Old Dominion 51, Notre Dame 50

Irish let a nine-point lead slip away and fall in the first round with some bad shot selection against a second-half Monarch zone.

ND attempted three-pointers on nine of its last eleven possessions, making just one of them. With no offensive flow to speak of, Coach Brey's team allowed Old Dominion to slowly take control of the contest and end the game on an 11-5 run over the last six minutes (Luke Harangody's buzzer-beating layup not included). For the game, Notre Dame shot 24% from beyond the arc while attempting twice as many threes as ODU. The biggest culprits were Abromaitis (who has struggled for the last couple of weeks) and Jackson.

Defensively, the Irish played well enough to win the game. Really, it was the offensive letdown the cost the team a chance for a Tournament run. Old Dominion's zone cut down on any points inside down the stretch while Ty Nash and Luke Harangody played a very ineffective 40 minutes between the two of them.

Tory Jackson ended his career with 5 points and 5 rebounds. He also pitched in 4 assists and 3 steals. Unfortunately, he couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with his jumper. 2-11 from the field, 1-7 from long range. Falling in love with the three pointer just killed any chance at a late run to close out the game.

Ben Hansbrough did shoot pretty well, making seven of his eleven attempts from the field. He finished with 17 points. Add in 6 rebounds and 3 assists for the senior shooting guard. I expect he will be back next season, but you don't know for sure.

Tim Abromaitis finished off a very good season on an extended cold streak. 0-5 on his three pointers today. He chipped in for 3 rebounds, but has never seemed to get comfortable in the "Burn" offense.

Carleton Scott played a bit of Jekyll and Hyde today. 14 points, 10 assists, made a couple big threes, but was awfully disappointing with the ball in his hands. He turned the ball over 5 times, almost all in the first half. On defense, he finished with a pair of blocks and a steal.

Ty Nash played just 18 minutes with foul trouble. 1 point, 3 rebounds.

Off the bench, Luke Harangody finally got in the scorebook late. He did help out a lot on the offensive glass, but was unable to find any flow inside against the zone. Jack Cooley played six minutes while Nash and Gody were on the bench. Peoples got in the game for 3 minutes and didn't see action after a really dumb attempt to save the ball under the opponent's basket. He should have learned not to do that in middle school.

Just like that, the season has come to an end. For much of the game, the Irish looked pretty strong, but simply could not overcome their offensive woes at the end.

I'll do some season recap stuff over the next couple of days. Thanks for the hard work, seniors. It was good to get back in the Tournament after last season, but ultimately another disappointing result will end the year.