Two former Northern Indiana Conference stand outs are now Atlantic Coastal Conference champions. Sophomore Demetrius Jackson, from Marian High School just down the road, is now an ACC champion. Demetrius, who was a former 5 star athlete, committed to Notre Dame for the 2013 class. He chose Notre Dame over University Illinois in his senior year at Marian. Jackson was the first player in NIC history to win NIC MVP 3 years. This year for the Irish, Jackson has averaged 12.5 points and 3 assists a game.
Another NIC standout who is now an ACC champion is sophomore Austin Torres. Torres, like Jackson, graduated in 2013 from our very own Penn High School. In his senior year, Torres lead the Kingsmen to an NIC championship. Torres also was elected to the All-NIC team 2 years. Torres didn’t play his freshman year at Notre Dame due to a knee injury, so coach Mike Brey decided to red-shirt him for his first year on campus. This year, he is averaging 2 points and just under 2 rebounds a a game.
This season, Torres hasn’t found a consistent role in the team. Especially after the return of sophomore forward VJ Beachem, who is from neighboring city Fort Wayne, and the emergence of freshman forward Bonzie Colson. With a lot of youth in the Irish front court, it will be difficult for Torres. He will have plenty of competition at his position.
The Fighting Irish have had a great season so far and are coming off of an ACC Tournament Championship. Until now, the University had never won a conference championship. The Irish defeated two of the most storied teams in college basketball history in Duke and North Carolina. Notre Dame defeated both teams once in the regular season. The Fighting Irish are a three seed in the NCAA tournament and play against Northeastern at 12:15 PM. Thursday afternoon.
Photo credits: Notre Dame MBB- Twitter
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Nathan Zizzo