Rutgers 72 – N. Dame 65
After the most inexplicable – and arguably most damaging – loss of the season, the Notre Dame players initially deferred questions about their postseason status to their head coach, Mike Brey.
Brey wasn’t much more willing discuss the Irish’s future.
“I don’t want to about talk tournament,” he said. “We’ll await our fate on Sunday.”
Last year, Selection Sunday was humbling day in South Bend. The Irish huddled as a team in front of the television and waited – in futility, it turned out – to see the name “Notre Dame” pop up on the screen. When it didn’t, they vowed not to let history repeat itself.
“We talked about it that day, we talked about it over the summer, we talked about it in practice, during games, all the time,” said senior Jordan Cornette. “None of us wanted to play in the NIT again.”
But the NIT is almost surely where the Irish are headed, because they caved in their last chance to convince the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee they are worthy of an at-large berth.
The Irish got upset by lowly Rutgers 72-65 last night in an opening-round game of the Big East Conference Tournament at the Garden.
The Irish finish the season at 17-11. Last season they didn’t get a berth at 17-12.
“It’s tough to swallow,” said senior Chris Thomas. “I regret being in this situation again.”
The situation got grim with 9:01 left in the first half when sharpshooter Chris Quinn suffered a bruised right clavicle after an on-court collision. He didn’t return, leaving the Irish without their best 3-point shooter.
And Thomas, who said the Big Apple is his favorite city, the Garden his favorite arena, and New York fans the most intense, suffered through a miserable first half. He was 2-for-7 with four turnovers as the Irish trailed 35-32 at halftime to a team they beat 66-56 less than a week ago.
“I think we were a little hungrier,” said Rutgers’ Quincy Douby of Brooklyn, who had 15 points and five assists. “You know, we kind of struggled in the Big East this year. We wasn’t just gonna lay down and let them get into the NCAA.”
The Scarlet Knights (10-18), who face Syracuse today, can only make the postseason by winning this tournament. They were on the verge of taking control when Ollie Bailey hit a baseline jumper for a 49-42 lead with 12:59 left.
But with 6:28 left, Thomas drained a 3, tying the score at 56-56. The game went back and forth and the Irish had the ball trailing 66-65 with 1:07 left. That’s when Ricky Shields (21 points) stripped Colin Falls and went in for a layup. The Irish never scored again.
“I’ll be real about it,” said Thomas. “The way we played was not tournament caliber. I hope they’re not judging on that.”
The committee uses a lot of criteria, and none favor the Irish. Their power rating going into the game was 77. They’ve lost four of their last five.
Thomas has been glorified for every big Irish win and vilified for every bad loss. At the end of this one he lifted his jersey and bit the bottom of the fabric. It couldn’t have tasted worse than the bitterness of defeat.
He finished with 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting to go along with five assists and five turnovers. He was 1-of-5 on 3s.
“Do I think we deserve to be in?” Thomas said repeating the question. “I don’t think we played with a sense of urgency.”
