Notre Dame advanced to the Maui Invitational Championship with a convincing 92-53 victory over LSU on Tuesday night. The Irish were lead by T.J. Gibbs’s career high 26 points and never were seriously challenged by LSU who looked overmatched by the #13 ranked Fighting Irish. The win pushes Notre Dame to the championship game of the Maui Invitational tomorrow where they will face #Wichita State.
Matt Farrell pitched in 17 points and 7 assists and senior All-American Bonzie Colson picked up another double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. The easy victory let Mike Brey exercise his bench with 12 players seeing game action last night.
Tip-off tonight for Notre Dame’s showdown with the Shockers is 10:00 PM ET and the game will be broadcast by ESPN 2.
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
Shock the Shockers, Irish!!!
But, these Maui games are sure making me tired…
Glad to see Brey going to the bench more. It seems over the years as Brey continues coaching he’s made little improvements in his coaching strategy that keeps ND improving. When he first started he was a straight X’s and O’s guy living off the 3 point shot and quick strike offenses. Then he instituted the burn offense about 10 years ago that worked to great effect, and he started making in game adjustments. Then they started playing better defense and rebounding better and now he seems more comfortable going to his bench. I remember a time he rarely used more than 6 or 7 players in most games. A sign of a good coach, that can make adaptations to his coaching style to make the team better, and he’s still a great X’s and O’s guy.
ND should come away with the win tonight. It will be next week’s test against Michigan State that should show us just how good the Irish are right now. They will be tough but I think the Irish have a decent shot at taking them down. Unlike the FB team, the men’s BB team has won the big primetime games.