Notre Dame Basketball: Keys for Irish to upset Alabama in Round of 64

DAYTON, OHIO - MARCH 16: Cormac Ryan #5 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish reacts in the second half of the game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights during the First Four game of the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 16, 2022 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /

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Paul Atkinson Jr. Notre Dame Basketall (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

3. Play through Paul Atkinson again

If you watched the game against Rutgers you saw how good of a game Paul Atkinson Jr. had for Notre Dame. The big man scored 26 points all in the paint, and also had six rebounds on the night. None bigger than the offensive rebound to put Notre Dame on top for good with 1.4 seconds left in double overtime.

The Irish game plan going in was obviously to attack and feed Atkinson Jr. all night and that should still be the same plan going in against Alabama. Yes, the Alabama coaching staff and players were watching and will be looking at film all day tomorrow as well to scout the Irish, but it worked.

The Alabama defense will be ready for Atkinson down low in the paint and will likely throw different looks at him, probably even some double teams too. If the double team does come that means somebody is open to pass the ball out to if that happens.

I have mentioned it before but Paul Atkinson Jr. is literally the perfect fit for this Notre Dame roster with what he brings to the team. He is a great scorer around the rim, is not afraid to body up on the defense end, and he is great at finding his teammates for looks, especially around the three-point line.

Alabama definitely saw that the game plan coming into the game against Rutgers was to feed Atkinson Jr. and let him go to work, but still feel like this is the plan you should have going into a game against a team in Alabama that is a lot worse when it comes to defensive metrics.

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