SOUTH BEND, IND. (December 4, 2016) – The North Carolina A&T men's basketball team knew they had a challenge on their hands as they headed into Sunday's evening game at the Joyce Center on a six-game losing streak while facing a Notre Dame team with back-to-back Elite 8 appearances in the NCAA tournament to go along with a 7-0 start to the 2016-17 season in their possession.
The challenge proved to be real as the Fighting Irish came away with a 107-53 win over the Aggies. The Irish improved to 8-0 overall and the Aggies dropped to 0-28 against ACC competition all-time.
Yet, the Aggies (1-7) did show some positive signs six games away from the start of Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play. Junior college transfer Eliel Gonzalez had his best day as an Aggie as he led the Aggies with 18 points and five rebounds on 7-for-14 shooting. Over his first five games as an Aggie, graduate transfer Aaron Scales did not score in double figures. He has now scored in double figures in consecutive games, finishing with 11 points and nine rebounds on 4-for-6 shooting. But what was most pleasing to see was the Aggies free throw shooting. A 56 percent free throw shooting team coming into the game, the Aggies were 8-for-10 from the line against The Irish.
Where the Aggies had their troubles on Sunday was defending Notre Dame's 3-point shooting. The Irish hit 19 of 35 3-pointers as three different players had four or more led by Matt Ryan going 5-for-7 from the arc. Matt Farrell and T.J. Gibbs had four apiece.
“We lost to a very good program tonight that plays in a very good league,” said N.C. A&T coach Jay Joyner. “But we've got to get to a point where we are giving maximum effort for 40 minutes. In the first half we got back in transition and did a fairly decent job of limiting them scoring opportunities in transition. In the second half the gates got broken down, and they were getting dunks, they were getting threes – they were playing the game the way it is supposed to be played.”
Joyner's team also looked pretty efficient at times. Gonzalez's three from the top of the key four minutes in tied the game at 9 as Gonzalez connected on his first 3-pointer in six games. A 14-2 Notre Dame run that included two 3-pointers and a 3-point play gave The Irish some separation at 23-11 with 11:56 to play. Another Notre Dame surge occurred six minutes later as a 13-4 run that ended with a Rex Pflueger 3-pointer put The Irish ahead 41-20.
But the Aggies showed a lot of fight in the first half. Junior Davaris McGowens ended the run on a layup as freshman Raymon Pratt whipped a pass inside for the assist. Scales then made a nice move in the lane before two Sam Hunt free throws and a 3-pointer closed the half and sent the Aggies into the locker room down 45-29.
“I saw some positive things with our guys,” said Joyner. “We've got to build on that, continue to get better each day and look forward to playing well in the MEAC.”
Joyner said it was encouraging to see Scales play well against top-level competition. Joyner was pleased with the play of Gonzalez as well, but wants to see the backcourt of Hunt and Gonzalez play well on the same night. Hunt did have 17 points and five 3-pointers, but it was on 5-for-17 shooting. The Aggies will take eight days off from competition for exams before returning to action 7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 13 at UMass.
