They had been pulverized by all-world freshman Cooper Flagg.
They had been called for 28 fouls to No. 4-ranked Duke’s 16.
They had been overwhelmed on the boards and intimidated inside by the lengthy reach of 7-foot-2 Khaman Maluach.
And yet there Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish stood, with 62 seconds left, just five points from forcing an overtime in front of a suddenly nervous Cameron Indoor Stadium full house on Saturday afternoon in Durham, N.C.
Two shots, two stops for a momentous upset.
But the program and this team isn’t quite developed enough to deliver that kind of shock.
Following two one-point losses to North Carolina teams, the Irish took a third to the finish line in Durham before falling, 86-78, leaving them at 7-9 and 1-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Blue Devils, with an average win margin of 21.6 points, ran their record to 14-2, 6-0 in the ACC — the only blemishes being close neutral-site losses to Kentucky and Kansas.
No ACC team had scored more than 65 points on the Blue Devils.
“I’m proud of our guys for the fight they showed against one of the best defensive teams in the country,’’ Irish coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “We shot a good percentage (48.2%) and didn’t turn the ball over a whole lot (seven times, four below its average).
ND, down 79-61 with six minutes remaining, got to within five following a 13-0 run, capped by Matt Allocco’s 3-pointer with 1:02 to play.
After Duke brought it across the halfcourt line, Julian Roper II swiped it from Kon Knueppel. He raced down court and fed a trailing Allocco who put up a 3. It was on target, but a little short, hitting off the front of the rim.
He fouled immediately, and Sion James hit one of two free throws with 39.5 seconds left to push the difference to 80-74.
Sophomore Markus Burton, who led the Irish with 23 points (4-for-6 on 3s), delivered on two of three desperate drives to the basket over the final half minute, but Duke didn’t flinch at the free throw line and nailed the final six, four from Flagg and two from Maluach.
The 6-9 Flagg, the country’s No. 1 recruit a year ago, created mismatches everywhere and hit just about everything he threw up Saturday. He finished with an ACC freshman-record 42 points and his four free throws — in a 16-for-17 performance from the line — over the final 25.7 seconds staved off more suspense.
Flagg, who came in averaging 17.5 points a game, leads Duke in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, in about 31 minutes a game.
He was on the floor for 36 against the Irish, who came in as 19-point underdogs.
Flagg finished 11-for-14 from the floor — including 4-for-6 on 3s — with six rebounds, seven assists, a steal and three turnovers. The Blue Devils ultimately desperately needed his 27-point second half.
“It wasn’t as much him,” Shrewsberry said. “It’s everything that happens around him. He manipulates the defense, but he’s a good passer, so he hurts you that way. … Cooper’s an unbelievable player, and Khaman (Maluach, 19 points on 6-for-7 shooting inside, plus 10 rebounds) makes him better. Tyrese Proctor (three points) makes him better. Kon Knueppel (13 points) …
“You can’t just sit in a stance and focus on Cooper. Then you’re at his mercy. Now he’s driving. He’s drawing 13 fouls. He’s going to the free-throw line. He shot more free throws than our team (ND was 10-for-16).
“So, they’ve got the right mix of guys with him. If they had him and they didn’t have shooting or they didn’t have the other people, then it probably wouldn’t work. But they’ve done a good job evaluating and finding the direction, so it makes him a really tough matchup.”
The Irish, who trailed 14-0 to start the game, delivered a few different offensive spurts, just when it seemed they had no chance of surviving.
On a day when they could seldom squeeze the ball into the paint, let alone score — ND had only 16 points in the paint — the Irish survived on their exceptional performance from the 3-point line.
They finished 14-for-23 on 3s (60.9%) well above the 36.8% season average.
Along with Burton’s four, Braeden Shrewsberry, who finished with 14 points, had three, Allocco, J.R. Konieczny and Sir Mohammed two each. One of Mohammed’s fortunate 3s came on a bank. The freshman Mohammed finished with a career-high 11 points in his sixth game, averaging 1.6 points through the first five.
Duke, the only ACC team in the AP Top 25, got off to the big early lead, thanks to its 3-point shooting, hitting seven of its first 14 attempts. But the Blue Devils were just 1-for-7 seven in the second half and 8-for-24 for the game.
The Irish had enough offense in this one to stay close — Shrewsberry’s long two at the first half buzzer got the Irish to within 44-36 — but little defense until the final six minutes.
“To be honest with you, they took their foot off the gas,” Shrewsberry said of the late run. “That’s probably something that [Duke coach Jon Scheyer is] talking to them about right now in the locker room. Like, some of the 3s they missed … They had some turnovers. They relaxed.
“Our guys kept fighting. Credit our guys for fighting and for giving ourselves a chance.’’
Despite the 33.3% shooting from the arc, Duke finished at 53.3% from the field for the game, going 16-for-21 inside the 3-point line. They put up 13 fastbreak points to just two for the Irish.
ND was outscored 26-16 in the paint and was hit hard on the boards, a 33-21 rebounding deficit. Battling Duke’s size, the 6-9 Tae Davis, who had averaged 20 points over the previous five games, had only 11 (4-for-11 shooting), and 6-11 Kebba Njie had five.
The Irish try to end a four-game losing streak on Monday in Purcell Pavilion against Boston College at 7 p.m (ACCN).
DUKE 86, NOTRE DAME 78: Box Score
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