Genius is not unwavering, beauty is not everlasting and winning streaks are not infinite.
Notre Dame’s men’s basketball team, winner of five consecutive victories painstakingly pieced together with tenacious defense, opportunistic offense and consistent confidence, knew that going into Monday’s matchup with St. John’s at the Joyce Center.
But despite facing a double-digit deficit early in the second half, the Irish (15-5, 7-2 Big East) served notice that they were not yet ready to relinquish claim to recent perfection, outscoring the Red Storm 47-27 in the final 18:37 en route to a 83-73 victory.
Forward Willie Shaw, who had 14 points for St. John’s (12-9, 6-4) at halftime, would pick up only three more in the second half.
“They did a good job in the second half of taking me away,” he said. “They did a good job in the second half of adjusting.”
Leave that to Notre Dame coach Mike Brey.
“I asked them if they were satisfied at halftime,” Brey said of his team. “`Are you satisified with what happened the last two weeks? I just need to know.'”
Brey didn’t need to say much more.
“This group has always taken ownership of itself,” he said.
And how. Troy Murphy went 6-of-6 from the field in the second half despite absorbing the hits of various St. John’s defenders. Two of the three players primarily responsible for guarding Murphy–Donald Emanuel and Mohamed Diakite–fouled out. Murphy finished with a game-high 34 points.
Ryan Humphrey added 16 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks and, most importantly, an exhilarating swagger, personified by a second-half alley-oop from guard Matt Carroll. The importance of that basket was measured more in decibels of crowd noise than points on the scoreboard.
“Ryan has been the missing piece of the puzzle for us,” said forward David Graves, who added 13 points and eight rebounds off the bench. “He just plays so much higher than the rest of us and it really fires us up on the court when he does that.”
With the victory, Notre Dame’s sixth in a row, the Irish claim sole possession of first place in the Big East West Division, a half-game ahead of Syracuse.
While St. John’s, flying and swooping around the court, looked more athletic, Notre Dame was far more efficient, hitting on 27-of-49 field goals to shoot 55 percent for the game. St. John’s finished with one more field goal than Notre Dame, but took 24 more shots.
Martin Ingelsby provided the steadying hand for the Irish, turning the ball over only once against the fleet Omar Cook while passing out nine assists and scoring 10 points. But while Cook finished with a team-high 24 points, Ingelsby got to celebrate the victory.
“He’s very good at running his team,” Cook said. “He knows his role and he gets the ball in the hands of the right players and doesn’t try to do anything that he can’t do.”
By the end, Red Storm coach Mike Jarvis could only stand and stare, his stern visage wearing a mask of exasperation. His team has lost two consecutive games, and three of four, while falling to 1-6 away from home. Now, he said, it’s time for his team to grow up, to go from “being freshmen to being men.”
“This is not la-la-land. It’s about learning about real life,” Jarvis said. “And that means dealing with adversity, dealing with prosperity, dealing with the good times, dealing with the bad times.”
After all, nothing lasts forever.
