In its 33rd all-time appearance in the ACC Tournament’s championship game, North Carolina fell for the fourth straight time in the final round. UNC dropped games in 2011, 2012, and 2013 to Duke, Florida, State, and Miami leading up to Saturday night’s setback.
“That was a big‑time game for about 30, 32 minutes, and then after that it was a big game if you were a Notre Dame fan. It wasn’t for us,” said North Carolina head coach Roy Williams.
“You just have to congratulate them. That is the bottom line. It wasn’t anything about being tired from playing four days. That was not a factor in the game. That would just be an excuse. They played better than we did. We panicked a little bit more than we have at any time this year, and their defense got stronger with every basket and our movement got worse.”
Both squads shot well early, with Notre Dame sinking exactly half of its shots over the first 20 minutes (12-of-24), while North Carolina converted 48.5 percent of its attempts (16-of-33) despite making just one 3-pointer in eight first half attempts.
The Tar Heels dominated the paint offensively for most of the first 30 minutes of action, as Brice Johnson, Kennedy Meeks, and Isaiah Hicks all had an abundance of high-percentage shots. Johnson led the way for the Tar Heels with 20 points, while Hicks added nine points, and Meeks eight. Between them, the trio combined for 13 rebounds, helping the Tar Heels slightly edge the Irish in rebounding, 28-26.
Connaughton scored 10 early points, sinking his first four shots from the floor, to help the Irish absorb the early momentum and hot shooting of the Tar Heels. Connaughton, along with Grant and Vasturia, combined for 32 of Notre Dame’s 39 first half points. Vasturia nailed a 3-pointer just before time expired to give the Irish a five-point halftime advantage, 39-34.
The Tar Heels came out of the locker rooms and shot the lights out early in the second half, making 12 of its first 16 shots to take a 63-54 lead midway through the final stanza. As Carolina’s outside shooting came around — the Tar Heels sank four of its first eight 3-pointers in the second half — Notre Dame’s shooting cooled off.
Just as they did in the quarterfinals against Miami and the semifinals against Duke, Notre Dame struggled to match the same intensity and production early in the second half that they had in the first half.
But once again, the Irish found an extra gear and pulled themselves back in a big way.
Trailing by nine, Notre Dame embarked on a fast 17-1 run, paced by 3-pointers by Connaughton, Vasturia, and Jackson, a jumper by Grant, and a slam dunk by Auguste, to take a 71-64 lead.
After playing mostly error-free basketball for much of the first 30 minutes, UNC suddenly lost its handle offensively, committing five turnovers in six possessions to fuel Notre Dame’s rally.
The Irish kept pouring it on, taking a 78-66 at the last TV timeout at the 3:30 mark following another 3-pointer by Connaughton, sandwiched around baskets by Jackson and Auguste.
Connaughton put an exclamation point on his tremendous weekend with a slam dunk around the three-minute mark, making the count 80-66.
[callout2]“We have a nine‑point lead, and all of a sudden, they started making a bunch of threes, and we called timeout after they had gone ahead by three, and we turn it over three straight times after that timeout,” said Williams. “They’re still making shots. They were really, really hard for us to guard their dribble penetration. They kept getting us inside, and then we’d have to help, and then they’d throw it out and somebody would make a three.
As I said, the first time we played them, it’s a tough match‑up for us. We tried to go small the last part of the game to see if we could do a better job of guarding them, but they made some really good plays.”[/callout2]
“When they made their run because of how fabulous of a team they are, we just kind of had to think in the timeouts that we’ve been in situations like this before,” added Connaughton.
“We’ve been down 18 at North Carolina State. We’ve been down and been a part of runs. Miami in this tournament made a run on us in the second half. Duke did as well. So we’ve been a part of things when other teams made runs. It’s how do you respond.”
“I think Coach has done a great job of instilling that in us, how are we going to respond? We knew that we needed to do it on the defensive end. That defense fuels our offense. That’s something that we’ve really tried to build this program on this season, and it’s something that allowed us to get out in transition and allowed us to score like that so quickly.”
Ironically, Notre Dame was beaten decisively by Wake Forest last year in the opening round of its first ACC Tournament appearance, in what turned out to be Jeff Bzdelik’s final victory with the Demon Deacons.
Fast-forward one year, and the Fighting Irish are only one of the league’s top teams, but they’re officially now a member of the champions club with its three-game run in Greensboro.
It was an astounding run of play by the Fighting Irish that won’t soon be forgotten by those who were there to see it.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be coaching in the ACC for the University of Notre Dame. That is how crazy league expansion is,” said Brey. “But to win a championship in this league, it does mean a lot. Personally, I’m really proud.”
“I had a Lefty Driesell flashback though. And maybe some of you old timers will remember this: Going through Duke and Carolina and what we’ve done on Tobacco Road this year, I remember Lefty when he won it, he said, “I’m going to bolt the trophy to the hood of my car and drive all over Tobacco Road.” So if you see a Buick Enclave in June with this trophy going from Asheville to Wilmington, that’s me. That’s me going through there.”