Notre Dame Hot Streak Continues As Irish Dominate Wake Forest
Notre Dame has made its living during the long and successful Mike Brey tenure by thriving on offense, and while its offense is heating up it is the defense that fueled the 79-58 win over Wake Forest. In fact, it has been the defense that has sparked Notre Dame's hot streak, which has resulted in the Irish now winning four of its last five games.
The offense took awhile to get going, with the guard heavy lineup struggling to knock down shots early. Notre Dame's guards went just 8-21 in the opening half, with lead guard Prentiss Hubb going 0-3 and Dane Goodwin and Trey Wertz combining to go just 4-12.
With the perimeter players struggling the Fighting Irish bigs stepped up their game and gave the Irish a 35-32 lead going into the break. Senior Juwan Durham led the offense with 11 points in the first half, and the Irish scored 12 points off offensive rebounds.
Wake Forest knocked down 5-11 shots from deep in the opening half, which is what kept the Deacons in the game through the first twenty.
Hubb and the guards took the gave over in the second half on both ends of the court. The junior guard took just 18 seconds to get on the board in the second half, knocking down a triple from the right wing off a post feed from Durham.
Durham and Goodwin went to the rim on back-to-back possessions as part of Notre Dame outscoring Wake Forest 16-0 to start the half as the Irish overwhelmed the Deacons.
It happened quickly, as the Irish turned a 35-32 halftime lead into a 46-32 lead in just two and a half minutes.
Wake Forest never challenged the Irish, who continued to make stops on the defensive end and continued to knock down shots, burying the Deacons.
Notre Dame's aggressiveness on both ends of the court was reminiscent of how it dominated Pittsburgh for 40 minutes the last time the Irish took the court. That gamed ended up a convincing 84-58 victory for the Irish, and Notre Dame's thrashing of Wake Forest was every bit as impressive.
Durham had arguably the best game of his career, leading the Irish with 18 points to go with 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.
Notre Dame got balanced complementary play throughout the lineup, as Hubb had a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists, Cormac Ryan scored points, marking the third straight game he's been in double figures.
Forward Nate Laszewski came into the game as Notre Dame's leading scorer, but he took just six shots and scored six points. Laszewski did his best work on defense and on the glass, as he led the Irish with 10 rebounds.
Notre Dame knocked down 18-31 (58.1%) from the field during the second half, including 6-10 (60%) from behind the arc. Notre Dame also dominated Wake Forest on the glass, out-rebounding the Deacons 44-31, while holding them to just 10-34 (29.4%) from the floor in the second half.
Notre Dame will look to keep its hot streak going on Saturday, Feb. 6 when it hits the road to take on Georgia Tech (8-6) in Atlanta.
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