No. 22 Notre Dame now 8-1 after 84-57 blowout win over Brown
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Assistant Editor
SOUTH BEND, Ind. ” The 22nd-ranked Irish had four of their five starters score in double figures and a reserve player pour in a team-high 17 points en route to their sixth win in a row, crushing Brown, 84-57 in Purcell Pavilion.
It was freshman forward Cam Biedscheid that led Notre Dame in scoring. He bettered his previous career best of 13 points set against St. Francis (Pa.) last month. Biedscheid has scored in double figures in three of his last four games.
“I’m really getting a lot of help from veteran guys,” said Biedscheid on his recent hot streak. “They really talk to me a lot out there on the floor and it’s really helped keep me focused. I’ve been stepping up and knocking down shots that I’m getting.”
Joining Biedscheid in double figures were Jack Cooley (15 points to go along with his 12 rebounds), Scott Martin (14 points), Jerian Grant (12) and Eric Atkins (10 and a career-high 12 assists).
“How about Eric Atkins for the Heisman? Unbelievable,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said.
The Irish, who upset No. 8 Kentucky 64-50 Nov. 29, were sharp despite not having played a game in about 10 days.
“We had such a big gap between games,” said Martin, who after taking questions from the media in the players’ lounge watch the Heisman Trophy presentation on ESPN with about a handful of his teammates. Needless to say many of them weren’t happy when Manti Te’o didn’t win college football’s coveted award.
“We came out very focused right away. We hit them right away. I think we showed our focus tonight.”
“I’m really pleased, even though the week was broken up with no games and not as much practice early in the week, for us to play as well as we did,” said Brey, whose team improved to 8-1 on the season.
Brey’s Irish committed just three turnovers and dominated the Bears in the paint, outscoring them 38-16 inside. In addition, Notre Dame capitalized on 12 Brown turnovers, turning them into 12 points, while the Bears had no points as a result of Irish miscues.
As expected, the Irish had their way with the undersized Bears, outrebounding them 42-32 which led to a 25-15 advantage in second-chance points.
Notre Dame knocked down nine three-pointers, four of which belonged to Martin, who continues to shoot the ball well.
In his last three games, Martin has drained 9-of-17 triples (52.9 percent).
Brown entered the game leading the Ivy League in three-pointers made with 7.7 per game, but needed 25 long-range shots to end its night with nine that found the bottom of the net.
Notre Dame never trailed in this one.
The Irish outscored Brown 10-0 during a two-minute stretch to lead 42-25 thanks to a Martin triple with 44.2 seconds left in the opening stanza. Martin led all scorers in the opening frame with 11 points.
“I thought that was obviously a huge part of them separating themselves,” said Brown coach Mike Martin about Notre Dame’s run towards the end of the half.
“They continued to wear us down with their strength and experience.”
An earlier 11-0 Notre Dame spurt turned a tie game (at 15) into a 26-15 lead for the hosts at the 6:49 mark of the first half.
“Obviously you’ve got to credit Notre Dame for the runs they made, but I would’ve like to see us hold it together a little better than we did at the end of the first half,” said Martin, whose team is now 3-5 on the season.
The lead was 42-27 at the break and from there the Irish just built on that eventually enjoying 27-point bulge at 79-52 with just over three minutes to play.
Notre Dame will now have a week off as it’s final exam week at the University. The Irish will return to action next Saturday when they meet Purdue in the Crossroads Classic in Indianapolis. It will be the school’s first men’s basketball meeting in the regular season since 1966. The Boilermakers fell to 4-5 on the season after losing Saturday 47-44 at Eastern Michigan.
The Notre Dame-Purdue game tips at 4:30 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN2.
The Crossroads Classic’s first game of the afternoon features No. 1 Indiana against Butler.
NOTRE DAME NUGGETS
– Irish big man Garrick Sherman did not play. Brey said Sherman had a banged up knee, but something just doesn’t seem right about the situation.
Sherman was in uniform on the bench and appeared ready to go in had Brey given him the green light.
“He’s got a hurt knee right now,” Brey said. “His knee is sore. He bruised his knee.”
Tom Knight was Sherman’s replacement off the bench as he saw a career-high 16 minutes of playing time and scored his first four points of the season.
– The Irish matched their second-best offensive output of the season. Last month they scored 84 points in a lopsided win over visiting Monmouth.
– This was the fourth game this season that Notre Dame shot 50 percent or better from the floor. The Irish connected on 34-of-68 shots against the Bears.
– Notre Dame’s three turnovers were its fewest of the season and its 11 steals were a season high.
