Notre Dame hoops improves to 4-1 with home win over GW
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Assistant Editor
Each game the Irish seem to be led by a different player.
If it’s not forward Jack Cooley, it’s Jerian Grant. If it’s neither one of those two, it’s Garrick Sherman.
That trend continued Wednesday night as Notre Dame got a game-high 18 points in as many minutes from Sherman, who is quickly emerging as one of the Big East’s best Sixth Men, as it defeated George Washington, 65-48, in Purcell Pavilion.
After scoring a total of 11 points in two games in New York City in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic last weekend, the 6-foot-10 Sherman hit 8 of his 10 shots from the floor and a pair of free throws to score in double figures for the second time this season.
George Washington coach Mike Lonergan admitted his team’s scouting report revolved more around containing Cooley and didn’t have much at all in it about Sherman.
I guess we weren’t familiar enough with Sherman, said Lonergan, whose team fell to 1-2 on the season. He manhandled us.
Garrick (Sherman) needed a game like that said Irish coach Mike Brey, whose team improved to 4-1 on the season. He really needed a game to bounce back from when he didn’t play as well as he wanted to in New York.
He gave us a good lift off the bench.
In Brey’s opinion, Sherman wasn’t in as much of a hurry around the basket as he has been and that was key.
The things we’ve been talking about with him the last few days is slowing down and keeping it simpler around the basket, Brey said. Sometimes he gets overly crafty. Sometimes he adds a degree of difficulty so I said, ˜Keep it simple.’
He was fortunate tonight they didn’t double him so he was able to go with a nice pace. As good as he was offensively, he was as good defensively. Walling up their big guys, rotating over and putting his body on people. So good for him, he needed that.
I was just trying to take what was there instead of predetermine my move, Sherman said.
Leading 16-11, the Irish scored 12 of the next 16 points to take a 28-15 lead at the 6:46 mark of the first half.
Notre Dame led 32-21 at the break.
Brey loved what he saw from the Irish on the defensive end.
We guarded them and held them to 21 (points) in the first half, Brey said.
George Washington got to within nine (42-33) in the second half, but the Irish went on a 14-4 to put the game on ice.
Guard Jerian Grant followed up his season-best 19-point performance in the win over BYU last Saturday by scoring 13 against GW. Grant was the only Notre Dame player besides Sherman to score in double figures.
For the third time this season, the Irish shot 30 percent or less from three-point range. Notre Dame managed to hit just 3-of-13 triples (23.1 percent), including 1-of-4 in the second stanza.
The Irish though shot much better than the Colonials overall.
Notre Dame shot 48.3 percent from the field, while GW hit its shots at just a 32.8 percent clip.
The Irish return to action at 1 p.m. Saturday when it hosts 0-4 St. Francis (Pa.).
Follow Doug Griffiths on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ISLgriffiths.
