Notre Dame takes over in 3rd quarter, advances to Final Four

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish trailed the Oregon Ducks by six points at halftime on Monday with a trip to the Final Four on the line. The Irish came out of the locker room and completely turned the game on its head.

Notre Dame’s 21-9 advantage in the third gave them a six-point lead. They went on to close out the game, securing a spot in Columbus.

This season’s Final Four field features all four one seeds. The Irish will take on undefeated UConn on Friday (9 ET, ESPN2) after Louisville squares off with Mississippi State (7 ET, ESPN2).

Did Notre Dame surprise the Ducks with a defensive adjustment? Did Oregon simply fail to execute on offense? Can the answer be both?

Let’s take a closer look at Monday’s pivotal third quarter:

The Irish did hedge hard against every Sabrina Ionescu-led pick and roll in that quarter, save for one. The Notre Dame big defending the screener came up high to meet Ionescu, buying her teammate time to fight around that screen to get back into the play:

Notre Dame opened the game defending that pick and roll in a drop coverage. The big guarding the screener hung out near the basket as the on ball defender fought to get back into the play. Ionescu began to attack all that air space late in the first quarter, scoring six straight points for the Ducks.

Most nights this season, Oregon’s spacing and shooting made any sort of hard hedge a losing proposition. Maite Cazorla, Lexi Bando, and Satou Sabally have excelled as spot-up shooters with Ruthy Hebard rolling hard to the rim. Early in the quarter with Mallory McGwire in Hebard’s place, the ball found Sabally open on the left wing.

Notre Dame’s two bigs navigated these pick and roll situations very well. The one not involved in the action covered up the Oregon player closest to the rim. The other had to scramble to find the only open Duck remaining. Sabally made a good read that time to get by the closeout. The shot just didn’t fall.

Later in the quarter with Sabally on the bench, Oregon no longer had four three-point shooters on the court. McGwire starts this possession in the corner as Hebard sets the ball screen.

The Irish paid little attention to McGwire out there. Kathryn Westbeld came across the lane to take away an easy pass to Hebard. Ionescu picked up her dribble and looked in the other direction, giving Jessica Shepard plenty of time to locate and pick up McGwire.

One more: Ionescu had Hebard and McGwire both within their respective scoring zones. The ball was skipped to Maite Cazorla on the weak side instead.

That configuration still puts Oregon in a good position to score. A quick pass to Hebard or McGwire gives them a two-on-one.

Pick and roll coverage didn’t decide the outcome of the game on their own. However, the hedging and recovery certainly helped the Irish to turn the tide of the game.

Teams also just need to knock down some shots at a certain point. In 17 third-quarter possessions, Oregon managed just nine points. The majority of those possessions did not involve a Sabrina Ionescu-led pick and roll.

Bando missed a three early in the quarter. Sabally missed all three of her shots in the third. Hebard missed two bunnies. Cazorla missed a pair of open threes off the bounce.

On the other end, Notre Dame got what it wanted inside against Oregon’s 2-3 zone. Six of their 19 offensive rebounds came in that quarter. Passes inside to Westbeld and Shepard came easy. One was able to turn and drive or dish it off to the other.

SPOKANE, WA – MARCH 26: players battle for a loose ball during the game between the Oregon Ducks and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish played on March 26, 2018 at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane, WA.. (Photo by Robert Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

That brings us to another key factor. Ruthy Hebard picked up her second foul just before halftime. She then picked up her next one late in the third. A second foul is enough to make you think a little bit. Hanging back near the rim in the middle of that zone also opened up plenty of open space for the Irish to park themselves in the lane in search of offensive rebounds.

Seeing that middle player spend so much time near the front of the rim was somewhat strange. Once the ball was entered, though, that player didn’t get enough help to stop those two-on-ones or come down with more defensive rebounds.

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