Notre Dame Rallies For ACC Tournament Victory Over Wake Forest

For awhile it seemed like Notre Dame's season was ready to come to a crashing halt, but the Fighting Irish did to Wake Forest what has happened to them this season, and that is rally from a big deficit to earn the win.

Notre Dame struggled on both ends of the floor as Wake Forest built up big leads, and the Irish were down double digits as late as the 6:06 mark in the second half. The game-winning sequence, however, involved great plays on both ends of the court.

Captain Cormac Ryan blocked a Daivien Williamson with just over three seconds left, recovered the ball, pushed it up the court and found a trailing Trey Wertz, who knocked down the game winner from deep behind the three-point line to send the Irish into the next round.

🚨 GOOOOOOOOOT IT 🚨@NDmbb’s Trey Wentz drains the buzzer beater to down Wake Forest at the #ACCTourney!#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/dM3OZWi6X7
— The Fighting Irish (@FightingIrish) March 10, 2021

The Irish fell behind 21-7 early as it failed to knock down shots or make stops on the other end. Veteran big man Juwan Durham got hot on the offensive end, scoring 10 points during a 23-12 Irish run that got it to within three points at 33-30.

Notre Dame's defensive woes continued as the Deacons answered with an 11-2 run of their own. Ryan scored the final five points of the opening half to make it a 44-37 game heading into halftime. Notre Dame was fortunate to be down just seven at that point considering how poor the defense had played and the fact Wake Forest out-rebounded the Irish 23-13 in the opening half, including grabbing 10 offensive boards.

The second half started much like the first, with Notre Dame showing little effort on the defensive end of the court, and Wake Forest built the lead up to 15 (61-46) with 14 minutes left in the game.

Back-to-back triples from Nikola Djogo and Dane Goodwin gave the Irish some life, and Goodwin's basket following a Wake turnover finally got the deficit within single digits just under the 11 minute mark. Wake Forest weathered that storm and got the lead back up to 12, before Durham sparked the offense on both ends of the court.

Ian DuBose tried to take Durham to the rim but the Irish big man blocked the shot, which was recovered by Prentiss Hubb, who pushed the ball down the court. Hubb took the ball to the rim and fed Nate Laszewski, who drew a double team before dishing it to Durham, who dunked it home to cut the lead to eight at 75-67.

Laszewski got in on the defensive action on the ensuing possession, blocking Williamson and starting another Irish break, which Hubb ended with a layup right down the lane.

Wertz and Hubb tied it up with back-to-back triples, and Hubb put the Irish up 77-75 with a pair of free throws. Carter Whitt tied the game with just :50 seconds left, and the Irish missed a chance to win it when Djogo missed a three, which set up the final sequence that ended with Wertz nailing the game winner.

Durham was the star, putting forth arguably the best game of his career. Durham tied for the team lead with 16 points to go with a team best 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. Wertz also had 16 points thanks to him going 4-5 from deep. All 14 of Hubb's points came in the second half. Ryan had an outstanding all around game, adding seven rebounds and the crucial block to go with his 14 points.

The victory gets Notre Dame a shot to play North Carolina tomorrow night (9:00 PM Easter) in the second round. North Carolina beat Notre Dame 66-65 in Chapel Hill in the only meeting between the two teams this season.

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