1. Season Opener Wednesday - Stonehill

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Basketball season is finally back! Year two of the Micah Shrewsberry era will be underway on Wednesday, Nov. 6, when Notre Dame hosts Stonehill College. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. ET inside Purcell Pavilion and the program is excited to welcome fans back. The Notre Dame Fan Experience group will be handing out rally towels to the first 3,000 fans. The first 1,000 students who arrive will receive a special student-section t-shirt.

NOTRE DAME – STONEHILL

Notre Dame will open the 2024-25 season with its sister school Stonehill, both of which are sponsored by the Congregation of Holy Cross, which values integrity and puts as much emphasis on education as on helping develop compassionate leaders and global thinkers. A popular 3+2 program offers a handful of Stonehill students an opportunity to earn two degrees in five years, transferring over to Notre Dame for the final two years.

It’s been 42 years since Notre Dame and Stonehill have squared off on the hardwood. Back on Nov. 26, 1982, the Irish beat the Skyhawks, 74-60.

PASSED THE PRESEASON TEST

In the preseason charity exhibition, the Irish stirred up some excitement in their fanbase with a dominant 91-54 victory over a Purdue Fort Wayne squad that was picked to finish first in the Horizon League.

Notre Dame scored 51 second-half points on a blistering 70.4 percent from the field. There was one point in the second half in which ND was 8-for-11 from beyond the arc, ultimately finishing 9-for-15. All-in-all eight Irish drained a three in the game finishing 14-of-28 from deep.

Eight Irish finished with six or more points, with three finishing in double figures. As a team, Notre Dame finished 56.9 percent from the field. Preseason All-ACC First Team selection Markus Burton scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half.

Braeden Shrewsberry shot 4-of-7 from deep and 7-of-12 overall to tie Burton for a game-high 18 points. J.R. Konieczny came off the bench and hit three treys to finish with 11 points.

Notre Dame outrebounded Purdue Fort Wayne, 39-22, and forced 14 turnovers. They limited a veteran Mastodons squad to 34.6 percent shooting.

PRESEASON ACCOLADES FOR BURTON

Point guard Markus Burton looks to continue his ascent in collegiate basketball for his sophomore season. He went from winning Mr. Indiana Basketball as a high school senior to stepping on his home court in Purcell Pavilion and making an immediate impact with the Irish. He won the 2024 ACC Freshman of the Year Award (the first ND player to do so) and also took home Third Team All-ACC honors.

Before the 2024-25 season has officially gotten underway, Burton has collected more awards/recognition. First, the ACC named him a Preseason First Team selection. Burton’s 17.5 ppg is the third highest returning scoring average in the ACC behind North Carolina’s RJ Davis (21.2) and Wake Forest’s Hunter Sallis (18.0 ppg).

Next, it was the Naismith Starting 5 – Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Top 20 Preseason Watch List. This prestigious award honors the best point guards in men’s college basketball and is presented by the Basketball Hall of Fame. Burton is the first Irish point guard to be named to the Bob Cousy Top-20 Preseason Watch List since Matt Farrell (2017-18 Watch List).

Shortly after, ESPN.com announced its top-100 players ahead of the 2024-25 season. Burton landed at No. 40. They stated: “The 5-11 guard, averaged 17.5 PPG as a freshman, finishing with 20 points or more in 11 games. If he can become a consistent threat from the 3-point line (30%), the All-ACC third team pick could mature into one of the expanded conference’s best players.”

Last but not least, the Naismith Trophy added Burton to their College Player of the Year Watch List. A total of 50 players were named to the preseason list.

SEASON OPENER NOTABLES

Historically, the Irish are 100-21 (.827) in their season openers. In addition, the program is 110-11 (.909) in home openers.

The last time Notre Dame dropped a season opener at home – you’d have to go all the way back to the 1998-99 season, when the Irish fell 76-65 to Miami (Ohio).

