Notre Dame Outlasts Niagara / Soccer Eagle’s game report (great read)

[jhart]

We have a ballgame tied at 51 with 7:30 remaining!

[le]

Bumbalough is a player, Ball State transfer.

[Bilbo81]

We finally have a shooter!

[jhart]

OB still has fouls issues with 5 now and 5 points.
ND by 6 w 2:20 left.

[jhart]

FINAL
ND 70-63 in a respectable road opener for our team.

[le]

We were tied with 4 mins remaining in the game. Impressive performance by the Purps which should carry forward in league play. Obviously, the overall consensus has to be favorable with this unexpected competitive game against ND. Just ran out of gas in the last 4 mins courtesy of Burton.

[eagle80]

Bubalough and Henderson are shooters which should win a few games for Niagara. The Eagles didn’t back down and we’re not in awe of playing their home opener at South Bend. Was Mitchell injured ?

[soccereagle81]

Hi Guys; just home from South Bend. Excellent effort and spirit from NU. NU did not lose to ND, NU lost to Markus Burton, # 3 from ND who had 29 points and single handily saved ND's game. As a freshman, Mr. Indiana last year was unstoppable. The good: NU was much quicker than ND and played excellent transition basketball. In the first half, Niagara rebounded and ran the break which created a bunch of layups and open jumpers. Our freshman guard Henderson was excellent. His ball handling, driving the lane and outside shooting was solid. #5, Luke B also ran the break, passed the ball, drove the lane and made a few clutch shots in the second half. Our guards are strong. Our big guys really battled and hustled. ND slowed the tempo in the second half and allowed #3 to play one on one and we could not stop him. With a slow pace, we could not run in the second half which forced NU to work really hard on both ends of the floor in the second half.Considering this was our first game with a lot of new faces, NU played hard. The coaching staff is very engaged and active. Each of the assistants and the HC communicated well with the players. It was a great night to be a Purple Eagle.

[phillyeagle]

Noted some recent deletions from Men's basketball Roster: Donovan Hill and David Mitchell.
Hill was originally a promising recruit last year from Central PA who was thought to have a bigger role this year as a Sophomore. He has entered the Portal.
Mitchell was a returning starter from last year. Evidently, the NCAA must have ruled that his eligibility had expired. He seemed like a nice player projected to play a starting forward role for the young team but has played numerous years of college Bball at various schools. The NCAA might actually be counting now.

[le]

John Soccer Eagle:

Thanks so much for the game report live from South Bend. You astutely described the flow of the game and hit upon all of the salient points . I had no idea Luke Bumba was such an outstanding player at Ball State. Yes he can drive , penetrate , dish and shoot. Ditto Henderson who’s just a smaller quicker version as a freshmen. In addition , we have Bayless our talented returning guard from last season. These guys played as a team and hard as you described , not just one dude driving the lane on every possession.

What’s your take on NU’s new big men and O? As Philly said , is Mitchell really not eligible ? I thought I saw him on the bench ? What row were you behind the bench? I thought I saw a few familiar faces.

SOUTH BEND, IND. – Despite holding as much as a 12-point lead over Notre Dame, Niagara fell to the Fighting Irish by a final score of 70-63 on the opening night of the college basketball season inside Purcell Pavilion.

Three Purple Eagles recorded double-figures, led by 14 points from graduate student Luke Bumbalough and freshman Ahmad Henderson II. Transfer Yaw Obeng-Mensah added 13 points and a team-best eight rebounds and four assists. As a team, Niagara shot 42.4 percent from the floor, including a 41.2 percent mark from 3-point land.

https://purpleeagles.com/news/2023/11/6 ... agara.aspx