Notre Dame will play for its second ACC Championship in 3 years on Saturday night.

Let it sink in.

Notre Dame is making a trip back to the ACC Tournament Final.

It wasn’t always pretty Friday night. Despite carrying a double digit lead for most of the evening, matters were still in doubt until nearly midnight. However, the Fighting Irish held on to defeat the Florida State Seminoles 77-73. Now 6-0 in the Barclay’s Center, Mike Brey has to quickly turn the page to prepare for a showdown with his old boss.

As far as Friday’s game went, it was a clear tale of two halves. Rolling on the momentum they built against Virginia, the Irish built a 16 point halftime lead. They were unbelievable from behind the arc in the first half. ND was 8-15 in the first half with Vasturia making both his attempts and both Matt Ryan and Matt Farrell hitting 2 of 3. Matt Ryan made the most of his seven first half minutes, scoring eight points and doing good work on the defensive end. I had a sneaking suspicion he could be an unexpected weapon, and he took full advantage of his opportunity.

Notre Dame used exterior sharp shooting and a new-wrinkle zone defense to take the air out of Leonard Hamilton’s squad in the first half. The long and high-flying Seminoles forced only 3 turnovers in the first half and blocked a single shot. They committed 10 turnovers themselves and went 0-7 from deep. Brey employed a 1-2-2 (or 3-2) zone look in the first half. It is the first time we’ve seen an odd-front zone from Notre Dame all season, and it clearly rattled the Seminoles. They settled for jumpers, and as long as ND was able to clear the defensive glass, it worked to perfection. Like many of you, I’m not a fan of zone defenses, but it is nice to have a another tool to throw out there when you need it. In particular, the Irish communicated and slid well in that look, and it took FSU out of their game.

The second half opened pretty well and the Irish looked OK through the first two 4-minute segments. Unfortunately, one of their patented droughts nearly cost the Irish. The Irish took a 13 point lead at 70-57 with 6:27 remaining in the game. They scored a whopping 2 points over the next 5:33. They let FSU climb all the way back in the game with some missed lay-ups and poor offensive possessions. Meanwhile, FSU’s Brian Angola-Rodas decided to simply go off. He went 4-7 from deep on a way to a career high 17 points. He nearly dragged his team all the way back with a few contested and deep makes.

Despite a season of easily icing games from the line, tonight, the Irish found themselves missing key FT’s. They ended the game a chilly 61.5% from the line. That’s a disturbing trend, but also gives Brey and the staff a chance to get the team re-focused on attention to those details. My old HS coach used to say it was always easy to “teach aggressively” when you’re winning.

The Numbers

After Thursday’s 59 possession game against Virginia, Friday felt like a track meet. There were 72 possessions Friday. From a four factors perspective, you knew the Irish were going to need to shoot well in this game and take care of the ball to win. They did exactly that. Notre Dame held the edge in eFG 59%/55% and in turnover percentage 12.4/24.9. FSU held the edge in offensive rebounding, gathering 31% of their misses to only 8.6% for ND. The Seminoles also got the to he line at a higher rate with a 28% FTR to ND’s 22%.

To beat a more athletic team, the Irish need to be efficient. You need to make sure that their superiority on the glass doesn’t lead to dramatically more shot attempts than you get. Not only did ND outshoot FSU, but they actually got 2 more FG attempts up on Friday night. They held FSU to only 9 offensive boards and forced 18 turnovers. Meanwhile, they had one of their signature performances, giving up only 9 turnovers of their own. That’s how you beat teams with efficiency.

Performances

You have to start any conversation about the Irish with their senior captain. Steve Vasturia had an outstanding floor game. He made plays all over the place. His stat line reads 18 points on 7-9 shooting (4-5 from deep), 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and a block. It is the perfect little-bit-of-everything from ND’s little-bit-of-everything guy. I’m so excited that Vasturia gets to play his ACC career out to the very end.

Vasturia’s classmate V.J. Beachem was a little off Friday, presumably saving his daggers for the final. He was only 1-6 from deep and 2-9 overall, but he collected seven critical defensive rebounds and was solid on defense the entire night. Rebounding and defending against NBA size and athleticism while in the spotlight is a wise career move.

Matt Farrell loves being home. Something about the city clearly drives this guy. He went 36 minutes, scored 15 points on 6-15 shooting and had 6 assists. It was another swaggy game from the Jersey native. Of course, he’d love to get that front-end FT miss back, but he’ll hopefully have plenty of opportunities to atone on Saturday.

Rex Pflueger once again opened the scoring for the Irish with an early three ball. Rex was 2-3 from deep and 2-3 from the charity stripe for 8 points. Most importantly, he found 5 defensive boards and played smart, effective defense all night. He made a spectacularly crafty and athletic steal late to seal the win.

T.J. Gibbs, Martinas Geben and Austin Torres all saw between 4-9 minutes each. None had anything go spectacularly well or awful. Generally all contributed well.

Welcome to the party Matt Ryan. It was great to see the sophomore jump out there and surprise people with an early drive and finish from the corner. After that, Ryan stroked a gorgeous three. Of course, he did throw up one questionable heat-check. To his credit, he bounced back after and made two more. The most spectacular of the night was a second half triple from the corner that featured a tough catch around the knees and a quick, pure trigger. He could just be that weapon that comes out of nowhere for Brey in March.

Finally, it all comes down to the Irish MVP and should-have-been ACC PoY, Bonzie Colson. He missed out on the double-double with only 6 rebounds, but his 18 points tied Vasturia for team high. He was a solid 7-13 from the floor and 4-6 from the stripe. Bonzie is clearly a guy who loves the bright lights and he delivered again on the big stage.

The only thing that frustrated me about Colson’s play was his lack of assertiveness late. There were several possessions during ND’s scoring drought where Colson was defended by FSU’s Christ Koumadje. FSU was in a man defense, and the Irish had them spread out. Bonzie needs to lift above the FT line in that situation and face up a defender who could never stay with him off the bounce. I’m not a big fan of ISO-ball, but that was an instance where Brey needs to clear that out and let his guy go to work. If Hamilton wanted to try to keep the 7’4″ Koumadje in the game, Brey and Colson should have made him pay.

Big Picture

While this was a double digit beat down masquerading as a four-point victory, it really doesn’t matter. Survive and advance. Despite the drought and missed FT’s, the Irish are playing some wonderful basketball. Advancing to the ACC Tournament Final is a great accomplishment in and of itself. Doing it while adding a few new weapons to your arsenal is even better.

The wrinkles with Ryan and the 1-2-2 were excellent adjustments by Brey and the staff. If people were concerned about the loss of Martin Inglesby and Anthony Solomon from the bench, worry no more. The Irish had a perfect plan for Virginia, and even better wrinkles for FSU. This trip to Brooklyn has been a coaching master-class so far, and who could ask for a better final exam than one against the old teacher? (or is it preacher?)