Notre Dame has struggled during the first season of the 18-team ACC. At times, it was worth wondering if it would make the conference tournament with the bottom three teams no longer qualifying for it.
Fortunately, the Irish won’t have to worry about missing the ACC Tournament after their 56-54 win over Stanford clinched their spot in it. That means only seeding will be at stake during Saturday’s regular-season finale against California.
Both the Irish (13-17, 7-12) and Cardinal (19-11, 11-8) had rough nights on offense, so this game naturally was going to come down to the wire. That much was obvious during the second in which the Irish turned a nine-point deficit into a six-point lead on a 15-0 run. The Cardinal then scored eight straight to go back up two.
After Tae Davis split two free throws to cut the deficit to one, the Irish got a defensive stop, and Micah Shrewsberry called a timeout with a chance to draw up a game-winning shot with 27.8 seconds left.
Many figured Markus Burton would get the shot as the only Irish player in double figures with 24 points. Instead, Davis found Cole Certa in the corner by the Irish’s bench, and Certa hit a 3-pointer that will live in his mind forever:
The Cardinal had a final chance to win the game or send it to overtime out of a timeout with 4.2 seconds remaining. But Ryan Agarwal’s last-second shot wasn’t close, and the celebration was on in South Bend.
The Irish can breathe a little easier now, but they still would like to improve their seeding. That’s why they won’t be able to take the Golden Bears lightly, especially since they have the same goal.
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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Notre Dame clinches ACC Tournament bid with victory over Stanford
