The race atop the Atlantic Coast Conference is heating up with just a handful of games left in the regular season, while positioning at the bottom of the standings is being contested as well
With only 15 of the 18 teams advancing to the ACC tournament, Notre Dame and Pitt need to stack up some wins to have a chance at postseason play, making Saturday’s battle in Pittsburgh that much more important.
Notre Dame (12-14, 3-10 ACC) has been idle since last weekend’s crucial 89-74 win over Georgia Tech, which moved them to 15th in the standings, which is one game ahead of Boston College and Pitt (9-17, 2-11).
Cole Certa is a big reason why the Fighting Irish have the upper hand now in the postseason race. Despite battling the flu, he scored a career-high 37 points against the Yellow Jackets, while knocking down a career-high seven 3-pointers.
The 37 points tied for the second most by a Notre Dame player in an ACC contest, trailing only Markus Burton’s 43 points in double overtime against Cal last season.
“I wasn’t going to not play,” Certa said. “We’ve gone through a lot this year and the least I can do is go out and give it everything I’ve got.”
Certa and Braeden Shrewsberry played all 40 minutes against Georgia Tech, helping Notre Dame snap a five-game losing streak. Now, the Fighting Irish will look to win back-to-back games for the first time since mid-December.
“I’m just proud of these guys and how they played, how they’ve kept competing,” Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry said.
Pitt has a chance to tie Notre Dame in the standings, but it has been tough sledding for the Panthers lately with eight losses over their last nine games in conference play.
Four of their last five setbacks have come against ranked opponents, including a 79-65 defeat against then-No. 11 North Carolina last Saturday.
“We’re just trying to use this week to work on us, to get better,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said after the game. “Later in the week, we’ll start preparing for Notre Dame, but (we’ll) spend the first half on really trying to work on some of these things that we need to correct.”
