Robinson leads Monmouth to 70-68 upset of No. 17 Notre Dame

Guards Micah Seaborn and Je’lon Hornbeak chipped in 15 and 12 points, respectively. – Dealing with disappointment and dissecting defeat so soon this college basketball season certainly wasn’t included in the Disney World travel package for No. 17 Notre Dame.

Last time Notre Dame was in this tournament, in 2010 when it was the Old Spice Classic, the Irish won three games in four days to take the title.

The teams traded baskets before a Hawks three-pointer put Monmouth ahead 51-47 with 11:40 to play, forcing a Notre Dame timeout.

Coupled with Monmouth’s hot second half shooting – the Hawks sank 13-of-23 shots in the first 13:38 of the period – Notre Dame also struggled with free throws in the second half, including 1-6 in the first 11 minutes of the game when Monmouth made one of their large runs. Notre Dame lost to Monmouth (70-68) in opening-round action, while the Hawkeyes dropped an 82-77 decision to Dayton. The Fighting Irish missed 9-of-17 free throws and did not get a point from their bench against Monmouth, which also beat UCLA to open the season.

Everybody in the building knew where the ball was going to go for the Hawks and knew what would happen once a certain someone had it. Robinson was going to drive it hard to the rim and force either the Irish defense to make a play or the officials to make a call.

The Dayton Flyers (4-0) play the Monmouth Hawks (3-1) at HP Field House. Notre Dame then mounted a furious comeback, scoring in their next 7 possessions to bring the deficit back down to one, largely behind the efforts of Demetrius Jackson.

The second half was a different story, the first ten minutes of the second half, at least.

Kahleah Copper had a game-high 28 points in the first round of the Paradise Jam. Rutgers plays Virginia in a second-round game today. The Hawks fell behind 7-0 and trailed by as many as 16 in the first half before getting themselves together on both ends to trail by just one at halftime. Jackson converted a three-point play with 32 seconds left to tie the score at 68 but missed a 3-pointer from just inside half-court as time expired. In a scary moment with about three minutes left in the game, Wichita State senior starting forward Anton Grady had a slight collision with Alabama’s Dazon Ingram. “We lost to a good team”.

No. 8 VILLANOVA 59, STANFORD 45: In New York, Jalen Brunson scored 18 points and Villanova survived a poor shooting performance in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tipoff. Monmouth does worse, ranked 112th with 4.0.