Notre Dame rebounded nicely from their first conference loss of the season on Saturday afternoon with a 84-66 victory over Syracuse in front of a home crowd at Purcell Pavilion. The Irish jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they coasted to their sixth win in seven tries in ACC play after dropping their first conference loss Wednesday night to Florida State.
The Irish were lead by VJ Beachem’s career high 30 points to go with seven rebounds while knocking down six three pointers. Beachem was one of four Notre Dame starters to score in double figures. Bonzie Colson chipped in 14, Matt Farrell 15, and Steve Vasturia 11.
Unlike Notre Dame’s previous five wins in ACC, no heroics were needed this time around. The Irish have played nail bitter after nail bitter so far in conference play but that wasn’t the case on Saturday afternoon. The Irish coasted to an 18 point victory over the Orange.
Notre Dame improved to 17-3 on the season overall and will likely stay ranked relatively close to their current 15th ranking despite their narrow loss to Florida State earlier this week.
The Game Was Over When
This one, unlike every other Notre Dame ACC contest this year, was never in doubt. The Irish lead wire to wire essentially with the only Syracuse lead of the day coming seconds into the game at 2-0. From that point on, it was all Notre Dame as the Irish now sit at 6-1 on the season.
Notre Dame Basketball Players of the Game
- VJ Beachem – Beachem’s career high continues his sea-saw season of ups and downs. If Notre Dame is able to get more consistent play from Beachem at a level near what we saw on Saturday afternoon, this team could easily make another NCAA Tournament run like we’ve seen the past two seasons.
- Matt Farrell – Farrell came up just short of a career high in assists with 9 on the afternoon including one of the prettiest plays of the season (see above). Farrell’s 15 points were also second on the squad. Farrell has now scored in double digits in every ACC contest this season for Notre Dame.
- Bonzie Colson – Another game, another double-double for Notre Dame’s undersized big-man. Colson picked up 14 rebounds to go with his 14 points for his 12th double-double of the season. The 14 rebounds were tied for Colson’s second highest output of the season.
Up Next for Notre Dame Basketball
After three straight road games before today’s contest, Notre Dame returns to action on Tuesday when they host #16 Virginia at home. Game time is set for 8:00 PM and will be broadcast on The ACC Digital Network (available via Watch ESPN). The Cavaliers are coming off a 62-49 victory over Georgia Tech this afternoon.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
Glad to see the Irish play a more complete game this time from start to finish. This time they didn’t let up. Hope that continues. Hopefully Beachem continues his play at a high level. He was quiet for a lot of the season but has been starting to score more points lately. They could use another scoring threat.
I like this Irish team. IMHO it’s just a little short of that great squad from 2 years ago when they had Connaughton and Grant. If Beachem continues his level of play, along with Colson, Farrell and Vasturia, this team can go far in the ACC and the tournament.
Nationals or Orange another win on the building impressive Irish resume.
Notre Dame is 5-3 against the RPI Top 50. Only Florida State (9 wins) has more victories against RPI Top 50 teams within the ACC conference.