The No. 24 Notre Dame Fighting Irish opened their final Big East tournament with a 69-61 win over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Wednesday, a game in which Notre Dame never ran away with, but never seemed in danger of losing.
Notre Dame vs. Rutgers final score: Fighting Irish advance with 69-61 win
“Advance” is the best way to describe Notre Dame’s outcome Wednesday.
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Pat Connaughton finished with 21 points and three rebounds for the Fighting Irish, the No. 6 seed in the league tournament, who will move on to play the No. 3 Marquette Golden Eagles in Thursday's quarterfinals.
Rutgers pulled the game as close as 62-56 with less than two minutes to go, but the Scarlet Knights couldn't do anything after that. Notre Dame was perfect in four free-throw attempts, and a Jerian Grant breakaway dunk for Notre Dame sealed the win.
Tom Knight finished with 18 points and nine rebounds for Notre Dame.
Rutgers finished its season 15-16. Austin Johnson and Myles Mack each finished with 18 points for the Scarlet Knights.
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