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Wow that was a heck of a college basketball game. The last few minutes of regulation and the overtime period were very fun to watch. Road games in the ACC are never easy, especially early in the conference season. We learned a lot yesterday about this years Notre Dame basketball team.
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First up, Matt Farrell is a legit threat at the point guard position. He has slowly become Notre Dame’s most reliable player game in and game out. He finished the game with 16 points and seemed to be in control of the game at all times. Coming into this season the story line was replacing Demetrius Jackson. Matt Farrell has continued to prove people wrong and he did it in a big way for the first ACC game of the year.
How confident is Steve Vasturia? He was coming off games against Purdue, Colgate, and Saint Peter’s where he had scored 5, 7, and 11 points respectively. And in this game against Pittsburgh, he was held to 7 points before overtime started. He was in a shooting slump and one could think he would of lost some confidence in himself lately. But Vasturia proved that he still had it in him. He scored 8 points in overtime, including the biggest shot of the game when me made a 3 pointer with 2.5 seconds left. Look for Vasturia to be the “big shot” taker for the Irish going forward.
In the always competitive ACC, end of game scenarios are vital to success in this league. In regulation, Notre Dame ended the game on 6-1 run to force overtime. After getting down early in overtime, the Irish rallied and finished over time on an 8-2 run. The end of game runs will be so important going forward. It is a great sign they showed this in game one of conference play.
Wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but nobody should apologize for winning on the road in the ACC. Irish will be back in action Wednesday night at home against Louisville.