Norchad Omier scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds as the eighth-ranked Miami Hurricanes defeated the visiting Notre Dame Fighting Irish 62-49 on Saturday afternoon in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.
Miami (6-1) also got a team-high 14 points and a game-high four steals from Matthew Cleveland and 13 points and a game-high seven assists from Nijel Pack.
Notre Dame (3-4), which has lost two straight games, was led by J.R. Konieczny, who had a team-high 14 points on 4-for-7 shooting on 3-pointers. The rest of the team shot just 2-for-25 from deep.
Tae Davis added 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds for the Irish.
Freshman point guard Markus Burton, who entered the game as Notre Dame’s leading scorer (16.3), was held to six points. He did, however, dish a team-high six assists.
In the first half, Notre Dame raced to a 12-7 lead. But Miami scored the next seven points and never trailed again. Miami eventually stretched its advantage to 31-20 on Wooga Poplar’s drive to the hoop with 3:39 remaining before halftime.
Miami took a 33-26 lead into the break as Burton in-bounded the ball with one second left and found Davis cutting to the basket for a layup.
For the half, Miami shot 48.1 percent from the floor and 5-of-10 on 3-pointers. Notre Dame shot just 28.1 percent overall and 4-of-18 on 3-pointers (22.2 percent). Miami also had an 8-0 edge on fastbreak points.
But the Irish stayed in the game due to a 7-2 advantage on offensive rebounds.
Burton had just two points in the opening half, making 1 of 5 shots.
Early in the second half, a 6-0 Miami run that included a spectacular fastbreak dunk by Poplar gave the Hurricanes a 46-34 lead.
Then, with 1:46 left in the second half, a Cleveland fastbreak layup gave Miami its largest lead, 62-49, and that essentially put away the Irish.
For the game, Miami shot 46.3 overall and 7-for-18 on 3-pointers (38.9 percent).
Notre Dame shot just 28.6 percent overall and 6-for-32 on 3-pointers (18.8 percent).
A bright spot for the Irish was their 15-6 edge on the offensive boards.
–Field Level Media
