T.J. Gibbs missed a layup with five seconds to go. It was the 39th missed shot of the game by Notre Dame in a game when the team barely eclipsed 30 percent shooting even though it entered the game shooting 49 percent.

But like the Fighting Irish had done 20 times previously, Rex Pflueger ran forward and grabbed an offensive rebound. With no one around him, Pflueger put the game-winning layup in with two seconds left on the clock.

The Fighting Irish (13-3, 3-0 Atlantic Coast) were missing their two best players due to injury. Bonzie Colson and Matt Farrell combine for 37.3 points per game, more than 45 percent of UND’s total. And without them, Notre Dame struggled to get going, missing its first 10 shots.

As it missed those shots, though, Syracuse (12-4, 1-2) couldn’t corral the rebounds. In one span of 10 misses, Notre Dame grabbed five offensive rebounds. Notre Dame ended the game out-rebounding Syracuse by 15. Those extra possessions kept UND in the game long enough to steal a 51-49 win from SU on Saturday afternoon in the Carrier Dome, despite holding the lead for less than three and a half minutes.

“This is the first time somebody really got physical on the boards against us,” head coach Jim Boeheim said postgame, “and we could not rebound.”

With Atlantic Coast conference play underway and the season halfway gone, a few trends have started to emerge. Entering the game for Syracuse, it had been stretches of poor offense (43.1 percent from the field and 31 percent from 3 entering the game) being offset by its plus-9.3 rebounding margin.

For Notre Dame, a team that was ranked No. 14 in the preseason, it was about its explosive offense that averages 81.7 points per game entering the game. If the team had one flaw, it was its mediocre plus-2.3 rebounding margin.

“We’re not a good rebounding team,” Boeheim said. “That was a myth. A complete myth … nobody’s really going to the boards except the last two games, and when they did, we cannot rebound.”

Coming out of the halftime break, Notre Dame went on an eight-point run to cut a nine-point deficit to one in less than three minutes. For the next 10 minutes, though, UND would score just seven more points.

Still, the first-half numbers proved to be more than an aberration, as UND continued to dominate the glass. On one play the ball was swung to T.J. Gibbs, Tyus Battle was a step late in jumping the passing lane and Frank Howard came over for the late contest. Gibbs missed, but the offensive rebound was grabbed right in front of Oshae Brissett. Notre Dame turned that ball over, though.

Later in the half, Rex Pflueger took a one-legged 15-foot heave with the shot clock expiring. The shot missed badly, but center John Mooney cleaned up the glass. He ended up missing the put-back layup.

“We’ve just got to kind of want it a little bit more right now,” assistant coach Allen Griffin, who works with the centers, said postgame. “… Notre Dame did a hell of a job. They send three or four guys to the glass. They just kind of wanted it more. That’s what it seemed to me.”

With all its offensive rebounds, Notre Dame ended with just 16 second-chance points. Even though it was giving itself the extra chances, UND wasn’t capitalizing.

The Fighting Irish could always keep it close, though, because Syracuse’s offense was playing its worst stretch of basketball this year.

Oshae Brissett knocked down three 3-pointers but missed all eight of his shots from inside the arc. Syracuse had averaged 17 made free throws on 24 attempts per game this season, but only got itself to the line six times on Saturday.

Multiple Syracuse players agreed with Boeheim’s postgame assessment that the last few opponents have been more physical. But junior point guard Frank Howard — who after the game said that Syracuse’s season is on the line and criticized his team for having a weak mindset — thinks that those teams have ramped up their physicality because Syracuse seems vulnerable.

“I don’t think that’s who these teams are, to be honest,” he said. “I’m going to be completely honest. I don’t think this is what their identity is. I think they look at us and make that decision before the game of ‘yeah, we can punish them on the glass.’”

Through the Virginia Tech game, the Orange had out-rebounded every one of its opponents. Syracuse has been out-rebounded in each of its last two games, though.

Even though Notre Dame sent extra players to the glass, many players just chalked up the rebounding issues to effort. And for Syracuse to prevent itself from falling into a hole early in ACC play, that’ll have to change.

“Whatever we do, we’ve just got to get the ball,” center Paschal Chukwu said. “There’s no excuse. Even if they send five. We’ve got to go get the ball.”

Published on January 6, 2018 at 5:16 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer