Notre Dame VS Michigan State: What We Learned

It was a tough road matchup for the Notre Dame Fighting irish. Michigan State outclassed them from the tip. That being said, we learned a lot about the Notre Dame basketball team in this early season test. And Irish fans, please do not panic. This is the type of game that is to be expected this early.

Michigan State is good

They are most definitely a top 3 team in the country as of right now. And they were playing in their own building. Notre Dame was not supposed to win this game by any means. Would we have liked to see the Irish come out of the gates a little stronger? Absolutely. But this was the expected result against the Michigan State Spartans.

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Bench depth is needed

Notre Dame needs to find players off the bench who can come in and make an immediate impact. You cannot beat teams like Michigan State with only your starters doing the bulk of the work. The Irish bench is young and inexperienced. It would be foolish to expect them to be ready to impact a team like MSU this early in the season. Give it time and let Mike Brey do his thing.

Geben is still improving

Martinas Geben has come a long way. He is already shown signs of being better than last year. With that being said, Michigan State’s Nick Ward handled him inside. Notre Dame started the game getting destroyed on the boards. The next step in Geben’s will be coming down with tough rebounds. This type of game will be good for him. It is a long season and by seasons end, I expect Mike Brey to have Geben being a force inside.

Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

It will be interesting to see where Notre Dame goes from here. If I had to guess, this game will be a good thing for the Irish. Mike Brey will make this a learning point and turn it into a positive. This Notre Dame team is still very good.