16. A Saturday Bout at #4/4 Duke

DURHAM, N.C. – The Notre Dame men’s basketball team will look to pick itself back up after two extremely tough back-to-back one-point losses in which they had the lead with under a minute remaining. However, it won’t be easy, as they remain on the road and travel to Cameron Indoor to take on #4/4 Duke.

The Blue Devils own a commanding 31-8 lead in the series. Irish are 6-12 against them since joining the ACC in 2013. A win at Cameron Indoor would be historic. The Irish have only won there twice in its long history — Jan. 16, 2016 and again on Feb. 9, 2021. The latter was a 93-89 victory in front of no fans.

Last season in Durham, Notre Dame suffered a 53-71 defeat. Markus Burton shined in his Cameron Indoor debut with 19 points. Braeden Shrewsberry followed behind with 13 points.

A win on Saturday would mark Coach Shrewsberry’s first-ranked victory as head coach at Notre Dame. A win would also mark the first top-10-ranked victory of his head coaching career overall.

In addition, a win would mark Notre Dame’s first top-10 win since No. 10 Kentucky on Dec. 11, 2021. It would be the first true road top-10 win since knocking off No. 9/6 Duke on Jan. 16, 2016.

Coach Shrews is also working on changing the culture of the program and what it takes to win on the road for an ACC game. Last season, ND went 7-13 in league play with just road wins at Georgia Tech and Louisville. They are searching for their first ACC road win this season.

TAKING THE POSITIVES WITH THE NEGATIVES

A terrible sense of deja vu. First, it was North Carolina on Jan. 4. The Irish fought hard and erased a 12-point deficit to claim a three-point lead with under 20 seconds to go. That’s when Elliott Cadeau converted a four-point play to give UNC the eventual 74-73 win. The returning Markus Burton drove the length of the court with four seconds left but couldn’t convert a very tough contested driving layup.

But the positive is that the Irish will be back at full strength moving forward, and what a gutsy return it was for Burton. Playing in his first game back since injuring his knee against Rutgers on Nov. 26, the All-ACC guard registered 23 points in 23 minutes. Burton scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half. He shot 7-of-14 overall and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line.

Then four days later it happened again. The Irish were up four with two minutes left but NC State rallied to take a 66-65 lead. With 10 seconds left the ball was put in Burton’s hand but he was double-teamed and was forced to take a tough step-back jumper.

The positive here – all five starters finished in double figures for the first time in the Shrewsberry era. Junior forward Kebba Njie was the highlight with his first career double-double. Njie posted 10 points behind 5-8 shooting, plus a career-high tying 11 rebounds. Tae Davis tallied a career-high six assists to go with his 14 points.

THE TAE-KOVER

Tae Davis has really stepped up and balled out as of late, emerging as one of the top talents in the ACC. Scoring-wise, Davis had the fourth-best December in the ACC, averaging 20.0 ppg on last month. Since he came back from the holiday break, Tae has averaged a team-best 19.3 ppg in that three-game span. He’s also averaging 5.7 rpg and 3.7 apg.

He’s ultimately riding a career-best 10 straight games in double figures.

With all that said, Tae is now averaging a career-best 16.5 ppg, which ranks 10th in the ACC. He’s shooting a career-best 52.5 percent which ranks second in the league. He’s shooting slightly better in ACC play at 54.2 percent. More on Tae in the next note.

EVOLVING

Before Vegas, Burton was the only player in the country averaging 20+ points, 5+ assists, and 5+ rebounds. When he went down, the Irish not only had to make up his 20+ points per game, but also his ability to create shots for his teammates.

Three players in particular stepped up to fill the void. Both Tae Davis and Braeden Shrewsberry are posting career highs in both points per game and shooting percentage. Then there’s Matt Allocco who is on pace to have the highest assist-to-turnover ratio in program history.

Davis is averaging 16.5 ppg, which is up from last year’s 9.2 ppg. He’s produced three 20+ point games over the last five games.

Tae has been highly proficient around the rim where he’s 57-of-85 (.671). Tae, who very much like Markus Burton, has this explosiveness and innate ability to attack. He’s been using that to his advantage and getting to the foul line. He’s averaging 6.6 FD/40 which ranks 36th nationally according to KenPom. The Indy native ranks fourth in the league in FT attempts and fifth in makes. He’s shooting a career best 75.5 percent from the stripe.

Next is Braeden Shrewsberry, who is averaging 15.9 ppg (11th in the ACC). He’s shooting 43.3 percent, which is up from last year’s 39.8.

He’s connecting on 3.0 threes per game this season, with a .372 clip from beyond the arc. In particular, Shrewsberry is hot from corner threes this year, knocking down 46.4 percent (13-for-28), which is 11.3 percent above the D1 average.

However, it’s important to point out that he’s added to his overall arsenal with a dangerous floater that keeps defenders guessing. He’s shooting 46.9 percent from the paint, 46.7 percent from the mid-range and he’s 13-16 around the rim. He’s 53.8 percent overall from two.

Last but not least is grad transfer Matt Allocco. The 6-4 guard is averaging 10.1 ppg on 45.4 percent shooting from the floor and 48.3 percent from beyond the arc. His 3.3 assists per game rank 14th in the ACC.

Allocco owns a 3.6 assist-to-turnover ratio which ranks 12th in the nation and second in the ACC. It’s obviously way too early for comparisons, BUT, the highest A/TO ratio in program history for a season was 3.16 by Martin Inglesby back in 2000-01.

NOTRE NOTABLES

• In league play, Shrewsberry is shooting even better from three. In fact, he leads all ACC players with his 4.3 threes/game and 44.7 percent from deep.
• Over the last five games, Matt Allocco has drained 13-of-20 from beyond the arc aka 65.0 percent.
• Burton is shooting 55.6 percent from the mid-range, which is 19.9 percent above the D1 average.
• Notre Dame’s three-point percentage defense sits at .306 which ranks third in the ACC.
• Irish are shooting 37.6 percent from three in league play, which ranks fourth.
• According to KenPom, Notre Dame’s Offense Adj. Efficiency ranks 56th in the nation (113.5).
• Burton is averaging 19.0 ppg over the last three games.
• Tae Davis and Braeden Shrewsberry are averaging 18.3 and 16.5 ppg, respectively, in ACC games.