Brey spurs Irish to win over Pitt after awful start
PITTSBURGH — A self-professed “raving lunatic” while his team was scoring only three points in the opening 13:54, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey wasn’t considering the potential consequences when he gave referee John Gaffney an earful.
“I was just so frustrated,” Brey said. “He probably could’ve thrown me out.”
The No. 25 Irish might want to thank Brey for the dramatic momentum shift after an atrocious shooting start.
Jerian Grant and Jack Cooley scored 13 points each, and Notre Dame rallied from 16 points behind to beat No. 20 Pittsburgh 51-42 on Monday.
The Irish missed 18 of their first 19 shots and trailed 19-3 after two Pitt free throws following Brey’s technical foul.
But Notre Dame closed the first half on a 16-3 run and continued to ride the momentum in the second half.
Eric Atkins added 10 points and seven assists for Notre Dame (21-6, 9-5 Big East), which has won five in a row over Pittsburgh (20-7, 8-6) and snapped a tie with the Panthers for fourth place in the conference. The top four teams get a double-bye in the Big East tournament.
■ No. 13 Kansas State 71, West Virginia 61 — At Manhattan, Kan., Will Spradling scored 19 points, and the Wildcats (21-5, 10-3 Big 12) used a big first-half run to beat the Mountaineers (13-13, 6-7).
Kansas State slipped into first place in the conference by a half-game over No. 9 Kansas and No. 14 Oklahoma State, who play each other Wednesday.