Notre Dame upsets #8 Kentucky 64-50
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Assistant Editor
NOTRE DAME, Ind. ” The way things are going for Notre Dame these days, it’s surprising someone with Irish ties didn’t win the mega-jackpot in last night’s Powerball drawing. Perhaps the two winners do indeed have Notre Dame ties, but they haven’t come forward yet.
You’d have to have been living under a rock not to know that good fortune has been flowing in mega-amounts throughout Notre Dame Nation over the last three months.
As if Brian Kelly’s undefeated and soon-to-be-playing in the national championship game team didn’t offer enough memorable moments after running the table in the regular season, Mike Brey’s Irish joined the party tonight by knocking off the eighth-ranked and defending national champions Kentucky Wildcats.
Of course, the face of Irish football, Manti Te’o, was part of the sellout crowd of 9,149 in Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center that witnessed Notre Dame handle mighty Kentucky with relative ease, 64-50 in the SEC/BIG EAST Challenge.
After being recognized at halftime with some of his teammates for finishing the regular season as the nation’s top-rated team both on the field and in the classroom and with a Sportsmanship of the Year Award at one of the second-half television timeouts, Te’o helped lead the Irish student body onto the floor as they stormed the court in celebration as time expired.
“This win gives us a lot of confidence, and helps us realize that we are one of the better teams in the country,” Irish guard Jerian Grant said.
This was a game that Grant and his teammates had been looking forward to since it was announced.
“Tonight was a big night,” guard Eric Atkins said. “We were ready all summer just talking about this game and getting up for this game. It doesn’t surprise me the energy we brought tonight.”
And don’t think this was some kind of fluke with an unranked team beating a top-10 team because it wasn’t. Notre Dame led by double figures for the last 21:48 of the game and led from the 10:39 mark of the first stanza on.
“We imposed our will on them,” said Irish coach Mike Brey, whose team improved to 7-1 overall on the season and will definitely return to the top-25 when the rankings come out early next week.
Notre Dame is a phenomenal 46-0 at home in the month of November and 41-1 in the last 42 home games under Brey.
Kentucky coach John Calipari was very disappointed that his team didn’t compete much better in its first true road game of the season.
“I expected that we wouldn’t play well,” Calipari said. “I’m disappointed that we didn’t compete. They beat us to balls, under the basket, and we just didn’t compete.
“We didn’t execute and we didn’t play together. There were a lot of things we didn’t do.”
As has been the case throughout the first eight games this season, Notre Dame got a balanced offensive attack, led by Atkins’ 16 points.
Big man Jack Cooley was his usual beast of a self as he more than held his own against Kentucky’s big and ultra-athletic front line. Cooley recorded the 19th double-double of his career and sixth of the season, scoring 13 points and grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds.
Cooley and his front court mates were impressive, outrebounding the visitors 33-27.
“Rebounding was something that we were emphasizing all week going into this game, so it was just us taking care of our business really,” Cooley said. “I am really proud in the way that we played in terms of boards. Them having the size and athleticism that they have, the way we dominated was great to see.”
Joining Atkins and Cooley in scoring in double figures was Grant (13 points) and freshman Cameron Biedscheid (10). Biedscheid was very productive off the bench. He hit 4-of-6 shots from the floor, including 2-of-3 three-pointers in 17 minutes.
On this night, Notre Dame really gave Coach Cal’s kids a lesson in Basketball 101 halfcourt style.
The Irish were very efficient running their offense. The knocked down 48 percent of their shots (24-of-50), including 53.3 percent from beyond the arc (8-of-15) and in a lot of ways beat UK at its own game by outscoring the Cats 13-6 in points off turnovers and holding a 6-4 edge in fastbreak points, as well. Furthermore, Notre Dame equalled UK in points in the paint at 26 and outscored the visitors in second-chance points (8-7).
The Irish led 36-25 at halftime and used a 10-0 run during a 2:24 stretch in the second stanza to take complete control 55-35 at the 10:25 mark.
Kentucky did make a mini-run to get within 60-50 with 2:35 left to play, but Cooley scored on a outback with just under two minutes to play and that was it for the Cats.
UK really struggled shooting the ball. It finished hitting 19-of-47 shots, good for 40.4 percent, but had it not been for that late little spurt, the Cats’ shooting percentage would’ve been pretty dismal. They went a good majority of the game having made just one triple. UK ended the contest 4-of-14 from three-point range.
“We were just out of control,” Calipari said. “We were shooting balls off the shot clock on drives.
“My whole thing is you can play poorly and still defend and compete. In other words, two teams just battling it out and Notre Dame wins. That is not what this was. This was Notre Dame throwing around Kentucky and winning by as much as they need to win by. That’s what the game was.”
The Cats were led by Wright State transfer Julius Mays, a Marion, Ind. native. He finished with 16 points.
“We just got outcompeted today,” Mays admitted. “They played hard. They played harder than us. I think (Notre Dame) played harder on offense. They played harder on defense. Just all-around, they competed harder than we did.”
Calipari’s Cats fell to 4-2 on the season. Is it time to panic in Big Blue Nation? No. This team will once again be a force come March, but will have some hiccups over the next four months. UK is still learning to play at this level. It doesn’t play the kind of defense yet that Calipari expects night in and night out and has yet to figure out how to play to its strengths, which you can bet it will over time.
“It was the first true road game, a bunch of young kids who are trying to figure it out,” Calipari said. “What I hope is that they figure out you have to play together.”
For Notre Dame, this is a club that many people thought would be 7-1 at this juncture. Of course, those people didn’t think the loss would be to St. Joseph’s. Instead, the Irish have a signature win.
As Brey put it, his team feels as though it got the St. Joseph’s loss back.
This is a Notre Dame team that will win a bunch of games this season. It won’t win many people over as far as the wow factor is concerned, but the Irish know how to play and play the game like they’ve been around the block a few times, which they have and it definitely shows.
After a crazy stretch of games, that included six in less than two weeks, the Irish will enjoy some time off from game action. Notre Dame won’t return to action until Dec. 8 when it hosts Brown.
