If you tuned in to see the Big East match-up between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Seton Hall Pirates hoping to see offense, you probably turned the game off within the first 10 minutes, as the two teams couldn't make any shot early on, whether they were guarded or not. The Irish, however, found their shooting touch early in the second half, pulled away from the Pirates, and held them off for a 55-42 win on the road Wednesday night. It was just the second win away from Purcell Pavilion in nine games for the Irish.
How ugly was the offense early? The game was still scoreless at the first media timeout, with the teams combining to shoot 0-9 and turning the ball over eight times. It didn't get much better, as they only had six points combined at the next timeout with 11:22 remaining in the half. The Irish went on a 10-2 run to take a 17-13 lead with just under two minutes remaining in the half, and led just 19-18 at intermission. The teams were a combined 13-50 shooting in the first half, and just 2-14 from three point range. It was very ugly.
Notre Dame came out in the second half outscoring Seton Hall 19-7, building a 38-25 lead over the first eight minutes, and never looked back. The Pirates never got closer than 9 the rest of the way. Overall the Irish shot 35% from the floor, but were 24-32 from the foul line, including 21 of their last 25 in the win. They also held SHU to just 26% shooting from the floor, 2-14 from beyond the arc. They were also just 10-19 from the free throw line.
The Irish were led by Jerian Grant with 15 points and four assists, while Eric Atkins had 14 and Jack Cooley added 13 points and 11 rebounds, his sixth double-double on the season. Alex Dragicevich also added 9 off the bench, including two big three pointers at the start of the second half to lengthen the Irish lead. Seton Hall was paced by Jordan Theodore with 11 points, but had five turnovers. Aaron Cosby had 8 points, while Fuquan Edwin had 7 points and 12 rebounds in the loss. Herb Pope, the Pirates leading scorer at nearly 17 points per game, had just 5 on the night on 2-16 from the floor.
Notre Dame moves to 13-8 on the season, and 5-3 in the Big East, while Seton Hall drops to 15-5, 4-4 in the Big East. The Irish will try to make it three wins in a row Sunday when they travel to Storrs to take on the Connecticut Huskies, a team they lost to just 11 days ago by 14 at home.
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