Catholics versus Convicts? This isn’t football, but instead the hardwood where the Miami Hurricanes traveled to South Bend to face off against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame (16-10, 7-8) snapped the Hurricanes (14-12) three game winning streak in a 87-71 rout of Miami.
Coming off a historic game triple overtime win last Wednesday night against Virginia Tech, it appeared the Hurricanes were finally playing up to their potential since getting back key veterans who have missed time due to injury. Sunday night, the team looked very different. Struggling mightily from the field, Miami went into the half down 48-29. Irish guard T.J. Gibbs was on fire from three and converted on all four of his attempts, catapulting the Notre Dame offense with 14 points at half.
“Well, I thought Notre Dame did a great job of sharing the ball, getting assists, making threes and we had a very hard time, as they have so many 3-point shooters,” Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga told Hurricane Sports.
The Hurricanes kept things close early on until the middle of the first half and actually led by as many as four, until Notre Dame caught fire from behind the arc. Notre Dame made six three pointers to close out the final seven minutes of half number one.
“Giving up 10 threes is more than we wanted to give up in the game and they already had it at halftime,” Larrañaga said.
Keith Stone, who has stepped up since returning to the rotation earlier this month, led all Canes with eight points at half.
Kameron McGusty did not start and came off the bench. Guard Isaiah Wong, who has been on fire of late, got the start.
In the second half it seemed like every time the Hurricanes cut into the lead, Notre Dame would come back quickly and build it right back up. Midway during the second half, Notre Dame capped off a run where they ballooned the lead up to 23, converting on eight of nine straight possessions.
A game ago, Chris Lykes and Isaiah Wong combined for 50 points and in this one, neither shot efficiently. Lykes and Wong combined for just 20 points against Notre Dame and were a combined 0-6 from three.
Notre Dame shot 45 percent from the three-point line and connected on 14 threes, compared to Miami’s five. The Fighting Irish outrebounded Miami 42 to 35.
Gibbs and John Mooney led all scorers each with 19 points for Notre Dame. Harlond Beverly, Isaiah Wong and DJ Vasiljevic all scored 12 points each.
Miami travels to Atlanta for a matchup against Georgia Tech on Saturday at 8 p.m.