The Fighting Irish played another close game against a superior opponent, but ultimately the Tigers were able to escape and hand the Irish their 4th loss in a row
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish lost their fourth game in a row today, falling to the Clemson Tigers 67 to 58 in a closely-contested road game.
Clemson was led by Gabe DeVoe, who scored 17 and had 5 rebounds. Marcquise Reed chipped in 12, Donte Grantham added 11, and Shelton Mitchell had 10 as the Tigers shot 44% from the field and 39% from 3.
ND, meanwhile, was led by TJ Gibbs’ 18 points. Martinas Geben added 10 points and 9 rebounds, and John Mooney had a fantastic game off the bench, scoring 13 and grabbing 7 rebounds. Matt Farrell struggled in his second game back from spraining his ankle, shooting 2-for-11 from the field (2-for-10 from deep) and scoring just 6 points. The Irish shot 39% from the field and 27% from deep, but did out-rebound Clemson 38-32.
The Irish got off to a slow start in this one, allowing Clemson to build a 23-12 lead midway through the first half. However, ND clawed its way back into the game on the back of an 8-0 run by John Mooney, who will now be referred to as John Mutton.
The Clemson PA called Mooney John Mutton
— John Barry (@Go_Irish_930) January 20, 2018
After John Mutton’s personal scoring run, the Tigers and Irish mostly traded buckets, with Clemson taking a 33-30 lead into the half.
At halftime, Mooney led the way for the Irish with 10 points and 4 rebounds, while TJ Gibbs chipped in 9 points and 3 rebounds. Matt Farrell, in his second game back from a sprained ankle, was scoreless on 0-for-3 shooting in the first half. The Irish shot 39% overall and 27% from deep, but did manage to out-rebound Clemson 19-14.
For Clemson, Gabe DeVoe was the high scorer with 14 points, and Elijah Thomas added 6 and 4. The Tigers were 46% from the field and 33% from deep.
In the second half, it was more of the same. Clemson jumped out to an 8-point lead, but then the Irish crawled back into it to make it just a one-point deficit before falling behind again by about 5-8 points.
In the final few minutes, Clemson looked to potentially be pulling away by taking a 9-point lead, but three pointers from Gibbs and Mutton cut the deficit to 3 with about 2 minutes left.
An Aamir Simms corner three with under a minute remaining put the Tigers up 6, and the Irish were unable to recover from there, as Clemson hit some free throws and got some offensive rebounds down the stretch to secure the 67 to 58 victory.
The Irish fall to 3-4 in the ACC and 13-7 overall, while Clemson improves to 5-2 in the ACC and 16-3 overall.
Notre Dame will have the next week off before hosting Virginia Tech next Saturday in what is likely a must-win for a floundering Irish team desperate to right the ship.
