By PAUL GOTHAM
PHILADELPHIA, PA. — Mike Brey cracks jokes about fictional rankings, but when it comes to Sunday’s regional final matchup with North Carolina, the Notre Dame coach doesn’t mince words.
“We’re ranked ninth of the final eight,” Brey quipped Saturday. “I thought I saw that.”
Brey’s Irish understand the challenge they face Sunday night in No.1-seed and Atlantic Coast Conference rival North Carolina. The teams split two games this season with the Tar Heels grabbing the most recent meeting 78-47 in the ACC semifinals. A game in which UNC controlled the boards, 49-31.
Notre Dame will need Zach Auguste and Bonzie Colson to duplicate their efforts when the Irish defeated UNC 80-76 on February sixth.
“Bonzie and Zach together, they had 20 offensive rebounds against North Carolina in South Bend, and we’ll need them to be really good tomorrow night.”
The Irish will also need to channel their former ball-control selves.
“We just were not very good with the basketball,” Brey said referring to 17 turnovers committed in the 29-point loss. “We were a team that’s been really good with the ball throughout the year, but that game we were not.”
Turnovers have plagued the Irish of late committing an average of 13.6 mishandles in three NCAA Tournament games.
“We’ve always hung our hat on assist-to-turnover and taking care of the ball,” Brey added. “That’s why the rash of turnovers lately has kind of bothers me. But we’ve been good there.”
Brey added Matt Farrell to the starting lineup since the loss in the ACC tournament. The change has relieved starting point guard Demetrius Jackson of some ballhandling responsibilities, and helped the Irish play faster.
Against the Tar Heels, though, Notre Dame may need to control tempo and slow down a Carolina offense averaging 89.7 points in three NCAA Tournament games.
“They like to get up and down,” Brey said of UNC. “We can’t get in a racetrack with them. We’re going to have to be able to rebound the ball like we did in South Bend, not in Washington D.C. (ACC Tournament). We’re going to have to complete some passes and be good with the ball in the half court.”
North Carolina hit 30-of-69 shots in the win while holding Notre Dame to 15-of-50 from the floor.
“I misplaced it,” Brey said of the game film from that drubbing. “That’s been misplaced. Those are ones that you burn, you don’t go back to. But certainly you have to learn from it, and we’ve talked about it a little bit here in practice.”
Last season, Notre Dame lost to Duke by 30 before beating the eventual national champion in the ACC semifinal.
“I’ve kind of used that analogy a little bit,” Brey explained. “And these guys have been — they’re really — they’re really tough and resilient. I think they’ll move on, and as a coach I just want to try and help them a little bit more make some passes. That’s on me to help get us in a little bit better position offensively.”
Prior to the most recent meeting, ND had won three straight against North Carolina.
UNC has scored 80 or more points in 24 games this season. The Tar Heels are 23-1 in those games.
“But there’s no secrets now,” Brey said. “We need some guys to have all-time nights. Crazier stuff’s happened, though, especially with our guys.”
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