Notre Dame hassled and harassed him, blanketing him as he took the ball down the sideline. There were 3.9 seconds, an eternity in basketball time, remaining on the clock.
But as the Irish defenders collapsed around West Virginia’s Frank Young on Tuesday night, they forced Young to dribble out the time, keeping him from even attempting a game-tying shot.
“He just misjudged the clock,” Mountaineers coach Frank Beilein said of his star’s inability to put the ball up in a game that ended 61-58.
True. But in keeping Young from shooting after staying in it even when the only thing they seemed to manage were mistakes, the Irish ) showed in abundance what they lacked last season–resilience.
And they will carry that onto the court Sunday when they play host to Seton Hall (10-5, 2-1 in the Big East) while looking to maintain a perfect record at home and claim their third conference victory of the season. Last year, the Irish (14-2, 2-1) didn’t win their third Big East game until Feb. 15.
But between now and then, the Irish have gone from a team that clutches at a chance for success to one that grabs it.
“Certainly you’re always trying to give confidence when you feel it’s needed as a head coach,” Irish coach Mike Brey said.
Before the season, the coaches told their players they wouldn’t dwell on miscues and mistakes. The motto, they said, was “On to the next play.”
So when sophomore Zach Hillesland turned the ball over with the Irish leading West Virginia by 10 with four minutes left, they thought, “On to the next play.”
When senior Russell Carter followed with an airball on the next possession, it again was, “On to the next play.”
Another turnover by Hillesland, and again it was, “On to the next play.”
Another airball, this one a three-pointer by Carter? Again, it was, “On to the next play.”
And a final turnover by Kurz, with the game clock down to 1:41 and the lead down to two? You’re right, “On to the next play.”
“We did hope to win [last year] when we had a lead,” said Carter, who leads the Irish with 17.6 points a game. “Now we just go for it and attack.”
The difference, though, isn’t just about mind-set and attitude. It’s about execution.
“It’s not so much psychologically or karma,” Brey said. “We can get defensive stops and defensive rebounds better than last year. I think the close ones came down to we couldn’t get a key stop.”
And they are paying more attention to detail.
“[Gene] Cross, one of our new [assistant] coaches, came in and drilled a lot of defensive principles that had already been taught, and already learned, but just brought them back to the forefront,” Hillesland said. “Just really working on them day in and day out, we didn’t always do that last year.”
And they didn’t always work collectively to get a stop.
“We were a little too `man’ oriented as far as one-on-one defense. We’re playing defense as a team now, so it’s not one-on-one, it’s one [opponent] versus our entire team,” Hillesland said. “This year, we’re expecting to win these games.”
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apatel@tribune.com
