#8 Notre Dame upsets #4 Duke 77-73

Notre Dame's Jerian Grant Grabs 1 of His 6 Rebounds

#8 Notre Dame defeated #4 Duke tonight 77-73.  The Irish moved to 8-1 in conference play with their win and continue to impress many.

After the first half Duke was up 39-36.  At that point it was evident the game was going to be a battle.

Coming out of the half both teams were trading bucket after bucket.  It seemed as neither team could miss.  But as all good things do, it came to an end.

After a few minutes, Duke went on a 9-0 run to push the lead to 60-51.  Their run was capped off by a putback dunk from the super freshman himself, Jahlil Okafor.

Around that same time Notre Dame senior Pat Connaughton fell over a Duke player and took a tough fall.  He ended up going to the locker room for a few minutes just to be checked out for injuries.

Once Connaughton returned to the game, Notre Dame made their run.  They went on a 10-0 run to make it a game again.  After they chipped their way back into the game, they the had to steal away the lead.  He ended up finishing with a nice double-double 13 points and 12 rebounds.

With about 20 seconds left, the Irish were up 76-72.  Duke had the ball and drove the lane, but Notre Dame blocked the shot and pushed the ball down the court and got to the line for game clinching free-throws.

Jerian Grant led the Irish back into the game tonight and flat out dominated.  He finished with 23 points, 12 assists, and 6 rebounds.

Duke's star freshman Jahlil Okafor also dominated tonight.  Although his team lost, he has nothing to be disappointed about.  He finished with 22 points and 17 rebounds and was there to score for his team almost every time they needed a bucket.

Tonight showed what the new ACC is truly like.  Top teams in the country are going to have to lose, only because they have to play other top teams.  The ACC is flat out loaded this year and games like this only build excitement for their conference tournament at the end of the year.  It also built excitement for Notre Dame's visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 7th.  Maybe then Duke will be able to knock off the Irish.  One thing's for sure, that game will be a real test of this year's Notre Dame team.