NCAA Tournament 2017, West Virginia vs Notre Dame: Highlights, score and recap

Recapping the action from Saturday’s NCAA Tournament game between West Virginia  and Notre Dame online.

Notre Dame came into the tournament as a 5-seed, and riding a streak of consecutive Elite Eight appearances. Their pass-heavy, egalitarian style of offense led them to a 25-9 record and a solid 5-seed. A dangerous offensive team, Notre Dame has struggled at times defending. They just escaped a first-round upset against Princeton as a buzzer-beating 3 fell short for the Tigers.

RELATED: Updated 2017 NCAA Tournament Bracket

West Virginia has been excellent this year, too. They’re currently ranked as the 7th best team per KenPom’s adjusted efficiencies. It’s mostly on the strength of their defense, which is top-5 in the country. Bob Huggins’ team relentlessly presses teams, looking to force turnovers and create transition opportunities. They don’t have any standout players on offense – their deep rotation shares the ball and scoring opportunities well, and it’s tough to key on any one guy.

West Virginia’s defense and spurts of offensive excellent carried them to a victory – and the Sweet 16 – in this one. ‘Press’ Virginia forced a ton of turnovers, from a team in Notre Dame that was among the best in the league at avoiding them during the regular season. The 14 turnovers committed by Notre Dame tied for their second most this season.

West Virginia did a great job converting defense into offense, but they were also quite good on offense in the half-court. They managed to penetrate Notre Dame’s perimeter defense well, taking plenty of shots from near the rim and the short mid-range. These penetrations also helped fuel their potent offensive rebounding game — already one of the best at grabbing offensive boards in the country, West Virginia pulled down 10 in this one. When combined with a great game from behind the arc — the Mountaineers hit 8 of their 14 attempts — Notre Dame never really had a chance. West Virginia moves on to the Sweet 16.

Three Stars

Jevon Carter was excellent on both ends for the Mountaineers. He was especially key in West Virginia’s excellent showing from deep; he hit four of his five attempts from deep, accounting for half of West Virginia’s makes. He also penetrated at will, and flashed a dangerous mid-range and floater game. Carter also helped contribute to harassing Notre Dame into a bunch of uncharacteristic turnovers.

Daxter Miles Jr. also put together a game for the Mountaineers, though he struggled with foul trouble for much of it. He earned 8 trips to the free throw line by continuing to attack Notre Dame’s short interior defense, and hit 7 of them. He finished with 16 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals to help key the press for West Virginia.

Bonzie Colson put up an incredible individual effort in a losing cause. Though he played much of the second half with three and four fouls, he remained assertive on the offense end. Helped by a four for five showing from deep for the game, he finished with 27 points and 8 rebounds. While Notre Dame was in the game, it was mainly on the strength of his efforts – just one other person on Notre Dame show better than 50 percent from the field.

Highlights

Next Game

West Virginia will play the winner of the Gonzaga-Northwestern game, taking place later on Saturday. The 1-seeded Bulldogs are a heavy favorite over the Northwestern Wildcats, as they’ve only lost one of their games on the season. It’d be a surprise if the Bulldogs didn’t advance. West Virginia will look to press Gonzaga out of its comfort zone, and string together enough offense to make the Elite Eight.