The Notre Dame Fighting Irish came into Saturday night’s game reeling, given the injuries to Matt Farrell, Bonzie Colson and D.J. Harvey. On the other hand, the Virginia Tech Hokies rolled into South Bend coming off a double-digit win over the North Carolina Tar Heels.
The first half of Saturday evening’s game was dictated by Virginia Tech’s momentum; They came out absolutely on fire. The Hokies shot 47 percent from three and 45 percent overall in the first half, some remarkable stats. However, it was just a seven-point game at half time. As time expired, T.J. Gibbs drained a half-court three, and the Irish found themselves in the game.
In the second half, Notre Dame came back from some adverse conditions to give themselves a real shot to win the game. On the back of T.J. Gibbs, the Irish kept themselves within single digits throughout the half, in an impressive manner. The final score was Hokies 80, Irish 75, but the drama was bigger than that. Tonight, we watched Rex Pflueger and T.J. Gibbs show us what the future of Notre Dame basketball is and you know what? It looks ok.
Gibbs will be very good. He drained Jerian Grant-level shots tonight. The future for this program should be pretty fun. Now, though? Not so much.
