Mike Brey told them to pass the ball but not the buck, to seize the day because there wouldn’t be too many more like it.
Before Wednesday night’s game against West Virginia, the Notre Dame coach took aside his three senior captains–David Graves, Ryan Humphrey and Harold Swanagan.
“I challenged our seniors collectively that they need to really step up, lead and be men,” Brey said.
“I pulled them out before I gave the pregame talk. I said, `It’s your time.'”
The words sunk in, as evidenced by the 89-76 thumping the Irish proceeded to administer to the Mountaineers in front of 10,821 at the Joyce Center.
Graves, reinserted into the starting lineup after coming off the bench the last seven games, scored 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Humphrey added 19.
And Swanagan had nine rebounds and four assists in addition to two points in 23 minutes of play.
As important as the final result was how Notre Dame (18-8, 8-5 Big East) got there against West Virginia (8-17, 1-12).
After sluggish performances in their past two games–three-point losses to Rutgers and Syracuse–the Irish came out shooting and scoring efficiently, especially in transition.
“The hardest thing to defend is the transition–easy buckets–and we got a lot of them,” Humphrey said.
Point guard Chris Thomas, who had averaged just seven points in the previous two games, led all scorers with 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting and picked up a game-high 12 assists.
His teammates too did a good job moving the ball around.
Center Tom Timmermans flicked a behind-the-back pass to Thomas and Humphrey sent a bullet to Graves down low for an easy layup.
The Irish connected on 35 field goals and had 28 assists.
West Virginia left the passing lanes wide and clear for much of the game.
“We had trouble getting back on defense,” Mountaineers coach Drew Catlett said.
“We just don’t guard. We just don’t play well defensively whether it’s zone or man.”
The Mountaineers were led by freshmen guards Drew Schifino and Jonathan Hargett, who scored 15 points apiece.
But Hargett shot just 5-of-14 with just two assists.
“We played hard, but not smart,” said Mountaineers forward Chaz Briggs, who finished with 12. “We didn’t defend on the perimeter.”
Nor on the inside.
After trading baskets as well as the lead four times in the first several minutes, the Irish went ahead for good on Matt Carroll’s layup 3 minutes 32 seconds into the game.
When Carroll left the game later in the first half with a strained right foot–he is questionable for Saturday’s game against Miami–Torrian Jones, Jordan Cornette and Timmermans picked up the slack.
“We did a great job playing to win instead of playing not to lose,” Brey said.
“It’s a senior team,” Graves said. “We’ve only got four more guaranteed games.”
