Notre Dame basketball: 3 takeaways from crucial close win over Virginia

2. Nate Laszewski stays hot and has another good scoring game

Nate Laszewski had been heating up on the offensive side of the floor lately and that continued on Saturday. The senior big man came into Saturday having scored in double figures in two of the last three games against Howard, and Wednesday night against NC State with a team-high 18 points.

Laszewski basically took over right where he left off against Virginia where he finished with 16 points which tied for the team-high with fellow senior Dane Goodwin. The big man finished shooting 5-8 from the floor and 3-5 from behind the three-point line. If you follow Notre Dame basketball this is the Nate Laszewski that fans saw last season and it seems like it has arrived now this year.

Earlier in the year if Laszewski would miss a shot or two from three he would become timid at times and not take advantage of open looks, but as of late he is being a lot more aggressive in his shots and also taking the ball to the rim with more force and authority. You can really tell that he is playing with a lot more confidence here recently with hunting his shot on a regular basis.

If Notre Dame is able to get this type of contribution out of Nate Laszewski on a more regular basis this makes Notre Dame a much harder team to match up with when you factor in guys like Goodwin and Wesley already putting up big numbers.