PHILADELPHIA – The ball bounced hard and high off the rims, unforgiving all night for Notre Dame. Except, of course, this time it slipped back through the net, the 2-point jumper counting for Demetrius Jackson.
Of course it did. This is how Notre Dame wins basketball games, with second-half turnarounds gutted out as much on stoicism as skill, built on sudden bursts of offense that somehow makes you forgive everything that came before.
The Irish had no business beating Wisconsin. Zero. They couldn’t buy a bucket in the first half, Zach Auguste missing more bunnies than you’ll find at an Easter egg hunt this weekend.
And then all of a sudden there it was –four minutes of offense, two brilliant defensive plays and the Irish are back in the Elite Eight, beating Wisconsin 61-56 in a finish that was as stunning as it was unexpected.
How do they do it? Mike Brey insists it is destiny, that his team denied a shot at the Final Four in a heartbreaking loss to Kentucky last year, is due.
That’s a fine, mystical approach. The more realistic one is that Notre Dame simply finds ways to win, manufacturing just enough out of a 40-minute game to leave opponents wondering what happened and fans breathless. They did the same to Michigan. Ditto Stephen F. Austin, wresting victory from the jaws of defeat all the way to the regional final.
Notre Dame trailed 49-44 when Jackson’s got the sweet kiss from the rims, which means the Irish scored 12 points in the final four minutes – or just seven fewer than they managed in the entire first half.
The boxscore will explain the shots a V.J. Beachem 3-pointer, two free throws from Auguste and then Jackson, Jackson, Jackson.
It doesn’t do justice to the improbability of it all.
Jackson, one of the guys who clanked a free throw against Kentucky, wisely went for the 2-for with under 20 seconds left, scoring on a drive with 19.5 seconds left to cut the Irish lead to 56-55.
And then the guy who has had that missed free throw running through his mind for a year erased it with two defensive plays that simply rewrote the book on how did the Irish do that.
He trapped Nigel Hayes on an inbound, ripping the ball out of his hands with a ferocity a year in the making. Fouled on the play, he drained both free throws to give the Irish the lead. When Wisconsin went for its last gasp effort, he did the same to Bronson Koenig, wresting the ball from the guard’s clutches to make sure that Notre Dame would get a return date with destiny.
Luck of the Irish?
More like really good timing.
Four-minute flurry fuels Notre Dame's rally to Elite Eight over Wisconsin
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire