The Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s basketball team mounted a fantastic comeback to win on the road against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Saturday, with senior captain Matt Farrell burying a game-winning three pointer with just seconds remaining.
It was a game of runs for the Irish and Demon Deacs, as the two teams seemed to trade momentum back and forth, setting up for an exciting finish. Notre Dame trailed 69 to 60 with 8:08 remaining in the game, but was able to grab that momentum last, mounting a 16-2 run down the stretch to improve to 17-12 overall and 7-9 in the ACC.
So, what did we learn from this one? Let’s discuss.
Martinas Geben Showed Once Again Why He is Notre Dame’s 2017-2018 MVP
It’s been a very tumultuous season, and with all of the bad luck with injuries, Irish fans have certainly been disappointed about what could have otherwise been a solid ACC season and another likely NCAA Tournament berth.
But while BONZIE COLSON has been out with a broken foot since late December, Matt Farrell has missed a number of games with an ankle injury, and DJ Harvey hasn’t played since the Louisville game due to a bone bruise and potential cartilage damage in his knee, there’s been a constant, productive presence in the Irish lineup provided by a senior big man who, before this season, was considered almost a bust.
Martinas “The Bird Whisperer” Geben never averaged more than 3 points per game or 3 rebounds per game in the first three seasons of his career at Notre Dame. So, what he’s done in a season where the Irish NEEDED someone to step up and produce more than expected is truly incredible. He’s averaging 11.1 points and 8 rebounds per game (9th in the ACC) on 61% shooting on the season (2nd in the ACC), and if you just look at ACC play, he’s averaging 13.3 points and 9.1 rebounds on 58% shooting.
He’s even turned it up another notch of late, as the Irish push for an 8-10 or 9-9 conference record and desperately try to stay afloat for a potential COLSON return for postseason play. In the last 6 games, he’s scored 16.2 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game while shooting 66% from the field.
That fantastic stretch of play was capped by his 22-point, 14-rebound performance in Winston-Salem, where, for most of the game, he was the finisher for the Irish, converting again and again on thunderous dunks and crisp little jump hooks as he kept ND in the game until Farrell and TJ Gibbs were able to turn it on and start hitting shots themselves.
To cut a long story short (because I could write about the Marty Geben renaissance for probably another few thousand words), the emergence of The Bird Whisperer in his final season in South Bend has been absolutely crucial in terms of providing stability and reliability down low during a year of basketball that has severely lacked that kind of consistency throughout the rest of the roster for a variety of unlucky reasons.
As this season comes to a close — no matter if ND ends up miraculously earning an NCAA Tourney bid or just heading to the NIT — I implore you all to appreciate what Geben has accomplished this season and how special a senior year it’s been for him.
Furthermore, remember this season whenever you decide to write off a guy like Nikola Djogo or even a junior with flaws like Rex Pflueger. Time and again, Mike Brey has shown he can develop guys who looked hapless early in their careers into fantastic players by their senior seasons. Trust in him and in his staff, and in the meantime, let’s all enjoy these final few games where we get to see The Bird Whisperer stuffing the rim with “double-fisted rim rockers” and yanking down emphatic, powerful rebounds. He’s easily been the most valuable and most consistent player on the team this year, and he deserves the praise and respect that comes with that.
Matt Farrell Is Fearless, and That’s a Good Thing
Okay, this might not really be something we just learned yesterday, but we can just add Farrell’s game-winner to a huge stack of evidence that Matty Farrell is not afraid of the big moment, nor is he afraid to take a big shot.
As time wound down on the shot clock during Notre Dame’s game-winning possession, I remember saying to the friends I was watching the game with that he better not just dribble around and then shoot a three at the buzzer to try to win it, what with the game being tied at 71 and with Wake Forest likely to have a final possession with the ball and a chance to win it if Farrell didn’t hit said three.
Then, of course, he just went and did this.
Farrell is a shooter, and he isn’t afraid to keep shooting, no matter what’s happened in the past. We learned that in a bad performance in Chapel Hill, and it was confirmed even further in a blisteringly beautiful shooting display at Boston College. And although he can catch flak for the times he isn’t hitting, at the end of the day, any college basketball team that wants to be able to win close games needs a scorer like Matt Farrell who is unafraid and who can create his own shot — and have a good chance of making it.
If ND somehow finds themselves in a close game with major implications in terms of making the NCAA Tournament over the next couple weeks, the one thing Irish fans can breathe a little easier about is that Notre Dame has a certified assassin with enough flair for the big moment that he can definitely win it at the end for us.
Matt Farrell may take some ill-advised threes, but his fearlessness and persistence are HUGE for the team’s success and to teach the young players how to not shy away from the spotlight in the final moments of close games.
Thank God for Matt Farrell and the ice water that runs through his veins.
Also, this is really cool.
Our grandfather saw his grandson @MattyFarr3 hit his 1,000th point playing for his Alma-mater then hit a 3 to tie the game with less than 6 sec left. He then laid to final rest hours after that moment. If you knew the man I share my name with, you would know he died a happy man.
— Bo Farrell (@Boman1483) February 25, 2018
RIP to Matt Farrell’s grandfather and all the best to the Farrell family.
This Team Refuses to Lie Down and Die, and Mike Brey Continues to Squeeze Everything He Can Out of These Guys
After the team lost to the Miami Hurricanes at home last Monday, it was pretty damn deflating. The Irish REALLY needed that as another quality win and as a means to get to 9-9 in conference, so for that loss to happen, for everyone to find out that DJ Harvey will not be back this season, and with BONZIE’s return still in question, lots of teams would have understandably packed it in, played out the season halfheartedly, and gone on quietly to the NIT.
This team, though, once again showed us that when adversity is high, they still refuse to stop leaving it all on the court, game after game. And Mike Brey showed, once again, how he’s able to pull the right levers and push the right buttons to get this shorthanded team to go on the road in the ACC and come back from various deficits throughout the game to win it.
I mean, look at Nikola Djogo, for instance. Everyone’s written him off as a guy who was forced to play too much too soon this season, and yet here he is in this Wake Forest game grabbing 9 rebounds, playing good defense, and not turning the ball over at all in 34 minutes of play. This is what Mike Brey can get out of guys who many deem “not ready” to contribute. He gets them to contribute, and contribute A LOT.
And then look at the fact that the Irish had just three guys actually scoring in this one — Farrell, Geben, and Gibbs. The rest of the team contributed 13 points on 4-of-14 shooting, and yet Brey had the Irish out there playing FANTASTIC defense down the stretch, as Wake Forest scored a whopping TWO points in the final 8:08 of the game, and those two points came on a pair of free throws with 3 minutes remaining.
It’s just another really impressive coaching job by Mike Brey in a season where any ordinary coach would probably have lost even more games than he has, and where any ordinary coach would certainly not have had his team competing in almost every game when missing so many key players throughout the season.
I don’t think Brey and this team will be able to find a way into the Big Dance over these next two weeks, barring BONZIE returning and playing like an on-fire All American after missing two months of basketball. But I still believe this team is VERY deserving of our attention the rest of the way, and they will give every single ounce of effort and talent they have to make as strong of a run at the NCAA Tourney bubble as possible.
Let’s have some fun, appreciate what’s happened this year, and enjoy the last ride of guys like Farrell and Geben and Austin Torres and Matt Gregory and, hopefully, BONZIE COLSON. You never know what Mike Brey is gonna pull off.