Notre Dame Basketball: 3 takeaways from blowout win over Pittsburgh

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 19: The Notre Dame Fighting Irish starting line up on the floor before the Crossroads Classic college basketball game against the Purdue Boilermakers on December 19, 2020 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /

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Notre Dame Basketball Cormac Ryan Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Bench production from Notre Dame

Notre Dame does not have the deepest team. The Irish usually only go seven deep, but the bench guys tonight played excellently.

Cormac Ryan usually is in the starting lineup but had a foot injury that caused him to miss the last game against Virginia Tech.

Pittsburgh probably wished that Ryan missed this game against them as well as he scored a season-high 19 points (5-6 from three) coming off the bench. This is the player the Irish coaching staff envisioned when they helped recruit Cormac Ryan to Notre Dame as transfer student from Stanford University.

Ryan was not the only player who played well coming off the bench. Senior guard Nikola Djogo had eight points and six rebounds. The Ontario native came into this game averaging less than four points per game.

These two Irish players outscored the Panthers bench by a score of 27-11.

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