Falls fails to hit 3s in loss

Much like West Virginia did a week ago, Notre Dame figured to make its living behind the… Much like West Virginia did a week ago, Notre Dame figured to make its living behind the 3-point arc against Pitt Saturday afternoon. Somehow, though, shooting a better 3-point percentage wasn’t enough for the Irish.

Despite turning in a shooting performance vastly superior to what the Mountaineers (13 of 40) did in their upset win over Pitt last weekend, Notre Dame could get nothing going inside in its 68-66 loss to the Panthers.

Behind junior guard Chris Quinn and senior point guard Chris Thomas, the Irish hit 14 of their 29 (48.4 percent) 3-point attempts, a slightly higher percentage than their shots from the rest of the floor (40.4 percent on 23 of 57 shooting). Quinn, who had a game-high 25 points, hit five of his six attempts, while Thomas hit four of his five.

“Their outside shooting is always there. That’s what they do. They shoot it very well from three. They shoot a lot of 3s and basically spread you out,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said.

“I thought our perimeter gave us ever chance to win the game. They were fabulous, especially Chris [Thomas] and Chris [Quinn]. We had a chance to win the game,” Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey said.

Built into that shooting percentage was the play of forward Colin Falls. Normally a sharpshooter for the Irish, who can take the pressure of the two Chrises, Falls hit only one of his 10 3-point attempts. His only successful 3 gave Notre Dame a 46-44 lead with 13:55 remaining, but he missed the rest of his 3-point field goal attempts for the game.

Subtracting Falls’ performance from the equation leaves Notre Dame with a 13-for-19 shooting performance from behind the line, numbers that would be enough for most teams to pull off an upset given some form of inside play.

But the Irish (14-7 overall, 6-5 Big East) had difficulty getting anything to work inside the 3-point arc. Pitt (17-4, 7-3) held a 22-6 edge in points in the paint, and the Irish lost starting center Jordan Cornette when he fouled out of the game with 4:08 remaining.

“When Jordan fouled out, that hurt us. He’s our defensive stopper,” Thomas said. “I still feel like we did what it takes to win.”

What the Irish did was what they do best: shoot 3s, a strategy that looked like it would work for a while. Notre Dame’s first seven field goals of the second half were all 3s, and all but three of their made field goals for the half were from behind the arc. Even Cornette got involved in the action, hitting three of his seven 3-point attempts.

The 14 made 3s represented a season high for the Irish and left the crowd stunned with every made shot. But both Brey and his players attributed Pitt’s victory to its ability to withstand the 3s and take away Notre Dame’s interior play.

“We didn’t get much out of them today,” Brey said of his big men. “We really couldn’t establish an inside game. I think you have to give Pittsburgh credit. They ran a lot of big bodies at us. They are very physical. We needed something around the basket to take the pressure off our guards.”

“Chris Taft was not a factor. I think our bigs were beating up on each other that it cancelled itself out. That happens a lot, even with guards. We said that the game was going to be won down-low, and their guards got in there a little bit. We feel like we shot the ball well. We shot extremely well from the 3. But just not having an inside presence, that hurt us.”