Notre Dame is on the brink of not making the ACC Tournament — that’s how bad the season has been. It got damn disastrous on Saturday with a 73-68 loss to the Pitt Panthers.
Shrewsberry needs to be shown the door — this is too much.
Late Irish Flurry Falls Short in 68-73 Loss at Pitt
PITTSBURGH – On Saturday, the Fighting Irish (12-15, 3-11) suffered a 68-73 loss to the Pittsburgh Panthers (10-17, 3-11) inside the Petersen Events Center. Both teams struggled to get going offensively in the first half, then both found some rhythm in the second. The Irish scored a first-half season low of 20 and trailed by three at the half. They then erased an 11-point second-half deficit to claim a lead with 6:30 remaining before a big 15-3 Pitt run gave the home team some cushion. The Irish then mounted a late offensive flurry to pull within three in the final seconds, until the final buzzer sounded with a five-point loss.
Pitt shot 63.6 percent from the floor and 60.0 percent from three in the second half. The Panthers finished the day shooting 22-49 (44.9 percent) and 11-24 (45.8 percent) from deep.
The Irish finished the night shooting 26-65 (40.0 percent) from the floor and 9-38 from three (23.7 percent), but also had a better offensive second half. Putting up 48 points in the second 20 minutes of play, the Irish shot 50.0 percent from the floor and 35.0 percent from three. The 38 three attempts marked a season high.
Cole Certa finished the night with a team-best 16 points; 14 of which came in the second half and 11 in the final 1:25.
Logan Imes and Ryder Frost each poured in 12 points apiece for the Irish. Imes also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out three assists. Frost finished the night shooting 4-5 from behind the arc.
Leading all players with 13 rebounds, Carson Towt impressed on the boards while also scoring seven points and dishing out a team-best four assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Notre Dame defense held Pitt to a 1-10 shooting start and forced four Panther turnovers early; however, the Irish got off to a cold shooting start as well. Just on the other side of the under-12 media timeout, the Irish trailed 7-12 as Pitt jumped ahead behind three triples.
After a 3-16 Notre Dame start from the field, Sir Mohammed subbed in and was immediately aggressive, attacking the rim, scoring four quick points to keep up with a Pittsburgh three.
A short 7-0 Irish spurt, fueled by Ryder Frost and Logan Imes, allowed them to retake the lead at 16-15, but Pitt immediately countered with a 6-0 run.
Notre Dame only registered two more buckets for the remainder of the half – a Certa jumper in the paint and a Brady Koehler drive and slam in the final 30 seconds.
The negative – Notre Dame recorded its lowest first-half total of the season at 20 points. The positive – the Irish only trailed 20-23 at the half. The Blue & Gold were 9-31 (29.0%) from the field and just 2-18 (11.1%) from three compared to Pitt’s 8-27 (29.6%) and 5-14 (35.7%) from deep.
A four-shot possession (offensive boards from Towt x2 and Imes) led to a three-pointer from Imes to make it 24-26. Yet, Pitt started the 2nd half 4-4 from the field, recording an 11-2 run to give them their largest lead at 37-26 with 15:04 remaining.
Logan Imes recorded five straight points to make it 33-39, moving his in-game points total to double figures. Shortly after, Shrewsberry drilled a corner three to make it a one-possession game again with 11:30 on the clock.
A 5-0 Pitt scoring run was immediately countered by an 8-0 Irish run sparked by a Certa three and five straight from Mohammed. It gave the Irish their first lead of the game since 6:14 left in the first half, as the offense began to churn, making 6-7 from the field.
A Towt dunk made it 49-48 ND with 6:29 remaining, but Pitt’s Siulepa and Indrusaitis combined for a 10-0 run to put the Panthers back in front at 58-49 with 3:58 left.
A corner three from Frost would break up the Panther run to bring Notre Dame within six, but Pitt would follow with another 5-0 spurt to make it 63-52 with 1:32 left.
Seven straight points from Certa made it an eight-point ballgame, but a pair of Panther free throws would make it a 10-point game yet again with one-minute remaining.
A Frost three was followed by a Panther fast break dunk, but the Irish weren’t out of it quite yet. With 34 seconds left, Certa banked in his second three of the night to make it a two-possession game at 63-69.
The Certa hot hand continued, driving to the basket for a three-point play as he finished at the rim and knocked down the free throw to bring the Irish within three at 66-69 with 23 seconds on the clock.
The Irish and Panthers swapped baskets to keep within three, but two more Panther free throws would close out the 68-73 loss in Pittsburgh.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame returns to South Bend for its final homestand of the regular season, which encompasses three games. First up, the Irish welcome a top-3 team in the nation in Duke on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. on ESPN. That game is officially a sell-out. Then, Notre Dame hosts NC State on Feb. 28 and Stanford on March 4.
