Zach Auguste is proving to be a weapon for Notre Dame

PITTSBURGH — Just minutes before No. 14 UAB shocked No. 3 Iowa State and about an hour before No. 14 Georgia State stunned No. 3 Baylor, Notre Dame junior forward Zach Auguste stepped to the foul line, the Fighting Irish nursing a two-point lead, in danger of becoming the first shocking goliath of the 2015 NCAA Tournament to fall.

Jerian Grant had just stripped Northeastern redshirt-junior Quincy Ford, preventing the Huskies from taking the lead or tying after Northeastern forced an improbable turnover with 30 seconds remaining. Grant’s steal led to Auguste’s trip to the stripe, with the entire CONSOL Energy Center crowd on its feet begging to witness true Madness in March.

Auguste silenced the crowd with two makes. Neither free throw even touched the rim.

“Just step up and knock these two down, so we can be in a place where we don’t have to worry too much,” Auguste thought at the line. “I just got to the line, my brothers believed in me, I trusted them and just knocked them down.”

It was only fitting the 6’10, 240-pound big man put the finishing touches on Notre Dame’s victory. Auguste exploded for 25 points — just one shy of his career-high — keeping the Irish’s potent offense effective while they uncharacteristically only made two three-pointers the entire game.

“Both teams took the three-point line away from each other, so it made for an interesting game,” Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey said. “We both used that as a weapon. We were able to get stuff around the basket.”

Auguste made Northeastern pay in the pick-and-roll game. The Huskies captured the Colonial Athletic Association crown and an automatic bid to the Big Dance by hedging hard — sometimes even 30 feet out from the basket — on William & Mary’s high ball screens to slow CAA Player of the Year Marcus Thornton in the conference title game.

Head coach Bill Coen’s team employed the same strategy to try and keep Jerian Grant in check, allowing Auguste to roll freely to the rim, like he was leading the Israelites out of Egypt through a parted red sea. Auguste wasn’t just the game’s leading scorer by a wide margin, he hung 25 on a tremendously efficient 10-14 shooting.

“They did a great job of taking away the three-point line ... but when you have Zach rolling, we don’t have to shoot threes,” Brey said, “I thought, Jerian and [Demetrius Jackson] and Steve [Vasturia] really hit him on rolling situations all the time.”

Jackson’s gorgeous dime to Auguste with 6:38 left was the highlight of the contest. Jackson scooped up a loose ball at Notre Dame’s own three-point line, dizzied Northeastern sophomore point guard T.J. Williams at half court with a spin move and shook Northeastern junior forward Zach Stahl with a behind-the-back-dribble before dumping off a no-look bounce pass to Auguste for a thunderous slam.

“It’s not just about me, I give a lot of credit to teammates and to my brothers, man,” Auguste said. “They’re great passers and they’re great distributers. [Jerian Grant], Pat [Connaughton] and [Jackson], they’re great with the ball in transition and they find me easy buckets.”

Brey said Auguste’s 26-point, 7-rebound breakout performance against Florida State launched the big man’s key contributions he’s provided Notre Dame down the stretch. Auguste posted 11.6 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game in the ACC Tournament, playing his role for Notre Dame as Grant and Connaughton starred.

For now, he’s the reason the Irish are still dancing while two other No. 3 seeds will be watching the rest of the Tournament from home.

“They took the bullet not us,” Brey said. “I’m glad that this 3 escaped.”