After a two-game Florida road trip full of frustration, Notre Dame men’s basketball returns to Purcell Pavilion. The Irish (10-12, 4-7 ACC) will take on the Virginia Tech Hokies (10-13, 5-7 ACC) this Saturday for the third of four Irish Wear Green games this season.
The 2024-25 season has presented a similar story for both teams, whose overall and in-conference records differ by just half a game. Both the Irish and Hokies have struggled to beat programs in the upper half of the ACC standings. And though Notre Dame has generally been more competitive in its league losses, both squads are coming off missed opportunities in winnable games.
Capturing the close game
It’s a Notre Dame issue that picked up during Mike Brey’s final season in 2022-23, when the Irish won only three conference games. It continued in head coach Micah Shrewsberry’s debut year and is now a clear characteristic of this year’s Notre Dame team. The Irish just can’t get it done crunch time.
This season, Notre Dame is 2-9 in games decided by eight points or less. The Irish would probably be bound for the NCAA Tournament with an inverse record of 9-2 in such situations.
On the last road trip, the Irish added two more excruciating losses to the total, handing Miami its first ACC win of the season in a 63-57 result and following with a 67-60 shortcoming at Florida State. In both games, the Irish led by 10 or more in the first half and were within one point of the opponent in the final five minutes.
But the offense sputtered in Coral Gables, producing just 21 points in the second half. Three days later in Tallahassee, Shrewsberry didn’t have to say much to diagnose the issue.
“Our missed layups and missed free throws were a big deal in this game,” he said after Tuesday’s game.
Indeed, the Irish missed seven of their 13 free throws — plus numerous driving opportunities — in Tuesday’s loss. Once again, the Irish didn’t get enough from players not named sophomore guard Markus Burton or junior forward Tae Davis. Burton scored 25 points on 10-for-22 shooting, Davis had 14 on a 6-for-11 performance and the rest of the team tallied just 21 with a 7-for-28 line. Sophomore guard Braeden Shrewsberry and freshman guard Sir Mohammed had it especially rough, combining to make only two of their 19 field-goal attempts.
Coach Shrewsberry attributed at least a portion of the team’s struggles to the quick turnaround of playing two games in the Sunshine State.
“It’s just a short turnaround to get back and get ready, and how they play, you’ve got to exert a lot of energy to play against [the Seminoles], and to do it on short rest is tough, to do it on short prep is tough,” Shrewsberry noted. “ ... There’s gonna be some people sore tomorrow on both sides, man, because [when] that shot went up, there was some furniture moving in that paint. Guys were hitting each other.”
With a 1-10 record away from home since Nov. 16, the Irish would like to capitalize on Saturday’s return to South Bend. They’re 8-2 with back-to-back wins at Purcell Pavilion.
Hokies going for a third straight road win
Within ACC play, Virginia Tech has actually been slightly better on the road than at home. The Hokies, who were never expected to do much this year, swept their most recent road trip to Tallahassee and Charlottesville. However, they lost 81-75 to SMU at home on Wednesday, rescinding some of their previous success against Florida State and Virginia.
“SMU’s better than those two teams, playing well right now,” Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young said after Wednesday’s game. “I thought our team played well again tonight, very well. I told them that I’m proud of them. They’re playing really hard, and they’re trying to do everything we give them to put ourselves in position to win.”
The Hokies have battled the turnover bug all season, giving the ball away an ACC-high 13 times per game. They took care of it enough to take a lead in the final eight minutes of Wednesday’s game, though. Overall, Virginia Tech finished with 16 assists and 10 turnovers, an improvement on their 1.01 assist-to-turnover ratio for the season.
“We’re doing better in that area. The ball’s getting to better spots,” Young commented. “The ball’s getting into the post, where I think we are continuing to be effective. We’re coming on.”
Getting the ball inside helped the 6-foot-9 Mylyjael Poteat play his most comprehensive game of the season against SMU. The graduate forward, who has started all 23 games this year after making just four starts in his first four collegiate seasons, double-doubled on Wednesday. He finished the game with 15 points, a season-high 10 rebounds and five assists.
“He moved well tonight. He accepted the ball well, he used his size,” Young said of Poteat after Wednesday’s game. “Great outing from Mylyjael. [I’m] proud of him.”
Poteat ranks second on the team in scoring to Tobi Lawal, the team’s leader in field-goal percentage along with points, rebounds and blocks per game. A VCU transfer, Lawal was 0 for 5 from three-point range on Wednesday but still offered nine points and eight rebounds.
The interior effort of those two players in particular helped the Hokies out-rebound an SMU team that leads the conference in boards per contest.
“Our Virginia Tech team has been a pretty good rebounding team throughout,” Young said. “That will certainly have to continue as we move along.”
Notre Dame and Virginia Tech will tip off at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday inside Purcell Pavilion.
