Pace: 65 possessions. This is very slow, consistent with ND's pace all season.
Efficiency:
Notre Dame--126
Boston College--83
The Irish had been on a downward swing the last three games...Well, this was a complete 180 degree turnaround tonight.
What a performance. As we said multiple times in the game thread, yes, Boston College is not that good...but this was a DEMOLITION. And on the road!
Michigan State beat Boston College by 31 on a neutral court earlier this season. Duke just beat them 17 in Conte Forum.
Notre Dame just beat them by 28 IN Conte Forum. Now you don't wanna get too much into comparing scores, I know I know....only noting that this was a convincing win. This was how a really good team should look against a Boston College.
Jackson was all over the place. Forcing steals, scoring in transition and from deep on pull-up three's, dishing nine assists. I wrote something in the magazine about how his worst games this year usually translated to ND losses - there's a strong correlation between his play and the Irish outcomes. Well he killed it tonight, and the Irish won big.
All five starters finished in double figures. And hey, there was a Rex Pflueger sighting in meaningful minutes! There was a great sequence where he was isolated against a BC player at the top of the key, and the BC player couldn't dribble around him - Rex stayed in front of his man. So then BC tried to screen Rex but came too hard, and Pflueger drew the offensive foul. It was an encouraging few minutes for the kid, and I think if he could play more confidently considering the limited clock he's been getting, we'd see him look better on offense.
Also, another important note - Boston College only grabbed six offensive rebounds. And that's during a really poor shooting night. Brey has talked about how important it was to protect the defensive glass more, and the Irish did that tonight.
Offense--126 is 1.26 points per possession. Again, outstanding.
As I usually note with road games, my rule of thumb when you're away from home is you want to average more than 1.00 points per possession, and hope the home team is cold. ND obviously obliterated that marker with a 126.
Defense--An 83 on the road is also fantastic. This ties the best effort ND has posted all season, with two 83 outputs at home against UMass Lowell and St. Francis.
So again, I'll keep saying it - is BC a great opponent? No...Are they as bad as UMass Lowell or St. Francis? No. Yet ND defended them the same, and on the road.
Notre Dame Identity Stats:
1) Effective Field Goal Percentage: 72.6 percent. This is . Last year's team only reached this mark 4 times, and three of those came against teams ranked in the 300's on Kenpom. This is also the best mark the team has reached this season.
The Irish made 22-of-36 two's (61 percent), and a blistering 11-of-17 three's (65 percent).
2) Turnover Rate: 14 TO's in 65 possessions is a 22 percent turnover rate (about one every four to five possessions). This is maybe the only area that was bad tonight. But the Irish made up for it in dominating in so many other areas - usually this many turnovers would be very concerning.
3) Offensive Rebounding Rate: Notre Dame collected 7 offensive rebounds in 23 opportunities (Eagles collected 16 defensive rebounds), which is a 30 percent offensive rebounding rate. This is not that great, but can't complain.
Summary: Notre Dame jumped 8 spots from No. 30 nationally to No. 22 in the country on Kenpom after tonight's win. That's how convincing this victory was, regardless of how bad Boston College is.
You have to feel good if you're an Irish fan after this one. Not only after the way ND played in the previous three games, but also how the team actually executed in the areas they've been concerned about.
They know they've needed to defend better - they did that. They know they've needed to do better on the defensive glass - they did that.
When you hear so much coach speak and rehearsed answers over and over as a writer, it's refreshing to get a team honest that says "We've really got to do this better", and then they go do that and it result in a big win. Pretty cool.
Now Irish fans just have to hope this carries over into Saturday's game against Pitt. Winning on the road is (almost) always tough, so it's crucial to protect homecourt.
This weekend's game should be a real good one.
Efficiency:
Notre Dame--126
Boston College--83
The Irish had been on a downward swing the last three games...Well, this was a complete 180 degree turnaround tonight.
What a performance. As we said multiple times in the game thread, yes, Boston College is not that good...but this was a DEMOLITION. And on the road!
Michigan State beat Boston College by 31 on a neutral court earlier this season. Duke just beat them 17 in Conte Forum.
Notre Dame just beat them by 28 IN Conte Forum. Now you don't wanna get too much into comparing scores, I know I know....only noting that this was a convincing win. This was how a really good team should look against a Boston College.
Jackson was all over the place. Forcing steals, scoring in transition and from deep on pull-up three's, dishing nine assists. I wrote something in the magazine about how his worst games this year usually translated to ND losses - there's a strong correlation between his play and the Irish outcomes. Well he killed it tonight, and the Irish won big.
All five starters finished in double figures. And hey, there was a Rex Pflueger sighting in meaningful minutes! There was a great sequence where he was isolated against a BC player at the top of the key, and the BC player couldn't dribble around him - Rex stayed in front of his man. So then BC tried to screen Rex but came too hard, and Pflueger drew the offensive foul. It was an encouraging few minutes for the kid, and I think if he could play more confidently considering the limited clock he's been getting, we'd see him look better on offense.
Also, another important note - Boston College only grabbed six offensive rebounds. And that's during a really poor shooting night. Brey has talked about how important it was to protect the defensive glass more, and the Irish did that tonight.
Offense--126 is 1.26 points per possession. Again, outstanding.
As I usually note with road games, my rule of thumb when you're away from home is you want to average more than 1.00 points per possession, and hope the home team is cold. ND obviously obliterated that marker with a 126.
Defense--An 83 on the road is also fantastic. This ties the best effort ND has posted all season, with two 83 outputs at home against UMass Lowell and St. Francis.
So again, I'll keep saying it - is BC a great opponent? No...Are they as bad as UMass Lowell or St. Francis? No. Yet ND defended them the same, and on the road.
Notre Dame Identity Stats:
1) Effective Field Goal Percentage: 72.6 percent. This is . Last year's team only reached this mark 4 times, and three of those came against teams ranked in the 300's on Kenpom. This is also the best mark the team has reached this season.
The Irish made 22-of-36 two's (61 percent), and a blistering 11-of-17 three's (65 percent).
2) Turnover Rate: 14 TO's in 65 possessions is a 22 percent turnover rate (about one every four to five possessions). This is maybe the only area that was bad tonight. But the Irish made up for it in dominating in so many other areas - usually this many turnovers would be very concerning.
3) Offensive Rebounding Rate: Notre Dame collected 7 offensive rebounds in 23 opportunities (Eagles collected 16 defensive rebounds), which is a 30 percent offensive rebounding rate. This is not that great, but can't complain.
Summary: Notre Dame jumped 8 spots from No. 30 nationally to No. 22 in the country on Kenpom after tonight's win. That's how convincing this victory was, regardless of how bad Boston College is.
You have to feel good if you're an Irish fan after this one. Not only after the way ND played in the previous three games, but also how the team actually executed in the areas they've been concerned about.
They know they've needed to defend better - they did that. They know they've needed to do better on the defensive glass - they did that.
When you hear so much coach speak and rehearsed answers over and over as a writer, it's refreshing to get a team honest that says "We've really got to do this better", and then they go do that and it result in a big win. Pretty cool.
Now Irish fans just have to hope this carries over into Saturday's game against Pitt. Winning on the road is (almost) always tough, so it's crucial to protect homecourt.
This weekend's game should be a real good one.
