Notre Dame VS Louisville: This Is What We Learned

Ho-hum, another abysmal offensive performance and another ACC loss for Notre Dame. This time it was it was given to them by the Louisville Cardinals by a score of 75-61. The Irish kept it close early as they only trailed by 5 at halftime but Louisville eventually pulled away easily to secure the win. This is what we learned.

All Praise John Mooney

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The only bright spot on the Notre Dame basketball team keeps getting brighter. I can not even imagine what this team would look like without the efforts of John Mooney. Even in a boring loss, we saw Mooney have a great game. Notre Dame is not fun to watch. At all. It hurts my eyes at times. But I can always count on John Mooney battling down low for rebounds and being reliable on offense.

Louisville Shot Awful...And Still Won

This is the type of game that Notre Dame needed from an opponent to pull off a road upset. The Cardinals shot 2-22 from three point land. That is quite bad and would normally set the other team up for a victory. Well, not in this case. Not with this year’s Irish team. Louisville played a poor game and Notre Dame did nothing to take advantage.

Free Throws, Free Throws, Free Throws

I have no idea when this became a thing. How did Notre Dame get so bad from the free throw line? There were times in the second half where Notre Dame was hanging on for dear life and would kill any momentum with missed free throws. The final line was 4-14 from the charity stripe. If the Irish could have knocked down the easy ones, it could have put a little more game pressure on Louisville. I still don’t know how it happened but now is something that needs to be addressed.

Last week of the regular season. Notre Dame will close with Clemson and Pittsburgh. Two teams that do not scare anyone but who knows what to expect when the Irish get on the court anymore.