For Notre Dame, Friday night was a night of milestones, in a sense. In an 82-39 rout of the Binghamton men’s basketball team at the Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Ind., head coach Mike Brey logged his 400th career win. Senior swingman Pat Connaughton eclipsed the 1,000-point mark through his 17-point, 10-rebound performance, becoming the 56th Irishman in program history to do so.
For Binghamton?
The night went pretty much as expected. More than anything, what the Bearcats (0-1) took out of the experience was precisely that: experience. They sent their five active freshmen under the bright lights of the Hall of Fame Tip-off Tournament and started off their season against a rigorous opponent in the hopes of exposing all the flaws of their system.
One of the most blatant of those flaws was ball control. The Bearcats committed 19 turnovers through the game, losing possession nearly as quickly as they secured it. The Fighting Irish (1-0) were able to embark upon an 18-0 run after the first minute of play, jumping up to a 20-3 lead before Binghamton — which shot 0 of 11 from the field during that stretch — could even draw a foul to slow them down. For an Atlantic Coast Conference team that struggled defensively last year after star senior guard Jerian Grant’s season was truncated due to academic issues, Notre Dame got off to a good start in 2014-15.
Of course, it’s hard to stack America East Conference-member Binghamton against a program like Notre Dame’s. But it’s safe to say that BU looked deflated after a rough first half. The Bearcats shot 32.1 percent from the floor and could only penetrate into the paint for six of their 23 points heading into the half.
The Bearcats technically did hold one lead over their hosts, however: Sophomore forward Nick Madray drained a three in the first minute for a 3-2 advantage. But BU wouldn’t score again until freshman forward Willie Rodriguez drew a foul eight minutes later, narrowing the gap to 20-5.
Entering the second half down, 45-25, the Bearcats were actually looking more settled in than they had in the first. Their shots were looking better, they weren’t committing five turnovers in four minutes like they did to start off the night and the Irishmen weren’t able to record as many steals. But after some potent 3-point shooting from Connaughton, who converted 4 of 5 treys, Notre Dame pulled away and the gap only grew from there. By the end, BU was shooting 27.1 percent from the field, 16.7 from three-point range.
On Binghamton, not one player managed to score in double digits. Madray led the team with nine points in 16 minutes and freshman guard Justin McFadden followed up with eight off the bench. Junior guard Jordan Reed led the way in rebounding, pulling down six boards. He also added six points.
For its part, ND shot 55.2 percent through the game. Coming off the bench, junior forward Zach Auguste drained a game-high 19 points. Grant — who was named to the ACC’s Preseason All-Conference team — and sophomore guard Demetrius Jackson rounded out the other double-digit scorers, with 14 and 10, respectively.