Notre Dame men’s basketball opened up ACC play on Saturday by welcoming the Syracuse Orange to South Bend. It was the Irish’s first home game back inside Purcell Pavilion since the Nov. 22 loss to Elon, which commenced their five-game losing streak.
Following a promising 4-0 start in head coach Micah Shrewsberry’s second season at the helm, Notre Dame had suffered consecutive losses to Elon, Rutgers, No. 6 Houston, No. 21 Creighton and Georgia. The Irish’s struggles have come largely in the absence of sophomore guard Markus Burton, who suffered a knee injury early in the loss to Rutgers, which still leaves him sidelined on a week-to-week basis. Prior to the injury, the preseason All-ACC First-Team selection from Mishawaka had been averaging over 22 points, five assists and five rebounds to lead the Irish attack.
On the opposing bench, the Orange were also guided by a second-year head coach, as former player and longtime assistant Red Autry took over the storied program from Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim to begin last season. Syracuse, who sat at 4-3 following a blowout loss to Tennessee earlier in the week, was also without the services of its best player, as junior guard J.J. Starling missed his second straight game following a hand injury suffered last week against Cornell. Starling, who transferred from Notre Dame following former head coach Mike Brey’s departure, was averaging 20 points nightly for the Orange.
“We are both going through the same things, trying to figure out our teams without our best players,” Shrewsberry said postgame.
Saturday was also the first of four “Irish Wear Green” games on tap for the 2024-25 campaign, with the student section decked out with green pompoms and the team donning the alternate kelly green threads.
Without Burton, Shrewsberry has been forced to deploy greater depth, shifting the team’s focus from a frantic offensive pace to more of the defensive stalwart fans grew accustomed to a year ago. On the court, a slow shooting start from both sides was ended by nine straight points from senior guard and South Bend native J.R. Konieczny, who gave the Irish a five-point advantage 15 minutes into the contest.
The offensive struggles would continue throughout the remainder of the opening frame, as the two sides shot a combined 10 for 22 from the charity stripe and 4 for 17 from beyond the arc. Led by Konieczny’s 13 points, junior forward Tae Davis’s nine and two big triples from sophomore guard Braeden Shrewsberry, the Irish entered the locker room with a 30-26 lead.
The Orange came out of the intermission hot, as a 12-3 run spanning the final two minutes of the first half and the opening three minutes of the second half gave Syracuse its first lead of the day, before Shrewsberry answered right back with his third trey to give the Irish the 36-34 edge at the under-16 media timeout.
Another Shrewsberry triple and three consecutive makes from Davis extended the Irish lead, before Syracuse freshman forward Donnie Freeman got going on the interior. A Freeman drive with 12 minutes left led to a controversial fourth foul call on Davis, sending the Irish’s leading scorer to the bench for an extended period with the score knotted at 45.
“I’m proud of how different guys stepped into different positions and still got stops. With Tae out with foul trouble, our defensive effort in the second half gave me a lot of confidence going forward,” Shrewsberry said.
Braeden Shrewsberry and Freeman continued to lead the way for their respective teams, with the Irish holding a slim 60-58 lead with four minutes to play.
Shrewsberry then connected on another pair of triples, but two missed layups from the Irish kept the Orange alive into the final half minute. Syracuse’s perimeter woes would doom them however, as their eighth and ninth missed threes of the game led to Kebba Njie sealing the deal at the foul line, and Notre Dame escaped with a much-needed, 69-64 victory.
Speaking with the media postgame, Autry blamed unforced errors for the loss, saying, “We talk about not having blown opportunities, but we missed eight free throws, had 13 turnovers and had some key defensive breakdowns late that cost us the game.”
Freeman and senior forward Jyáre Davis led the way for Syracuse, scoring 20 points apiece, but the Orange failed to convert a three for the first time in over a decade, dating back to a win over Holy Cross on Nov. 28, 2014.
Konieczny said, “We knew they had some shooters, but our game plan was to run them off the line and not allow them to get rhythm threes.”
Njie agreed, citing this effort as a defensive springboard for the team moving forward, saying, “It’s important for us to play at that defensive level every night, and that will translate to more wins.”
Autry certainly noticed the Irish’s perimeter defense, but he says he hasn’t lost confidence in his team’s ability to knock down shots.
“We tried getting some flare actions for Chris [Bell], but they ran us off of that,” he said. “We need to have enough of a presence inside to open up the perimeter game.”
Konieczny continued to say, “We lost three close games in Vegas, but we knew we had the talent to win games like this.”
Again, the two upperclassmen were in sync — especially during Njie’s enthusiastic recreation of Konieczny’s first-half dunk — with Njie adding, “We know we are a tournament team despite those losses, and the energy started with Coach. It feels great to start 1-0 in the ACC.”
The Irish were able to collect their first triumph over the Orange since Feb. 23, 2022, despite only four Irish players making a field goal. Shrewsberry led the charge with 25 points on 6-for-11 shooting from deep, while Davis and Konieczny each added 15, which was a season high for the latter. Njie also added nine points and nine rebounds.
Speaking about his son’s breakout performance, Shrewsberry complimented the whole roster, saying, “Braeden had a great performance, but the credit goes to the guys setting the screens and the walk-ons who really challenged him defensively in practice the last two days.”
Konieczny also credited the coaching staff for helping him escape his recent slump, attesting, “I give credit to [associate head] coach [Kyle] Getter. I hadn’t been playing well, but he got my confidence and body language right and ready to play.”
“I didn’t even have to talk to J.R. His energy yesterday in practice was unmatched. You don’t play if you don’t practice well, but he was very prepared and I knew he was going to have a big impact for us today,” Shrewsberry said.
Now sitting at 5-5, the Irish play just once over the next two weeks days, as the Dartmouth Big Green of the Ivy League travel to South Bend on Wednesday, Dec. 11. Dartmouth will come to Purcell Pavilion with a 4-3 record, after already collecting a marquee win at Boston College back on the 29th of November. Wednesday’s game will tip off at 7 p.m. and can be streamed on ACCNX.
