By PAUL GOTHAM
PHILADELPHIA — It’s a case of one’s strength also being a weakness.
No one can question Zach Auguste‘s production on the court. Notre Dame’s senior forward averages a double-double (14.3 points/10.9 rebounds), but it was his passion that got in the way earlier in his career.
As a sophomore Auguste’s emotions cost him six weeks during pre-season when he broke his hand during practice punching a basket standard in frustration. After his junior year, the Marlborough, Massachusetts native sat down with coach Mike Brey to watch video clips of moments where his passion veered toward weakness.
“Zach as a young player in our program was a great over-reactor,” Brey said Thursday. “He plays with great emotion, and I wanted to be careful because the energy and emotion and passion he plays with drives our team and is contagious many times.”
The video reached its desired effect.
“We put a bunch of clips together from the past games, some practice where I had some bad body language,” Auguste explained. “I let my frustration get the best of me. You see my body language after certain plays and really just watching that really helped.”
“It really cost him probably being in our lineup,” Brey said looking back on 2013-14. “It cost him having momentum that season. And we laugh about it now, but it was just him being hot-headed as a young guy. He’s done a great job channeling that passion and energy into positive stuff, and what it does is it picks up the rest of the group. His passion is amazing.”
Auguste’s 21 double-doubles this season are the most by a Notre Dame player since Luke Harangody registered 25 in 2008-09. Auguste has hit 43 of 61 shots (71 percent) over seven career NCAA Tournament games. Bill Walton holds the all-time record of 69 percent (109-159) with a minimum of 70 shots.
“He’s been a bright lights deliverer,” Brey said. “When the lights are brightest, big-time regular season games, he has really delivered. And in the ultimate big stage, this tournament, for him to be mentioned of possibly breaking Bill Walton’s record, it’s unbelievable. It’s just amazing.
“Here’s a four-year guy who let us coach him. He didn’t get distracted with, am I good enough to leave early or I need to play a certain way? He knows how to play in our system and he plays to his strengths and he doesn’t try to do things he shouldn’t do. That’s why he’s been amazingly efficient, and he’s going to make a good living playing the game after his college career is over.”
Sixth-seeded Notre Dame (23-11) will look to reach the Elite Eight for a second straight year when they tip off against seventh-seeded Wisconsin (22-12) Friday night.
Notre Dame’s plan of attack?
“We’re going to throw the ball into Zach a bunch,” teammate Demetrius Jackson said. “Give him a bunch of post feeds and let him go to work.”
A 7:27 start time is scheduled at the Wells Fargo Center.
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