Notre Dame breaks skid against Louisville
SOUTH BEND – Finally, Notre Dame faced an ACC opponent that not even it could mess up against. Sure, Louisville is at the bottom of the conference and remains winless in league play, but the Irish needed any good vibes they could get. That’s indeed what they got as they took down the Cardinals, 76-62, to snap a four-game losing streak.
The Irish (10-12, 2-9) scored 13 unanswered points in the first half and went up by as much as 30 early in the second. Even with the Cardinals (2-19, 0-10) upping the nerves of everyone at Purcell Pavilion by cutting that 30-point lead to 13, the Irish had built enough of a cushion that they were able to withstand the threat. Their biggest blown lead this season is 12 in their road game at Syracuse, so it was critical that this team especially gave itself a lot of room for error.
JJ Starling led the way with 22 points, one shy of his high during his first collegiate season. Nate Laszewski scored 17 points, including a game-high three 3-pointers. Cormac Ryan had 11 points to go with a career-high eight assists, and Dane Goodwin scored 10 despite missing all six of his 3-point attempts.
With Ven-Allen Lubin out after tweaking his previously injured ankle in practice Friday, Dom Campbell took his spot in the rotation and made a single field goal in four minutes.
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