Notre Dame played their hearts out, only to come up one point short in the end.
Once again the Notre Dame Fighting Irish showed that they really are "fighting" this season with no Bonzie Colson and no Matt Farrell. The fight came up a bit short though in a 69-68 loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels. Against one of the best rebounding teams in the country, the Irish outrebounded the Heels 22-21 in the first half, with 10 of those off the offensive glass.
Notre Dame outhustled North Carolina, but still had some sloppy play - including Rex Pflueger letting a ball go out of bounds to give the Heels the ball with no shot clock towards the very end of the half. Carolina hit a three and Notre Dame went into the half down 40-37.
That fight carried into the second half with some impressive performances from Martinas Geben (14 points 9 REB), T.J. Gibbs (19 points 6 assists), and Nikola Djogo (12 points 3-6 3's).
At one point the Irish got down 6 after Theo Pinson dropped a couple of threes - but crashing the boards has its advantages, and the Irish swung that back around to (short-lived) six point lead thanks to some threes from Djogo.
North Carolina battled back and after some time elapsed... Notre Dame was up one with 32 seconds left. ENTER ACC "easy button refs" and the Irish get called for a foul on Gibbs to send Berry to the line.
He didn't even touch him.
Berry hits both shots, and after a chance on the other end came up short, Notre Dame ends up robbed.
I don't have enough in me to add anymore. So much heart and fight - and to lose like that is crappy AF.
