor was sensational.
On defense, Bob Huggins’ team used their typical press to force Notre Dame into an uncharacteristic 14 turnovers. They limited V.J. Beachem and Matt Farrell to 17 combined points and held the Irish to 41 percent shooting from the field and 36 percent from beyond the arc.
But where they really separated themselves from ND was on the offensive end of the floor. ‘Press Virginia’ is known for their ability to fluster their opponents with their defense but what has made them a much-improved team in 2016-17 has been their offensive execution.
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And on Saturday afternoon, it was superb.
The Mountaineers shot 50 percent percent of the field overall, out-shot Notre Dame from beyond the three-point line (57 percent) and had 16 assists to 12 turnovers. They rarely took any bad shots, moved the ball to perfection and used their offensive creator, Jevon Carter, when the shot clock was winding down.
Carter finished with 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting and didn’t turn the ball over a single time. He made big plays and big shots all afternoon but none were more important than when he drilled a dagger step-back three after Notre Dame had just made it a two-possession game down the stretch.
Even though Carter was fantastic, it wasn’t just a one-man show. The Mountaineers had four other players score in double figures, including Daxter Miles Jr. (18 points), Tarik Phillip (12 points), Esa Ahmed (11 points) and Elijah Macon (11 points).
Their third leading scorer, Nathan Adrian, added just three points. That just shows how good WVU was on the offensive end of the floor on Saturday.
Meanwhile, for Notre Dame, they fought until the very end but their lack of balance came back to haunt them. Other than Bonzie Colson (27 points on 10-of-15 shooting and eight rebounds), the Irish had very little production from their ‘Big Four.’ Beachem was in the midst of a massive NCAA Tournament slump (3-of-23 in two games) and Farrell didn’t have much of an impact due to WVU’s length and toughness on the perimeter. Even Steve Vasturia had a rough 1-of-5 night from three.
The Irish looked dead in the water when Colson picked up his 4th foul with just under 10 minutes left. However, Brey had trust in his junior and kept him in the ball game the rest of the way. While it didn’t pay off, Colson was able to keep the game close (by himself) until Carter nailed the dagger.
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West Virginia will face the winner of Gonzaga and Northwestern in the second round. Notre Dame will have to figure out how to replace both Vasturia and Beachem in 2017-18.