Notre Dame was trailing by as many as 16 points midway through the second half of Thursday’s ACC Tournament quarterfinal game against Duke. The Blue Devils were supposed to advance and face off against archrival North Carolina for the third time this season in Friday night’s semifinal game.
Then Zach Auguste took over.
The 6-foot-10 Fighting Irish center, the pride of Marlborough High School, finished the game with 19 points, 22 rebounds and one monster block on Duke star freshman Brandon Ingram.
“Zach Auguste is playing as good as anybody in the country,” Irish coach Mike Brey told The Washington Times after the game. “And then, with the energy and emotion and a little bit of crazy that he plays with, that is really good because he scares the other team and he even scares his teammates to playing hard. I love his venom and energy and flying all over the place.”
Auguste’s 22 rebounds set a single-game school record and tied Tim Duncan for the second-most rebounds in a single ACC Tournament game. Not bad.
Notre Dame eventually scratched and clawed its way back to tie the game in regulation and send it to overtime, where it knocked off the 19th-ranked Blue Devils 84-79. The Fighting Irish will take on North Carolina on Friday at 7 p.m. ET in the semifinals.
Thumbnail photo via Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports Images
