Pace: 63. Fairly slow compared to national average, but about what we would expect for these teams.
Efficiency:
Notre Dame--111
Miami--100
What a tale of two halves. Overall, my takeaway was less about Notre Dame's hot then cold offense, but the defense they played. ND's offense is SO good, that just a pretty good defensive effort is going to get you pretty far, even in postseason play. I feel like that's what we saw tonight, a very hot 1H from the offense, but the defense played well enough that even they could hold on even through a very cold 2H. The defense has really shown up in the last couple games.
Offense--Vasturia, Jackson and Grant were the anchors tonight. Vasturia was the MVP, shooting 4-for-8 from the field (but 3-for-6 from 3's), plus 5-for-6 from FT's en-route to 16 points, a team high. He also contributed four assists, four rebounds and three steals. Grant had 13 points, six rebound and six assists. Overall, five ND players finished in double-figures, but Connaughton gets a "check-minus" for four turnovers, and Auguste a "check-minus" for 3-for-9 from FT's.
Defense--Recently, ND has let big men get loose on them, but shut down every else. Tonight, two big men from Miami earned their own, but it still wasn't enough to propel them to a win. 7-footer Tonye Jekiri picked up 11 points on 3-for-6 shooting, in addition to 11 rebounds (three offensive). ND did enough on everyone else though to preserve the win.
Identity Stats:
1) Effective Field Goal Percentage[/I]: 59.3 percent. About season average, but as we alluded to, a tale of two halves. ND earned a 79 percent eFG% in the first half, only to falter strongly in the second. Still, that ended up nearing their season average of 58.6 percent, which is No. 1 nationally.
2) Turnover Rate[/I]: 12 TO's in 63 possessions, a 19 percent turnover rate (about one every 4-5 possessions.) This is much higher than ND's season average of 14.3 percent (about one every 7 possessions). In addition to the poor shooting, this might've been what really led to Miami's second half comeback. ND only had 3 TO's in the first half, but committed 9 in the second. A TO is such a killer, at least if you get up a horrible shot, there's a chance you get fouled or get an offensive rebound. Committing a turnover has no potential positive outcome.
3) Free throw differential[/I]: 27 FTA's to 43 FGA's is a 63 percent free throw rate, kind of insane. Especially considering ND didn't get to the line much in the first half. This makes 3 out of the last 4 games that ND has gotten to the line at a really high rate, the exception being the regular season finale against Clemson.
Miami earned 25 FTA's to 55 FGA's, a 45 percent free throw rate. This is actually really good, but ND was able to do better, so checkmark here for the Irish.
Summary: Tremendous offensive first half, combined with an all-around defensive effort, helped get ND to the next round tonight. If they play defense like they have the last few games, they don't even have to have that good of a first half to win against Duke tomorrow night--they just can't have that cold of a second half.
Efficiency:
Notre Dame--111
Miami--100
What a tale of two halves. Overall, my takeaway was less about Notre Dame's hot then cold offense, but the defense they played. ND's offense is SO good, that just a pretty good defensive effort is going to get you pretty far, even in postseason play. I feel like that's what we saw tonight, a very hot 1H from the offense, but the defense played well enough that even they could hold on even through a very cold 2H. The defense has really shown up in the last couple games.
Offense--Vasturia, Jackson and Grant were the anchors tonight. Vasturia was the MVP, shooting 4-for-8 from the field (but 3-for-6 from 3's), plus 5-for-6 from FT's en-route to 16 points, a team high. He also contributed four assists, four rebounds and three steals. Grant had 13 points, six rebound and six assists. Overall, five ND players finished in double-figures, but Connaughton gets a "check-minus" for four turnovers, and Auguste a "check-minus" for 3-for-9 from FT's.
Defense--Recently, ND has let big men get loose on them, but shut down every else. Tonight, two big men from Miami earned their own, but it still wasn't enough to propel them to a win. 7-footer Tonye Jekiri picked up 11 points on 3-for-6 shooting, in addition to 11 rebounds (three offensive). ND did enough on everyone else though to preserve the win.
Identity Stats:
1) Effective Field Goal Percentage[/I]: 59.3 percent. About season average, but as we alluded to, a tale of two halves. ND earned a 79 percent eFG% in the first half, only to falter strongly in the second. Still, that ended up nearing their season average of 58.6 percent, which is No. 1 nationally.
2) Turnover Rate[/I]: 12 TO's in 63 possessions, a 19 percent turnover rate (about one every 4-5 possessions.) This is much higher than ND's season average of 14.3 percent (about one every 7 possessions). In addition to the poor shooting, this might've been what really led to Miami's second half comeback. ND only had 3 TO's in the first half, but committed 9 in the second. A TO is such a killer, at least if you get up a horrible shot, there's a chance you get fouled or get an offensive rebound. Committing a turnover has no potential positive outcome.
3) Free throw differential[/I]: 27 FTA's to 43 FGA's is a 63 percent free throw rate, kind of insane. Especially considering ND didn't get to the line much in the first half. This makes 3 out of the last 4 games that ND has gotten to the line at a really high rate, the exception being the regular season finale against Clemson.
Miami earned 25 FTA's to 55 FGA's, a 45 percent free throw rate. This is actually really good, but ND was able to do better, so checkmark here for the Irish.
Summary: Tremendous offensive first half, combined with an all-around defensive effort, helped get ND to the next round tonight. If they play defense like they have the last few games, they don't even have to have that good of a first half to win against Duke tomorrow night--they just can't have that cold of a second half.
