March 17--In the midst of Notre Dame's dazzling second-half run to win the ACC championship Saturday, junior Zach Auguste spied a chance to attack.
He had switched off his man, North Carolina's Kennedy Meeks, who was having trouble corralling the ball near the top of the key against Irish senior Pat Connaughton. With a determined look, Auguste sprinted from about 15 feet away, knocked the ball loose, controlled it and dribbled the rest of the way for a dunk.
On his way back down the court, Auguste motioned and yelled to his teammates on the bench as if he was letting out some anger.
Throughout the season, Auguste -- the Irish's tallest regular player at 6-foot-10 -- has been authoritative on offense, but his overall production has been uneven and he has been prone to bouts of frustration that leak into his play.
At times, Auguste would disappear from games, whether he was on the floor or off it because of foul trouble. But if Notre Dame hopes to make a run in the NCAA tournament, it needs Auguste to be in his best frame of mind and play his best basketball of the season.
The good news for the Irish is after the ACC tournament, Auguste seems to be doing just that.
"I just couldn't let my teammates down," Auguste said. "I wanted to make an impact, whether it be offensively or defensively. I let them down a couple of times early in the season (in) some big games, and I just wanted to be more consistent and be solid."
He put up 19 points and a career-high 13 rebounds when the Irish needed it against a big North Carolina team.
Auguste, who sat out one game in January because of an academic matter, is averaging 12.4 points and 6.2 rebounds, numbers that have had more fluctuation than consistency.
Recognizing Auguste's importance to their postseason success, his teammates have applied some peer pressure, coach Mike Brey said, whenever Auguste gets down on himself or gets in a funk.
"His teammates needed more consistency out of him and to be more reliable, and those guys putting heat on Zach is more powerful at this time than me putting heat on Zach," Brey said.
Brey said Auguste was playing on a "whole other level" in Greensboro, N.C. He didn't make it easy on Duke's Jahlil Okafor in the post while using all five of his fouls defending the freshman standout.
Auguste has done a better job late in the season of controlling his frustration and channeling it into production. It helps when the outlet for that frustration is a hard dunk.
"I feel very confident individually in myself and with the team," Auguste said. "I know my brothers have my back and they're confident in me, and that's kept me going throughout the season."
chine@tribpub.com
