17. Irish Look To Weather Storm vs. Hurricanes

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame men’s basketball is looking for a bounce back win after dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season. They’ll get a boost from its home crowd and the return of Notre Dame students when Miami rolls into town for a Tuesday night showdown. Tip is scheduled for 7:01 p.m. ET on ESPNU.

Miami arrives in South Bend with a 14-2 overall record and a perfect 3-0 mark in ACC play. They have previously defeated Pitt, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech. Their only two losses were against ranked opposition, No. 10 Florida and No. 9 BYU.

Via Haslam Metrics – Miami will routinely look to penetrate, pound the ball inside, and score from as short a distance as possible. The Hurricanes are third in the NCAA in ratio of near-proximity attempts to total field goal attempts. Two players in particular have thrived during ACC play – Tre Donaldson (22.3 ppg) and Malik Reneau (21.3 ppg).

Notre Dame trails the all-time series 15-16 as they look to end a four-game losing streak against the Hurricanes. Braeden Shrewsberry, in his last two times vs Miami, has recorded a combined 24 points behind six made threes.

A win on Tuesday night would mean a Quad 2 victory for the Fighting Irish. Miami’s NET sits at 33 compared to Notre Dame’s 74.

WHO’S HOT?

With Markus Burton on the mend, the ball has been put in the hands of Jalen Haralson, and he has delivered. The freshman is averaging 16.0 ppg in ACC play – shooting 47.1% from the field.

Haralson, who went his first 13 games without a three, has since gone 5-7 from beyond the arc over the last two games.

Logan Imes has achieved career highs in each of the last two games. He set personal bests in rebounds (8) and assists (6) at Cal, then scored a career high 13 points vs. Clemson. His 3.7 assist-to-turnover ratio currently ranks second in the ACC.

Carson Towt has recorded double-digit rebounds in four straight games, amassing 45 boards in that span.

HOT HAND TO START

Jalen Haralson has posted back-to-back scorching hot starts to games. When looking specifically at the first 10 minutes of both Cal and Clemson – a combined 8-9 from the field for 21 points.

– Clemson on Jan. 10 – scored 11 of the team’s first 17 points. Finished with a team-high 18 points.

– Cal on Jan. 2 – scored the team’s first 10 points. Finished with 17 points.

MORE ON JALEN

Jalen is currently averaging 14.9 ppg, which ranks fifth amongst ACC freshmen. He’s riding a 14-game double-digit scoring streak, which includes games against Kansas, Houston, Missouri, TCU, Stanford, Cal and Clemson.

One of those big-time performances was the TCU overtime victory and it was Jalen himself who hit the buzzer beater in regulation. Down two with three seconds remaining, Haralson hit a step-back fadeaway jumper to tie it at 76-all. Haralson finished the night with 20 points & a career high 9 assists. Other ND greats over the last three decades to match Jalen’s stat line of 20 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists and 1 block: Jerian Grant in 2015 / Chris Thomas 3x (twice in 2002 and once in 2005).

Jalen is converting 66.2 percent from within 4.5 feet. He’s shooting 50.7 percent overall from 2-point range.

SHREWSBERRY FROM DEEP

Braeden Shrewsberry is converting 44.9 percent from three on the season – that number ranks 1st in the ACC and 21st in the nation. For comparison, Braeden shot 37.1 percent from three as a freshman and 36.9 percent as a sophomore. He’s also averaging 3.0 made threes per game, which ranks third in the conference.

A big-time performance came against Evansville when Shrewsberry scored a career-high 26 points, thanks to a career-high eight three-pointers, shooting 80% from three (8-10). His eight made triples tied for the 7th most in a game all-time in program history.

Fast forward to Tuesday night vs. Miami and Braeden could surpass the 200 career made three-pointer milestone. He would be just the 14th Irish player all-time to do so.

MORE THAN JUST REBOUNDING

Carson Towt is 29-39 (.744) from the floor over the past seven games. He’s averaging a near double-double in that span at 9.3 points & 10.7 rebounds.

Over three ACC games, Towt is 10-13 from the field, averaging 8.3 points and 11.7 rebounds.

Coach Shrewsberry has often praised Towt for his vision and passing ability. He currently ranks third on the team in assists, averaging 1.9 per game.

BY THE NUMBERS WITH TOWT

• 10.4 rpg ranks 13th nationally, 3rd in the ACC
• 3.8 offensive rpg – 1st in ACC/15th in country
• 6.7 defensive rpg – 4th in ACC/19th in country
• 167 total boards – 11th nationally, 2nd in the ACC
• 1,245 career rebounds – leads all active players

NOTRE NOTABLES

• The Irish are 12 wins away from 2,000 all-time. They would become the eighth program to achieve this feat.
• Braeden Shrewsberry is shooting 50 percent from corner threes.
• Logan Imes has led the Irish in assists in five games this season.
• Cole Certa is 5-10 from three over the last two games.
• Sir Mohammed dropped a career-high 21 points on 8-12 shooting from the floor in the win over Evansville.
• Brady Koehler is shooting 48.1 percent from two.
• Certa started the season 27-27 from the FT line, as the streak ended at Cal on Jan. 2. He’s now 94.4% (34-36) on the season.
• NET is at 60 — 2-5 in Quad 1 // 0-0 in Quad 2// 2-0 in Quad 3 / 6-1 in Quad 4.
• ND’s Kenpom is now at 68.