12. Tis The Season On Sunday

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Tis the season to deck the halls of Purcell Pavilion with navy and gold. The Notre Dame men’s basketball team is hoping to give Irish fans an early holiday gift via a win on Sunday evening against Le Moyne. The Fighting Irish (6-5) look to win its third straight when they play the Dolphins (5-8) for the first time ever. That match will tip at 6 p.m. ET on ACC Network.

Come out and meet Santa himself in Heritage Hall pregame, and enjoy Christmas-themed contests and content!

WHAT’S AT STAKE

• Handle Buisness – the Irish will wrap up non-conference play with Le Moyne. It’s been a long 10 days between game, which included Finals Week. After Le Moyne, they’ll have another long break for the holidays that extends to the ACC opener at Georgia Tech on December 31. This is ultimately good news for the Irish, giving more time for a certain All-ACC player to recover.
• Familiar faces – Robby Carmody earned a degree at Notre Dame and will make his return with Le Moyne. Carmody suffered multiple injury setbacks and played in just 23 games in his four years in the Bend. In addition, Le Moyne assistant coach Elijah Burns earned a degree from ND and played three seasons in South Bend before transferring.

CHRISTMAS TABLE SETTER

Braeden Shrewsberry is riding a career-best streak of seven straight games with double-digit points, averaging 18.9 ppg in that span. However, let’s look at the last two games in particular in which Braeden has spearheaded back-to-back victories.

Over the last two games, he’s averaging 23.5 ppg on 55.2 percent shooting (16-29). He’s 10-20 from three-point range.

In addition, Tae Davis is looking to tie his career-high streak of double-digit games of seven. Over the last six games, Tae is averaging 17.2 ppg.

BRAEDEN GOING FOR A RARE HOME FEAT

Braeden Shrewsberry has recorded three straight games at home with 20+ points. He dropped 22 points vs. Elon, then 25 against Syracuse, then 22 vs. Dartmouth. Now, the last Irish player to record four straight at home with 20+ points was Ben Hansbrough who recorded five straight in the 2010-11 season. Luke Harangody had six in 2009-10.

FRESHLY SQUEEZED WIN

Notre Dame is 1-0 in ACC play this season after coming together down the final stretch to dispose Syracuse, 69-64, on Dec. 7. The Fighting Irish won its first ACC opener since the 2017-18 season.

Neither team had a lead greater than three in the second half until 2:11 remaining in the game. The player that broke that one-possession margin was Braeden Shrewsberry. The sophomore had a huge game, tying his career high of 25 points behind six made three-pointers. He shot 8-of-15 overall and 6-for-11 from deep. Two of those triples came in the final four minutes of the game.

J.R. Konieczny was a spark off the bench with a season-high 15 points – 13 of which came in the first half. Despite getting into foul trouble, Tae Davis was a crucial piece of the Notre Dame offense with 15 points, going 6-8 from the floor while also chipping in two assists and two steals. Kebba Njie was just shy of a double-double as he finished with nine points and nine rebounds for the Irish.

MAKING UP POINTS

Before Vegas, Burton was the only player in the country averaging 20+ points, 5+ assists, and 5+ rebounds. Now the Irish continue to work together to make up the 20+ points per game lost along with Burton’s ability to create shots for his teammates.

Who are the first two people to look at to pick up some of the load – Tae Davis and Braeden Shrewsberry.

Tae has this explosiveness and innate ability to attack the rim like no other on the team. He’s been using that to his advantage and currently averaging a career-best 15.0 ppg on a career-high 52.7 percent shooting. Tae ranks third in the ACC in field goal percentage.

Where is the Indy native getting it done? Well, he’s shooting 37-of-55 (.673) from around the rim (within 4.5 feet). He leads the team in free throw attempts (5.5) and free throws made (4.0) per game. He’s shooting 72.1 percent from the stripe.

Next, there’s Braeden Shrewsberry, who is averaging a career-best 16.7 ppg, which ranks seventh in the ACC. In addition, his 3.0 threes per game rank third in the league, while his .359 clip from three ranks fifth.

So who’s next? Well, there’s Matt Allocco, who is averaging 11.5 ppg since Burton went down. Allocco is shooting a team-best 44.0 percent from deep in that span.

GETTING HIS MIND RIGHT

After the Syracuse win, J.R. Konieczny was asked how he stayed ready and locked in to help lift the team after previous games of limited minutes:

“Want to give a huge shoutout to Coach Getter, he was telling me all week we need you to get back to the old J.R. and the joy you had out there. I admit, my body language sucked the last week, so trying to come out here with some confidence. Give credit to the coaches for sure,” Konieczny said.

J.R. came off the bench and supplied 13 first half points against the Orange. He ultimately finished with a season-high 15. Overall on the year, J.R. boasts the fourth highest +/- on the team with +81. He’s shooting 56.3 percent from two.

BRAEDEN’S OFFENSIVE GAME

We know what Breaden is capable from three. Last season, he drained 55 three-pointers in conference play which set a new program record for ACC threes. He ultimately hit 78 treys which were second most by a DI freshman.

This season, he’s averaging a team-best 3.0 made threes per game which ranks third in the ACC. His 33 made threes rank 20th nationally and first in the ACC.

Shrewsberry is hot from corner threes this year, knocking down 47.6 percent (10-for-21), which is 12.9 percent above the D1 average.

But Braeden has added to his offensive arsenal in year two. He’s developed a dangerous floater that keeps defenders guessing, shooting 55.6 percent from two-point range. He’s shooting 47.6 percent from the midrange and 50.0 percent from the paint.

— ND —