A year ago today, Irish fans watched Markus Burton take the court for the first time and break Laphonso Ellis’ freshman debut scoring record. Burton poured in 29 points against Niagara in the win.

FROM LEAST TO MOST

Notre Dame only returned 35 points at this point last year, which equated to 1.6% of scoring returning. That number ranked in the bottom five of Division-I schools. However, this year is quite a different story. The Irish return the most scoring in the ACC by a landslide. With a solid young core of seven returnees (Markus Burton, Braeden Shrewsberry, Tae Davis, Julian Roper II, J.R. Konieczny, Kebba Njie, Logan Imes), Notre Dame returns 85.6 percent of its scoring. The next highest is Wake Forest at 59.8 percent.

In addition, the Irish return the third highest percentage of minutes in the country at 83.9 percent. Navy (91.3) and Wofford (84.3) hold the top two spots.

IRISH LOOK TO DEFY EXPECTATIONS AGAIN

Last year, Notre Dame was projected to finish dead last in the conference. The Coach Shrewsberry led squad came together and ultimately doubled its ACC win total from the year prior, finishing 7-13 in league play to earn the 12-seed in the conference tourney. Coach Shrewsberry received several votes for ACC Coach of the Year.

This year, the Irish are picked to finish tenth in the ACC and look to defy expectations again.

Notre Dame was the biggest mover in kenpom AdjEM across the Power-Five conferences from Feb. 1 to March 1 last season. They ended the year at #118. This season, the Irish will start at #69.

COACH SHREWS LOOKS TO RECREATE YEAR TWO MAGIC

The rebuild at Notre Dame is obviously different from the one at Penn State, but let’s look at the year one to year two improvement that Coach Shrews accomplished in Happy Valley.

After a 14-17 first season, Shrewsberry produced a 23-14 mark in 2022-23, just the 12th 20-win season in the 127-year history of Penn State basketball. The Nittany Lions then made their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2011.

Statistically speaking, the 2022-23 squad set the B1G and Penn State single-season team record for three-pointers made in a season with 385. The Nittany Lions compiled a total of five top-15 national statistical rankings.

GREEN JERSEY SERIES

When you play over 30 games in a season, you got to wear the Irish greens more than once. Announced via the @NDMBB account on social, the program has picked four ACC games to wear the greens at home:

– Dec. 7 vs. Syracuse – ACC Opener

– Jan. 4 vs. UNC – Irish Wear Green

– Feb. 8 vs. Virginia Tech – 574 Day

– Feb. 22 vs. Pitt – Fan Appreciation

BEST YOUNG BACKCOURT IN THE ACC

Freshman guards Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry showed no fear in the first year in the ACC. Burton averaged 17.5 points both on the season and in league play, while Shrewsberry was the lone other Irish to finish in double figures, averaging 10.2 points on the year and 11.3 points in ACC play.

With that said, Burton and Shrewsberry became the 9th ACC freshmen duo in league history to rank No. 1 and No. 2 for their team in scoring, proving the future is bright in South Bend.

There is only one scoring duo in the ACC that returns a higher combined number than Burton’s and Shrewsberry’s 27.7 ppg and that’s Wake Forest’s Hunter Sallis and Cameron HIldreth. That duo return a combined 31.8 ppg.

SHARPSHOOTER SHREWS

Speaking of Braeden Shrewsberry, he joined Burton in the Notre Dame record book after lighting it up from three in ACC play last year.

Shrewsberry knocked down 55 three-pointers in league play, breaking the Notre Dame ACC record. The previous record was 51 held by Prentiss Hubb, Matt Farrell and V.J. Beachem. Those 55 threes in ACC play also tied for the fourth most amongst league players for the 2023-24 season.

Shrewsberry ultimately converted 78 made threes on the year which were the 2nd most nationally by a freshman. His 2.4 made threes/game were 2nd nationally by a freshman as well.

— ND —