Hot-shooting Notre Dame drubs Wichita State to reach Elite Eight
CLEVELAND — Breaking down Notre Dame's 81-70 victory against Wichita State in the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinals at Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday night.
WHAT WE'LL BE TALKING ABOUT: Notre Dame's shooting. The Irish made 56% of their field goals and were 9-of-19 (47%) from three-point range. Sophomore guard Demetrius Jackson was a shooting star. Jackson finished with 20 points, knocking down four three-pointers and finishing at the rim. Senior swingman Pat Connaughton also was a force for ND, collecting 16 points and 10 rebounds. Notre Dame had four players score in double figures.
"Demetrius was in an attack frame of mind, Irish coach Mike Brey said. "This group is cruel, and I love it, it's a great trait. They're really cruel competitors. When they feel a little blood in the water, as Pat said, at one of the timeouts, they go for it again and I think that's why they're special and playing for a regional championship on Saturday."
"We really do a great job sharing the ball, finding a great shot every possession," Jackson said. "The guys step up and make huge shots. It's a really fun way to play when we play the game that way so we want to continue doing that and continue getting better."
THE BIG PICTURE: Third-seeded Notre Dame (32-5) advances to the regional final Saturday against the winner of Thursday's late game between top-seeded Kentucky and No. 5 West Virginia. The No. 7 Shockers finish their season at 30-5. The Irish will be bidding to earn their second Final Four appearance in school history. The other came in 1978. They last made the Elite Eight in 1979. WSU was denied the chance to earn the third Final Four slot in school history, the others coming in 1965 and 2013.
Notre Dame is in the Elite Eight for the first time since the 1979 tournament, when it fell to eventual champion Michigan State.
THE DECIDING PLAY: After Wichita State led by a point for 12 seconds four minutes into the second half on a Darius Carter layup, the Irish turned to the white-hot Jackson. He drilled a pair of three-pointers on consecutive possessions to provide breathing room, and more.
"Yeah, we felt good, obviously battling back," Wichita State guard Fred VanVleet said. "We started off the first half terrible with being down 18 to 5 or whatever it was. So battling all the way back, we wanted to open up the second half in a good way and we did that. And then they made some threes, but I think we gave them too many easy looks inside. We can live with the threes but they just shot layup after layup, it seemed like, and we just for whatever reason couldn't stop them."
BREAKOUT PLAYER: Freshman forward Bonzie Colson chipped in six points and two boards to give the undersized Irish and unexpected lift up front.
KEY STAT: Notre Dame hit 16 of 19 shots to build a 70-56 edge with just over six minutes remaining. For all intents and purposes, the Shockers were sunk.
"We really do a great job sharing the ball, finding a great shot every possession," Jackson said. "The guys step up and make huge shots. It's a really fun way to play when we play the game that way so we want to continue doing that and continue getting better."
AND-1: Fred VanVleet did his best to keep the Shockers season alive, striking for 25 points and six rebounds. Carter too sparked WSU finishing with 22 points and eight rebounds.
