SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame’s first sellout crowd in three years offered the hope of an electric atmosphere for No. 9 Duke’s visit to Purcell Pavilion Monday night.
The Irish’s inability to hit shots dimmed the enthusiasm and the Blue Devils waltzed to an easy win.
Paolo Banchero scored 21 points with nine rebounds as Notre Dame shot a frigid 27.9% and the Blue Devils posted an 57-43 ACC basketball win.
Freshman AJ Griffin added 13 points and nine rebounds for Duke, which shot just 39.4% itself. The Blue Devils made just 3 of 19 3-pointers but won handily anyway as the Irish shot far worse.
The win moves Duke (18-3, 8-2 ACC) into a tie with Miami (16-5, 8-2) atop the ACC standings. The Blue Devils will not only carry a four-game winning streak into their game at rival North Carolina on Saturday night, they’ll face the Tar Heels back at full strength.
Freshman guard Trevor Keels, after missing the last three games with a right leg injury, returned to play for Duke. The 6-5 Keels scored three points while playing 27 minutes.
Notre Dame (14-7, 7-3 ACC) hit just 17 of 61 shots from the field, including 3 of 18 on 3-pointers. The Irish didn’t make their first 3-pointer until 13:21 remained the game and Duke held a 42-20 lead.
Paul Atkinson scored 14 points to lead Notre Dame.
The Blue Devils led 27-14 at halftime and pushed their lead to 20 points for the first time on Banchero’s baseline jumper for a 40-20 lead with 14:42 to play.
The Irish hit just six field goals in the first half, shooting 18.8 percent from the field while missing all eight of their 3-point attempts. Their 14 points marked the lowest first-half output for any game during Mike Brey’s tenure as Notre Dame head coach, which began with the 2000-01 season.
Duke shot 37.5 percent in the first half, a poor 20 minutes for a Blue Devils’ team shooting 48.8% for the season. But Duke scored the last nine points of the half to take a 27-14 lead to intermission.
Keels made his first appearance since suffering a calf injury during a Jan. 18 loss at Florida State. The freshman entered the game off the bench at 14:48 and played the reminder of the first half.
Banchero and Griffin scored seven points each to lead Duke in the first half.
