Djogo, Notre Dame halt five-game skid at BC

A four-minute scoring drought late in the second half doomed the Eagles in a 79-73 loss to Notre Dame (11-9, 2-6 Atlantic Coast), which has registered its only two conference wins this year versus BC (12-10, 2-7 ACC) and remains undefeated in the Holy War in ACC play.

The struggling Irish received a much-needed boost from Nikola Djogo, a junior who entered the game averaging just 1.9 points in 8.5 minutes. "We put him in the game early against North Carolina down there, and he traveled twice in like a minute," Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey reminisced with a chuckle. Making his first start of the season, Djogo scored a team-high 21 points and took advantage of lackluster perimeter and help defense.

"This is not about Wynston Tabbs when he's not playing, it's not about Steff Mitchell when he's not playing," head coach Jim Christian said. "[The] defensive effort has to improve. They have to demand more from each other. We have to demand more from them."

"Those key possessions, it doesn't make a difference who's on the court," Christian said. "It'd be nice to have other options, but we don't have them, so there's nothing you can do about it. We put ourselves in a position, it was a tie game, we took the lead under 10. You've gotta fight. You've gotta fight. It's gotta mean more to the guys who are out on the floor. If it does, we win that game."

"I'd love to have him," Christian said of Tabbs, who missed his fifth game of the season. "I'd love to have everybody healthy. But you know what? I'd also like to have a lead with 10 minutes to go and fight. I'd love to see that. And we're not giving that. And that's on me."

The Eagles spoiled a career day from junior transfer Jared Hamilton, who finished with a season-high 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting. Starting in place of Tabbs, Hamilton built his confidence with a couple jumpers early and exploded in the second half. He showed off his team-best 42-inch vertical on a fastbreak dunk that tied the game at 39-39, then hit two mid-range jumpers to tie it at 45-45.

"That should've inspired some other guys to lay it out there because you're getting something you normally don't get," Christian said.

But with 10 minutes remaining, BC went ice cold in the clutch. Not only were shots not falling, but lazy defense yielded 6-for-8 shooting during the scoreless stretch. By the time the Eagles checked back into the game on offense, they were staring at a 64-59 deficit they would never overcome. One particularly sloppy sequence featured back-to-back turnovers by Chatman, who mishandled a pass before colliding with Ky Bowman while grabbing a defensive rebound.

The Eagles crashed the boards successfully against Notre Dame, grabbing 15 offensive rebounds that led to 17 second-chance points. The only side effect was that the Irish owned a 10-4 advantage in fastbreak points largely because crashing the boards hurt BC's transition defense.

Bowman enjoyed a solid afternoon, going back and forth with freshman point guard Prentiss Hubb. In the first half, Bowman cut backdoor and bodied Hubb for a bucket inside. After exchanging some words, Hubb returned the favor on the next possession, cutting behind Bowman and converting an easy layup. Bowman finished with 25 points on 10-of-23 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds. Hubb, meanwhile, totaled 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting and four assists.

Saturday was as close to a must-win as they come. With the Eagles' dismal defensive performance against a thin Notre Dame roster, the temperature of Christian's hot seat just got turned up.