Notre Dame cruises by Monmouth, improves to 2-0
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Assistant Editor
No. 20 Notre Dame got a career night from senior center Garrick Sherman and cruised to an 84-57 victory tonight in Purcell Pavilion.
Sherman scored as many points as he had minutes. He finished with 22 points, hitting 8-of-10 shots from the floor, knocked down 6-of-7 free throws and grabbed nine rebounds helping the Irish improve to 2-0 on the young season.
He needed this one, said Irish coach Mike Brey about Sherman. He’s got that ability, and we’ve seen it in practice. That’s a game that kind of makes him believe he’s really part of it.
Sherman was pleased that he finally played up to his ability.
I feel like for the past few games I haven’t been playing up to my potential, Sherman said. I owe it to Coach Brey and I owe it to this organization to start playing better. I wanted to make it a point tonight to come out and do that. I think I was a little to passive in the first few games. Tonight I just went out and played my game.
Sherman and Co. dominated in the paint, outscoring the visitors 40-20, and used their height advantage to outrebound Monmouth 42-24, outscoring the Hawks 18-8 on second-chance points.
Senior forward Jack Cooley had another impressive game. He hit 4-of-6 shots from the field and knocked in eight free throws to end with 16 points to go along with his nine rebounds.
In the first two games this season, Cooley has scored a total of 35 points and grabbed 20 rebounds.
For the first time this season, the Irish played Sherman and Cooley at the same time, going with a very big lineup with those two being 6-feet-10 and 6-9.
Monmouth coach King Rice, who played at North Carolina, was not only impressed with Sherman and Cooley, but with all of the Irish.
They’re a really good program, Rice said. I take my hat off to those kids, man, because they really know how to play basketball. They play the right way; they share the ball. You can tell they’re a team; you can just see they’re a team.
The third Notre Dame player to score in double figures was sophomore guard/forward Pat Connaughton, who was the Irish’s defensive stopper in Game One.
Connaughton had 13 points thanks to knocking down half of his 10 shots, which included three three-pointers.
The Irish shot the ball much better tonight than they did Saturday in the win over Evansville.
They connected on 53.4 percent of shots from the floor (31-of-58), but for the second straight game, the Irish were cold from long distance.
Notre Dame managed to hit 28.6 percent of its three-pointers (6-of-21).
In two games this season, the Irish are just 10-of-38 from beyond the arc (26.3 percent).
After playing just seven players against the Purple Aces a couple days ago, Brey played 11 against Monmouth.
The Irish bench outscored the visitors 37-19, thanks, in part, to freshman forward Cameron Biedscheid. He scored nine points after tallying seven against Evansville.
Brey wasn’t pleased with how his team played in the first half, particularly how it handled Monmouth’s pressure as the Irish had 10 turnovers.
I thought we did a good job in the second half offensively attacking (Monmouth) and being better against traps, said Brey, whose team enjoyed a 35-23 halftime advantage and outscored the Hawks by 15 in the second stanza.
I thought defensively against for the most part we were really good. We played more zone in the first half-that changed, helped us get a little more of a spurt.
The Irish return to action against Monmouth at 7 p.m. at Purcell Pavilion.
Now, Notre Dame heads to the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. to participate in the championship rounds of the Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic.
The Irish face St. Joseph’s at 9:30 p.m. Friday on TruTV.
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