Unranked Fighting Irish cruise past No. 8 Wildcats
Notre Dame’s two guards lead way in their 64-50 victory at South Bend..
Notre Dame’s experience and raucous home crowd were too much for eighth-ranked Kentucky and its heralded freshmen.
Junior guards Eric Atkins and Jerian Grant paced the host Fighting Irish to a 64-50 victory Thursday night.
Atkins led the Fighting Irish (7-1) with 16 points, Grant had 13 points and six assists and Jack Cooley added 13 points and 11 rebounds.
“The way our guards were controlling things, I didn’t have to do a lot of coaching,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said.
“Those guys were coaching the team. Eric Atkins running things, calling sets. When you have a veteran backcourt doing that, I just don’t want to get in their way too much.”
Notre Dame outplayed Kentucky (4-2) inside during the first half and held the Wildcats to a season-low 40 percent shooting for the game.
The Irish shot 48 percent, the best anyone against Kentucky this season.
The senior captains of the top-ranked Notre Dame football team, linebacker Manti Te’o, defensive end Kapron LewisMoore, tight end Tyler Eifert and tackle Zack Martin, got a standing ovation when they were introduced at halftime.
Students rushed the floor after the Irish wrapped up their second win over the Wildcats in the past 13 meetings.
Grant was disappointed in the fans’ reaction, saying it wasn’t like last season when the Irish upset top-ranked Syracuse.
“I’d rather not have them on the court. Last year was kind of a surprise game. This year, going into it, all of us were expecting to win this game,” he said.
Kentucky coach John Calipari said his team didn’t compete.
“They beat us to balls. They beat us around the basket. We didn’t compete. We didn’t execute. We didn’t play together. There’s a lot of things we didn’t do,” he said.
Julius Mays led Kentucky with 16 points and Nerlens Noel had 10.
“We came out a little shell-shocked and we started playing their game, which is slow down and half court. I think we’re more of an uptempo team,” Mays said.
Two of Kentucky’s heralded freshmen struggled. Archie Goodwin, who is averaging 19 points, was 1 of 7 shooting and finished with three points and Alex Polythress, who is averaging 18.4 points, had just one basket and made 1-of-3 free throws.
TCU 61, Southern Utah 52: Kyan Anderson scored a team-high 21 points and Devonta Abron added 17 the host Horned Frogs (6-2) outlasted the Thunderbirds (1-5). Southern Utah’s Damon Heuir led all scorers with 25 points on 7-of-14 shooting, and Jayson Cheesman had 13 rebounds. of her 25 points in the first half, and the Fighting Irish (5-0) topped the host Chippewas (2-3). Jessica Green scored 19 points for Central Michigan.
Miami 69, No. 6 Penn State 65: Morgan Stroman scored 15 points, and Suriya McGuire’s layup with 14 seconds left broke a 65-all tie as the host Hurricanes (5-1) upset the Nittany Lions (51). Maggie Lucas led Penn State with a game-high 20 points.
No. 12 Oklahoma 96, Northwestern State 35: Aaryn Ellenberg made 5-of-7 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as the host Sooners (6-1) routed the Demons (4-3).