Mooney’s 28 points lead Irish past Georgia Tech
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Mike Brey refers to Notre Dame’s double-double machine John Mooney as “Superman.”
Saturday after the 6-foot-9, 245-pound senior forward’s 28 points and 10 rebounds led the Irish to an 80-72 triumph over Georgia Tech, Brey’s coaching counterpart Josh Pastner might have been looking for kryptonite.
“I can’t wait for him to move on,” Pastner said after the Fighting Irish (138, 4-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their second straight home contest and completed a regular-season sweep of the Yellow Jackets (10-12, 4-7).
T.J. Gibbs scored 19 points, Dane Goodwin 14 and Rex Pflueger 13 for the Irish, whose efficiency shooting (47% on 24 of 51, including 9 of 24 on 3-pointers) overcame Tech’s 42-32 dominance of the boards, including 20 on the offensive end.
“I thought our offensive efficiency has been good; it hasn’t always come out with wins,” Brey said. “The last two we’re scoring, we’re confident and getting to the
DAME 80, GEORGIA TECH 72 foul line. All three of them (Mooney, Gibbs and Pflueger) set the tone for us in a very important game.”
Mooney, who passed the 1,000-plateau in the second half while scoring 18 of his points, finished 9-of-18 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers. He also made 8 of 9 free throws after going 7-for-7 in Notre Dame’s 9080 victory over Wake Forest Wednesday.
“We’re a confident group right now, especially in close games,” said Mooney, who now has 1,009 points in his career and 17 double-doubles this season to lead the nation. His 13.4 rebounds per game coming in was the second best.
“He’s a beast,” Pflueger said of his teammate who was not on the recent John Wooden Player of the Year list. “He’s all about team first.”
Jose Alvarado had 25 points, Moses Wright 17 before fouling out and James Banks III 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Yellow Jackets, who were playing without leading scorer Michael Devoe (foot injury) and saw a two-game win streak snapped.