Notre Dame spotted Duke an early lead on Monday and was never able to fully recover. The Irish feel behind early and trailed by 12 at the half before making several second half runs. They were never able to get closer than 62-63 before eventually falling 74-84 to drop their third game in a row and fourth in five games.
The Irish continued their downward trend in free throw shooting. After leading the nation in free throw shooting earlier this year, Notre Dame has struggled at the line in ACC play. Monday night they connected on just 19 of 28 attempts. Duke, meanwhile, nailed an impressive 23 of 24 attempts.
Notre Dame was cold from three point range as well Monday night hitting just 7 of 21 attempts. Steve Vasturia especially struggled shooting the ball again tonight missing all five of this three point attempts and making just one of nine attempts overall. He ended the night with just 7 points after putting up just five points in Saturday’s loss to Georgia Tech.
VJ Beachem meanwhile continued his up and down season with a strong performance. Beachem led the Irish with 20 points but struggled mightily on the defensive end of the floor. Beachem scored a career high 30 points last week in a win over Syracuse before posting just 3 points in the loss to UVA and then bouncing back Saturday with 23 against Tech.
With Monday night’s loss, the Irish have now lost three in row – UVA, Georgia Tech, and now Duke. After winning their first five ACC games, Notre Dame sits at 6-4 with a road contest against North Carolina on the horizon this coming weekend.
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
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