Notre Dame cruises past Chicago State in tuneup before Kentucky
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Assistant Editor
We don’t know a whole lot about Mike Brey’s veteran Fighting Irish basketball team seven games into the season.
Other than its a team that would be undefeated if it weren’t for a late second-half meltdown against St. Joseph’s in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, we simply don’t know just how good a team Brey has.
Is it top-25 worthy and a team capable of contending for the Big East Championship?
Only time will tell.
So far, Notre Dame has handled the cupcake opponents that have filled its nonconference schedule with relative ease to date. That’s not intended to be any kind of a slam on Brey’s program as this time of year teams from coast to coast are getting fat on teams they’re supposed to beat in blowout fashion.
The next game on the schedule though will be far from easy.
Defending national champion Kentucky comes to Purcell Pavilion for a 7 p.m. date Thursday with the 6-1 Irish in the SEC/BIG EAST Challenge, a game that can be seen on ESPN2.
Notre Dame warmed up for that big showdown by drilling Chicago State, 92-65, Monday night in Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center.
Guard Jerian Grant equaled his career high with 22 points to lead all scorers. The junior hit 9 of his 11 shots.
“He is taking some of the pressure off himself,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. “He has been reminded that he has plenty of other good players around him. He doesn’t have to force anything. I think he was really ready to go early tonight. We need him to put two halves together. Hopefully he can build on his performance tonight.”
Grant thought he got into a good rhythm early and that set the tone for his productive night.
“I was just getting into a rhythm and not forcing anything and just playing my game,” he said. “I was not putting any pressure on myself It’s not like if I don’t play well we’re going to lose. We have a really good team, we have a lot of guys who can do a lot of things, but I can just go out there and not really think about what I have to do for us to win. I can just play my game.”
Grant, who scored 16 of his game-high 22 in the first half, hit both of his three-point attempts and helped the Irish to a red-hot shooting night from beyond the arc. Notre Dame hit 55 percent of its triples (12-of-22), including a blistering 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) in the opening stanza.
“We made some shots,” Brey said. “I hope that carries over to Thursday because I don’t think we have shot the ball as well as I think we can shoot it.”
“They weren’t really guarding us on the perimeter, and then in the second half they switched it and over exaggerated the perimeter so we could just drive by,” Cooley said. “We just played how the game dictated.”
Joining Grant with double-figure scoring night was Eric Atkins (13 points), Garrick Sherman (12), Jack Cooley (11 to go along with 11 rebounds), Scott Martin (11) and Pat Connaughton (10).
Martin returned to action after missing Saturday’s game against St. Francis (Pa.) due to tendonitis in his knee.
Not only did the Irish shoot the ball from distance, but they finished the evening hitting 61 percent of their shots overall (39-of-59) and finally were good at the foul line. Notre Dame buried 8-of-11 free throws.
The Irish led 27-23 with 8:47 remaining in the first half when they went on a 12-2 run. The hosts led by double digits the rest of the way, including 51-32 at the break.
The bulge grew to 35 with just over four minutes left in the game.
Notre Dame dominated the game in the paint, outscoring Chicago State 30-8 in close.
Chicago State fell to 1-6 on the year.
