Whooooooo. What. A. Game.
Pace: 66. Considering there was an OT, this is very, very slow.
Efficiency:
Notre Dame--102
Northeastern--97
I see many fans aren't happy with ND tonight, but the more I look at the numbers, the more I see this as a good win. ND is usually so efficient offensively because they use spacing, movement to get easy 2PA's close to the goal, or wide open 3PA's. You didn't see any of that tonight. Almost every shot was contested in a physical, very hard-fought game, that was also at the slow pace to favor Butler. Yet, the Irish pulled out the win. I haven't been here long, but I'd wager that this was the type of game ND used to lose.
Offense: Virtually no inside presence tonight. Auguste 2-for-7 from the field with four turnovers (13 rebounds, but mostly defensive ones,) and Colson was 0-for-2 off the bench. Vasturia--everyone's favorite--led the team in scoring with 20 points on 6-for-11 shooting, in addition to six rebounds (albeit three turnovers.) Grant added 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting, plus five assists and five rebounds. Jackson also finished in double figures with 13.
Defense: ND fans were posting that the Irish were taking the wrong strategy on Jones, but maybe this night was actually similar to their strategy in the last several. One guy (almost always a big man,) seems to get off on the Irish, but they hold everybody else in check, in their recent big winning stretch. Jones finished with 23 points on 9-for-19 shooting, but nobody else for the Bulldogs was really efficient. Guards Alex Barlow and Kellen Dunham finished a combined 3-for-19 from the field for 10 points.
Identity Stats:
1) Effective Field Goal Percentage[/I]: 49 percent. This is not good at all for ND, who ranks No. 2 nationally with a 58.4 eFG%, and would usually be very worrisome. In fact, Notre Dame's played in three games this year where they shot under 49 percent eFG%, according to Kenpom--all three were losses (@ Duke, vs. Virginia, vs. Syracuse.)
2) Turnover Rate[/I]: 13 TO's in 66 possessions, rounds up to a 20 percent turnover rate (one every five possessions) This is a horrible effort, ND ranks No. 3 nationally in this category with a 14 percent ratio on the season (one every 7-8 possessions). To make matters worse, Butler only had seven turnovers, an 11 percent turnover rate (one every nine possessions). Again, I have no idea how ND won this game, outside of defensive effort--or Butler incompetency on offense, whatever you want to choose.
3) Free throw differential[/I]: ND earned a 43 percent free throw rate (22 FTA's to 51 FGA's,) UNC earned a 33 percent free throw rate (21 FTA's to 63 FGA's). So the Irish did get to the line more frequently, but not by a monster gap.
Summary: So, one decent check in Identity Stat No. 3, and pretty big losses in two. Most nights if you gave me those numbers, I'd predict an Irish loss. Somehow, they pulled it out tonight, thanks I guess to a tremendous defensive effort.
Should people feel good about this game? I dunno, it does have kind of a yucky feeling. But that's what makes numbers great, they offer a different perspective than the eye test--not necessarily always the right or wrong perspective, just a different one.
And if you wanna consider those numbers tonight, then yeah…This might actually be a hard-fought, grind it out battle to be proud of. The kind of game that maybe ND always used to lose.
The Irish draw the winner of Wichita State/Kansas in the Sweet 16. Already looking forward to it.
This post was edited on 3/22 1:07 AM by Jordan Wells
Pace: 66. Considering there was an OT, this is very, very slow.
Efficiency:
Notre Dame--102
Northeastern--97
I see many fans aren't happy with ND tonight, but the more I look at the numbers, the more I see this as a good win. ND is usually so efficient offensively because they use spacing, movement to get easy 2PA's close to the goal, or wide open 3PA's. You didn't see any of that tonight. Almost every shot was contested in a physical, very hard-fought game, that was also at the slow pace to favor Butler. Yet, the Irish pulled out the win. I haven't been here long, but I'd wager that this was the type of game ND used to lose.
Offense: Virtually no inside presence tonight. Auguste 2-for-7 from the field with four turnovers (13 rebounds, but mostly defensive ones,) and Colson was 0-for-2 off the bench. Vasturia--everyone's favorite--led the team in scoring with 20 points on 6-for-11 shooting, in addition to six rebounds (albeit three turnovers.) Grant added 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting, plus five assists and five rebounds. Jackson also finished in double figures with 13.
Defense: ND fans were posting that the Irish were taking the wrong strategy on Jones, but maybe this night was actually similar to their strategy in the last several. One guy (almost always a big man,) seems to get off on the Irish, but they hold everybody else in check, in their recent big winning stretch. Jones finished with 23 points on 9-for-19 shooting, but nobody else for the Bulldogs was really efficient. Guards Alex Barlow and Kellen Dunham finished a combined 3-for-19 from the field for 10 points.
Identity Stats:
1) Effective Field Goal Percentage[/I]: 49 percent. This is not good at all for ND, who ranks No. 2 nationally with a 58.4 eFG%, and would usually be very worrisome. In fact, Notre Dame's played in three games this year where they shot under 49 percent eFG%, according to Kenpom--all three were losses (@ Duke, vs. Virginia, vs. Syracuse.)
2) Turnover Rate[/I]: 13 TO's in 66 possessions, rounds up to a 20 percent turnover rate (one every five possessions) This is a horrible effort, ND ranks No. 3 nationally in this category with a 14 percent ratio on the season (one every 7-8 possessions). To make matters worse, Butler only had seven turnovers, an 11 percent turnover rate (one every nine possessions). Again, I have no idea how ND won this game, outside of defensive effort--or Butler incompetency on offense, whatever you want to choose.
3) Free throw differential[/I]: ND earned a 43 percent free throw rate (22 FTA's to 51 FGA's,) UNC earned a 33 percent free throw rate (21 FTA's to 63 FGA's). So the Irish did get to the line more frequently, but not by a monster gap.
Summary: So, one decent check in Identity Stat No. 3, and pretty big losses in two. Most nights if you gave me those numbers, I'd predict an Irish loss. Somehow, they pulled it out tonight, thanks I guess to a tremendous defensive effort.
Should people feel good about this game? I dunno, it does have kind of a yucky feeling. But that's what makes numbers great, they offer a different perspective than the eye test--not necessarily always the right or wrong perspective, just a different one.
And if you wanna consider those numbers tonight, then yeah…This might actually be a hard-fought, grind it out battle to be proud of. The kind of game that maybe ND always used to lose.
The Irish draw the winner of Wichita State/Kansas in the Sweet 16. Already looking forward to it.
This post was edited on 3/22 1:07 AM by Jordan Wells
