Notre Dame Basketball: 3 takeaways from win over Rutgers in First Four

3.  Nate Laszewski was great coming off the bench

Not many teams have a 6’10 forward who can score at the basket, or be able to knock down threes from distance. Notre Dame does have that in Nate Laszewski. The senior big man was in the starting rotation throughout the year but injured his Ieg against NC State that forced him to miss a few games in February. Ever since returning, he has been coming off the bench and really has played well providing the Irish with a spark coming off the bench.

Laszewski was a huge spark against Rutgers finishing with 18 points and 6 rebounds. He also shot 6-8 from the floor, and 50% from three-point range knocking down two huge 3-point field goals. I am sure he would love to be in the starting rotation, but what is cool is there never seemed to be any pouting, or dragging the situation to the court. Listening to him talk after games he really is just trying to do whatever to win and has a great team-first attitude.

Nate Laszewski being 6’10 allows for Notre Dame to sometimes go smaller throughout their games and they did it at times against Rutgers. Not every other big man is comfortable coming out and guarding on the perimeter and that is a huge advantage for Notre Dame when they put Laszewski at the five to give fellow big man Paul Atkinson Jr. some time to catch his breath and get a breather on the bench. The eighteen points for Laszewski coming off the bench outscored the whole Rutgers bench which had four different players enter the contest.

Look for Laszewski to build off this great game on Friday against the Crimson Tide.