Following a home loss to Elon, Irish fans hoped for success over “Feast Week” as men’s basketball headed to the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. Slated to play multiple ranked teams, Notre Dame knew this tournament would present a true test for the young group. However, the Irish lost in overtime to Rutgers, 84-85, 54-65 to No. 6 Houston and No. 76-80 to No. 21 Creighton. On top of the consecutive losses, sophomore point guard Markus Burton suffered a knee injury against Rutgers and is set to miss multiple weeks. The Irish showed an ability to come back from large deficits, but failed to close the tight games down the stretch. Despite the challenges and setbacks, there were still positives for the shorthanded team.
Rutgers 85, Notre Dame 84
Notre Dame began by taking on Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper for Rutgers who were both 5-star recruits and projected top 10 NBA picks. Rutgers has flirted with the top 25 so far this season, and they displayed the most offensive firepower the Irish had yet to face. Notre Dame knew a win against the Scarlet Knights would be behind sophomore leader Burton, who was averaging 21.4 points per game (second in the ACC in scoring). Burton needed to have an efficient, effective and even dominant scoring tournament for the Irish to win against tough competition. Just three minutes into the game against Rutgers, Burton fell to the floor after a layup, and Rutgers Emmanuel Ogbole landed directly on his right knee. Burton went straight to the locker room and was ruled out for the remainder of the game. Sophomore Logan Imes filled in for Burton at point guard for the rest of the tournament. The injury is week to week, and Irish fans can only hope the recovery will be quick if the team wants any chance of making the NCAA tournament or even keeping a winning record.
Despite Burton’s injury, the Irish did not give up. Shooting effectively from 3-point range, Notre Dame led 35-34 at halftime against the Scarlet Knights. The game continued to be back and forth as Notre Dame battled with electric freshman Dylan Harper, son of former NBA player Ron Harper. Harper, who had 36 points on the night, beat any defender with his first step and was virtually unguardable with his blend of size and athleticism. Later in the tournament, reigning Final Four head Coach for No. 9 Alabama, Nate Oats, had high praise for the freshman.
“I mean, [Harper] pretty much gets to the rip whenever he wants,” Oats said.
Notre Dame continued to rise to the occasion, regaining the lead 54-51 with 11:25 left in the second half off of a Braeden Shrewsberry jumper. Shrewsberry struggled from beyond the arc shooting just 3-13, but finished with 16 points. The game would go back and forth and with a 69-66 lead for Rutgers with 20 seconds remaining in the game. Coach Micah Shrewsberry called a timeout to run a play for graduate transfer Matt Allocco. The sniper, who led the team with his season high of 24 points, buried a 3-pointer to tie the game at 69 and send it to overtime. Rutgers jumped out to an early lead from a scoring barrage by Dylan Harper, but Allocco kept the Irish in the game with his shooting. Tying the game at 84 off of a 3-pointer, Allocco gave the team a chance to win. Harper made a free throw to give the Scarlet Knights back a 85-84 lead, and the Irish went for it all in the last seven seconds with an Allocco 3 pointer that fell short as time expired. Despite the loss, the Irish showed an unwillingness to give up facing a disparity of talent and the loss of their best player.
Houston 65, Notre Dame 54
Taking on then-No. 6 Houston who had lost to Alabama the night before in overtime, the Irish were set with an even bigger challenge without Burton. Notre Dame knew it would need to be a sloppy, low scoring game to have a chance. Kebba Njie tied the game 10-10 with 14 minutes left, which was the closest Notre Dame would get over the rest of the way. Led by Emanuel Sharp who had 17 on the night, the cougars were a handful for the Irish defense. Trailing 31-39 at halftime, Notre Dame would only score 23 points in the second half; their lowest scoring half of the season facing a tenacious Kelvin Sampson defense. Notre Dame battled back at the end to bring the game to 52-59 with 1:29 left off of an Allocco 3-pointer, but could not pull off the upset. Tae Davis led the way with 22 points and three 3-pointers. Expected to be the x-factor for Notre Dame, Davis has taken a scoring jump this season to 14.5 points and has faced tough defensive assignments throughout the season. His improvement and ability to hold sharpshooters such as Ace Bailey to poor shooting nights can give the Irish an edge against tougher competition. Additionally, the Irish held Houston’s leading scorer L.J. Cryer to a season low of 6 points on 2-11 shooting. While the offense struggled, shooting below 40% on the game, the defense held Houston to their season low of 65.
Creighton 80, Notre Dame 76
Finally the Irish took on 4-3 and then-No. 21 Creighton for the seventh place game. Creighton went on a 18-4 scoring run in the middle of the first half, and the Irish trailed 30-40 at halftime. The Bluejays displayed remarkable shot-making ability led by Jamiya Neal who had 21 points; Creighton shot 49% from the field and 45% from 3-point range throughout the contest. Notre Dame found scoring momentum to begin the second half and retook the lead 53-32 off of Shrewsberry’s only 3-pointer with 10:19 left in the second half. Shrewsberry led the Irish with 17 points. However, Creighton found its footing offensively again and knocked in three consecutive 3-pointers to retake command of the game 68-57. A late run scoring run brought the Irish back within 4 points after llocco free throws 68-72, but Notre Dame once again failed to close out a tight battle with another quality opponent. On the bright side, freshman forward Garrett Sundra went 3-4 from 3-point range and added 11 points in 11 minutes off of the bench.
The Players Era Festival was certainly a challenge for Notre Dame. It displayed the weaknesses of the offense without the team’s standout player Burton, and forced Micah Shrewsberry to experiment with different rotations against high quality competition. Facing three NCAA tournament teams and two of the protected top 5 picks in the NBA draft was a new experience for the team that had yet to play tournament level college basketball. The Irish will need to learn to play without Burton as they face 7-1 Georgia on Tuesday Dec. 3, before beginning conference play against Syracuse on Dec. 7. With only a week to week diagnosis, Irish fans must hope Burton’s injury does not sideline him for the whole month of December as they take on a winnable stretch of the schedule before powerhouses North Carolina and Duke in early January.
