They didn’t want to leave the court.
Soon after Jerian Grant airballed Notre Dame’s last gasp at history and the buzzer sounded, the five players who had been on the court for the Irish stood motionless, at after stunned the game was more than and hoping there may well be, somehow, some time left on the clock.
But the clock showed zeroes. The Irish’s time to score one particular of the all-time upsets in college basketball had run out.
Kentucky stayed unbeaten with a 68-66 victory more than Notre Dame in the NCAA tournament’s Midwest Regional final.
The Irish had come so close to the greatest win in the school’s history and practically scored the biggest shocker in a program identified for pulling off big upsets.
"I never know if it will sink in,” Coach Mike Brey said.
Top rated-seeded Kentucky (37-) may possibly win the national championship, and the Irish (32-six) had been the initially team in the tournament to make the Wildcats sweat.
"Just to be so close to generating history, from performing a thing so unique and just like that it is over … it is tough,” Grant mentioned. "I just genuinely want to be able to keep playing with these guys.”
Guard Andrew Harrison produced two totally free throws with six seconds remaining to end a 66-66 tie prior to Grant dribbled the length of the court and missed his final-second shot from 3-point variety.
Junior Zach Auguste picked a good time to have his most effective game for Notre Dame, which led by six points with 6 minutes 14 seconds to play. He scored 20 points on 10-for-13 shooting.
But the Irish could not execute when they needed to the most.
"Their length at occasions shrinks the court and it just tends to make it a little challenging, and it did there a couple possessions at the finish of the game,” Brey stated.
Grant, who made a shot-clock beating 3-point basket for Notre Dame’s last basket, settled for stepback jumpers on successive Irish possessions. All except for the 3-pointer came up empty and the Irish failed to score in the final two:35.
Grant scored 15 points on four-for014 shooting and had six assists in his final game for the Irish.
"I actually feel like I got the appears I’ve been having all year and knocking down, but they did not go in tonight,” Grant said. "We almost certainly could’ve run some various forms of offense, but we ran an isolation play I didn’t knock it down.”
Fellow senior Pat Connaughton departs right after scoring eight points and grabbing nine rebounds.
"Everyone on this team place in every thing they had,” Connaughton mentioned. "That’s anything that showed on the floor. The ball bounces a single way or the other the outcome may be diverse. But they are a terrific team, that’s been apparent all season and I am glad we had been able to go toe-to-toe with them.”
Kentucky, even so, took the final steps behind Karl-Anthony Towns, who finished with 25 points.
Notre Dame will have to live with what it accomplished this season and that is nothing to blanch at — an Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship, the first in conference tournament title in Notre Dame history and the school’s initially Elite Eight appearance because 1979.
"We put Notre Dame basketball on the map,” Connaughton mentioned.
But the Irish’s course stopped brief of the ultimate treasure.
chine@tribpub.com
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Kentucky holds off Notre Dame, 68-66, reaches Final Four - New York Recorder
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