CHAPEL HILL, N.C. –Notre Dame was a team no one wanted to play last season after its best player Jerian Grant missed the last 20 games because of academics. Coach Mike Brey’s slow burn offense took nearly all the seconds on the shot clock and virtually all of the fun out of basketball.
The Fighting Irish's offense is completely different this season. They sit at 3-0 in the ACC after a 71-70 win at North Carolina thanks to a four-guard lineup that’s leaving opponents bewildered on how to contain it.
Notre Dame ranked third nationally in adjusted offense, according to KenPom.com, while averaging 85.9 points per game.
“The way we’re playing on offense, teams are going to have to match up with us because, offensively, I think we’re a juggernaut,” Grant said.
Grant’s return is a major reason. North Carolina coach Roy Williams said that Brey’s options were extremely limited without Grant. Entering Monday's game his 17.9 scoring average and 6.3 assists per game led the Irish in both categories, not to mention that his presence alone instilled confidence in his teammates.
“The close games that we lost last year might have been different if we had him, he’s a go-to guy who can close,” said senior forward Pat Connaughton.
Notre Dame is more athletic and explosive than it's given credit for, and it’s not just Grant’s return that has helped turn it into an unstoppable force. Brey said the foreign tour the team took to Italy helped sophomore guard Demetrius Jackson and junior forward Zach Auguste, both starters, emerge with confidence to start the season.
Jackson and Auguste, along with Connaughton, all average more than 13 points per game. On a night where Grant scored a season-low eight points, the trio chipped in with Auguste scoring a game-high 18, followed by Connaughton’s 16 and 15 from Jackson.
So even when they face an immovable object with a lot of size, as Carolina presented Monday, their game plan hasn’t had to change.
“Over the course of 65 possessions, guarding us offensively, I think, is hard when you’re playing a big lineup,” Brey said.
As long as the Irish keep opponents respecting their outside shots, playing small can have many advantages. And so far, that hasn’t been a problem at all. Notre Dame entered last night’s game shooting 40 percent from 3-point range.
That alone is why North Carolina had to follow what Georgia Tech and many other opponents have done before them by playing with a smaller lineup to match Notre Dame.
“It’s a lineup that causes a lot of other teams problems to matchup with them,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. “And they really shoot the dickens out of it. Their team 3-point shooting percentage is better than anybody on our team individually.”
Of course, the downside of playing small is generally rebounding, but the Irish have escaped unhinged so far. They allowed 18 offensive boards to Michigan State -- but still won in overtime. Georgia Tech grabbed 19 -- but the Irish won in double overtime. And Carolina had a season-high 21 offensive boards in their win.
Connaughton, a 6-foot-5 senior, is a big reason why those offensive boards haven’t mattered. He’s the one who’s had to play power forward and often finds himself at a size disadvantage, like he did against Carolina’s 6-foot-9 Brice Johnson.
He’s won that battle more often than not this season, and Monday was no different. He scored 16 points and added nine rebounds against the Tar Heels. Johnson, who averaged 7.1 this season, had only five against the Irish.
“It’s just a matter of being tough,” Connaughton said. “Guys in this league, they’ll be taller than me, they’ll be longer than me and they’ll be 'more athletic' than me; I think it’s a matter of me showing why I’m at this level and just battle. Each and every guy on my team battles.”
The battle continues Saturday in South Bend, Indiana, with a visit from No. 3 Virginia. Grant said the Irish needed the Carolina win as a way to bolster their confidence. Until now, a win over a battered and bruised Michigan State team was its best to date.
“To go to Carolina, a true road game, and get a ‘W’ like this, it means a lot to all the guys especially with Virginia coming up,” Grant said. “Guys are playing with a lot of confidence and starting to think this team can be really special.”
Brey said winning on the road in the ACC is tougher than it was in the old Big East, but he’s not publicly proclaiming the Irish have arrived despite their start and an offense that should keep them in every game.
“I never want to get ahead of myself, I learned that in the Big East as I was building [the program],” Brey said. “We’re still fighting. I said my goal was, could we create an identity in this league like we had in the Big East? I was very proud of our consistency. We’ve not yet done that in this league; we’re still earning our stripes.”
Maybe, but by winning in Chapel Hill, they earned a major one this season.