Irish Break Jinx, Smash Bobcats
For this week’s Throwback Thursday, we’re traveling back to March 7, 1970 — a day forever etched in Notre Dame basketball history. In the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Fighting Irish took on the Ohio University Bobcats in a game that quickly turned into a showcase for one of the greatest performances college basketball has ever seen. Observer Sports Editor Mike Pavlin was courtside for the magic and captured the moment in vivid detail, from the strategies on the bench to the dominance on the hardwood. At the center of it all? The unstoppable Austin Carr.
The below snippet is from the Monday, March 9, 1970 issue of The Observer, the Notre Dame student newspaper.
And highpoint man in the ballgame …
by Mike Pavlin, Observer Sports Editor
I was sitting next to the Ohio University bench on Saturday. It was an excellent place to listen in on coach Jim Snyder’s strategy and the best place to watch the wizardry of Austin Carr.
Down there the tall players (especially Artis Gilmore) are very tall, and the fast players (especially Vaughn Wedeking) are very fast. And Carr’s moves and shots become even more unbelievable when the sizes and distances are in the correct perspectives.
Austin set a total of two NCAA tournament records (most points, 61; and most field goals, 25) and two ND records, in the same categories. He also went over the 1,000-point mark for the season and thoroughly destroyed what might have been a successful Bobcat game plan.
Johnny Dee started Jay Ziznewski and John Gallagher, as he said later, “To bring two men off the bench (Tom Sinnott, Sid Catlett) as sort of a new tempo.” Snyder went with his excellent pattern offense and Ken Lowell on Carr. Although Austin immediately began bombing the nets (despite encouraging cries of “stick him, stick him!” to Kowell from the OU bench), John Canine’s shooting kept the Bobcats ahead.
Not even a TV-time out could stop Canine, who blew in five field goals to give 0U a 20-14 lead at 14:18. Here Gallagher and Big Ziz proved their worth. Jay put in a lay-up and Gallagher (in what I consider one of the crucial plays of the first half) stole the ball after an Irish miss and dumped it in
By this time, several things had happened. First of all, the cutting-post offense of the Bobcats had ceased to bewilder the Irish man-to-man defense. Secondly, Collis Jones found out that the size of OU’s forwards did not necessarily make them good and began to hound the boards. Love’s third foul at 12:11 didn’t hurt either.
Carr’s 11 points in five minutes had failed to upset the Bobcats, but once his offense began to flag and Austin continued to destroy Kowell, Snyder brought in Tom (T.C.) Corde at 10:05 (Catlett and Sinnott entered for ND). Bopping out to war, Corde forced Austin into two misses and OU took a 32-28 lead. A TV-time out found Corde on the bench grinning over his success and his teammates confident.
The dream ended quickly as Jones entered the picture offensively with several buckets. Carr began teaching TC a few things and soon it was all over, up to 46-35.
The OU bench was visibly disheartened by the early second half performances. They were still confident at the outset as their patterned offense netted several quick baskets. But the box-and-one defense which Snyder installed on Carr broke down and the Bobcats experienced a horrendous frozen shooting touch.
As Carr warmed up after a slow start and Jones and Catlett really cleaned up on the boards, the Bobcat bench was reduced to silence. Occasionally an assistant coach or a fan would lean over to ask “how many does he have”, and that same, shrill voiced women kept screeching “Oh no, there he goes again.”
I don’t think anyone could say that 112-82 was an indicative score. Actually, the Irish could not have done anything more perfectly if they had written a script. After the game Dee said, “We knew it was going to be a physical game. The kids got in a good frame of mind to do some rebounding.” Jones. Catlett, and Ziznewski put their “good frame of mind” to work by grabbing 38 rebounds between them.
Jones was particularly devastating in the first half, getting 13 rebounds. It was his clutch work that enabled the Irish to unpack a blistering fast break late in the period. ND followed two other important rules: getting the Bobcats into foul trouble (bonus throw at 9:35) and staying close early in the game.
While Carr and Jones (24 points) were the most outstanding offensive performers, the victory belonged equally to Catlett, Ziznewski, Gallagher, and Jackie Meehan.
Gallagher. scored eight points, all early in each half when they were sorely needed. Six came in the second period when John’s three jumpers pointed out the dangerous holes in the Bobcat box-and-one.
“I was thrilled by Ziznewski,” said Dee. The coach’s feeling was based on Jay’s 10 rebounds and 10 points; and especially based on the fact that the big man has been playing his first full season of practice/play.
“Strong and silent” is a cliche, but it fits Catlett’s play to perfection. Sid was definitely on time for this game, getting his 11 rebounds in half a game. Sid didn’t score, but he intimidated the OU forwards like the Sword of Damocles. Catlett’s strong performance in the first half (five ‘bounds in 10 minutes) put the lid on OU’s haunted offensive hoard skill.
Dee especially emphasized the fact that Catlett and Meehan took only one shot apiece and yet played “their best of the season.” Jackie (whom Dee called ‘’The most underrated backcourt man in the country”) went the whole way and directed things as well as a sargent at boot camp. Never bothered by the feeble Bobcat press, Meehan found Carr and Jones open all day with excellent passes. He wound up with a truly incredible 17 assists. “Is that a record,” asked Dee.
I don’t know, but the only one who could have more assists is the devil who shovels damned souls into hell during the game of life.
In a game where records fell and legends were born, Austin Carr’s 61-point outburst remains the gold standard of NCAA tournament excellence. But as Pavlin’s article reminds us, it wasn’t just Carr — the collective effort of Jones, Catlett, Ziznewski, Gallagher, and Meehan turned a tough matchup into a masterclass in teamwork, hustle, and execution. Over five decades later, this remarkable victory still resonates as one of Notre Dame’s finest moments on the hardwood.