Miles Kelly has scored 30 points in the first half of Tech’s last two games, but only six in the second half. (photo by Ross Obley)
At 0-5, Notre Dame has already equaled its ACC loss total from last season.
Good luck convincing Josh Pastner their Irish are down.
Three of Notre Dame’s conference losses have come by a total of nine points. They have six graduate students, the most in Division I. They returned the most career points in Mike Brey’s 23 seasons as head coach. Contrast that with Georgia Tech, the ACC’s youngest team:
Career points entering season
- Notre Dame – 5,849
- Georgia Tech – 2,356
Six-foot-10 super-senior Nate Laszewski, Notre Dame’s leader in scoring (13.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.7 rpg), can be a particularly tricky matchup, able to run off picks for threes or set “ghost screens” and get sneaky dive-cuts to the rim. He’s one of the cogs of a four-out offense that can beguile teams with pick-and-pops, pick-and-slips and plus-one passes.
The Fighting Irish no longer have first-round NBA Draft pick Blake Wesley or point guard Prentiss Hubb, who was a perennially pesky matchup for Tech, but they did welcome back 6-6 super-senior Dane Goodwin (11.6 ppg, 45.1% 3pt.), a streaky swingman whom Pastner describes as the key to their team. He’s a cunning scorer who thrives off baseline out-of-bounds plays while also lurking in the middle of zones. Six-foot-5 Cormac Ryan is a similarly crafty scorer, and 6-4 freshman J.J. Starling, a former McDonald’s All-American, is an athletic, downhill playmaker who scored 20 points against Florida State.
It may strain belief for a team that’s 0-5 in the ACC, but Notre Dame ranks third in the ACC in three-point percentage (37.7%). So expect the Irish to let it fly on Tuesday.
“We’re probably going to have to make 13 to 14 threes to win league games. That’s just how we are built offensively right now,” Brey said recently. The Yellow Jackets can’t overcommit on help or get caught in long close-outs. More importantly, they’ll have to be prepared for an Irish team that will play with far more urgency than their record suggests.
*****
Georgia Tech may be facing the most balanced team in America.
Notre Dame is 8-8.
They’ve scored 1,109 points on the season.
They’ve allowed 1,109 points.
*****
The Yellow Jackets also come to South Bend looking to reverse a recent rash of turnovers. Three of Georgia Tech’s highest turnover rates of the season have come in the last four games:
Opponent – TO Rate
- Florida State – 19.6%
- North Alabama – 20.6%
- Miami (FL) – 21.1%
- Virginia – 35.2%
“We’ve just had too many live ball turnovers. The live ball actions, we’re not being as sound,” Pastner said on his radio show Monday.
They may get some relief Tuesday: Notre Dame only forces 8.7 turnovers per game, the second lowest average in the nation. The Irish rarely gamble, pick up high, or ambush ballhandlers from the weak side. They also rarely turn it over themselves – their offensive turnover rate ranks sixth nationally. Tech will need to recapture its sound passing and strong ballhandling, both in the halfcourt and in transition.
