2. Buffalo

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s basketball team will look to go 2-0 on the young season when the Buffalo Bulls roll into town on Monday, Nov. 11. Tip is slated for 7 p.m. ET inside Purcell Pavilion, with tickets still available for purchase on FightingIrish.com. Early arriving fans will receive a red, white, and navy blue pom pom with God, Country, Notre Dame on the handle!

The game is also our Veterans Day Donation Drive – Help support our local veterans by bringing in items to be donated to Miller Veterans Center for the Homeless. For more information on items to donate, click here.

FEELING BULLISH

Notre Dame has completed 121 seasons in its program history and yet on Monday night, they’ll play Buffalo for the very first time. The Bulls are off to a 2-0 start after a buzzer-beater against Old Dominion, followed by a victory over Fredonia. In both games Buffalo scored over 80 points.

In the win over Fredonia, Tyson Dunn recorded the program’s fourth triple-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds, 14 assists. Dunn is averaging 19.0 points through two games, while the Bulls are led by Ryan Sabol’s 19.5 ppg.

Irish fans will see a familiar face on the Buffalo bench in former ND assistant, now Bulls Associate Head Coach Hamlet Tibbs.

GAME WON

Basketball was officially back in Purcell Pavilion and Notre Dame showed out in their 2024-25 debut, defeating Stonehill, 89-60. The Irish shot 50.8 percent from the field and 47.8 percent from three-point range.

The preseason talk of Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry being one of the best young backcourts in the ACC was on display. Each recorded a game-high 18 points. Burton also supplied a team-high five assists. Graduate guard Matt Allocco joined them in double figures with 10 points. Furthermore, Kebba Njie finished one point shy of what would have been his first career double-double, tallying nine points and 10 rebounds. The 10 boards were one shy of his career best.

TRENDING

• With the season-opening victory, the Irish moved up four spots in KenPom to No. 65.
• The preseason focus was on offense and pace and between the exhibition and season opener, the Irish have totaled 180 points.
• Notre Dame grabbed 50 rebounds against Stonehill, marking their highest total since 54 boards vs. High Point on Nov. 16, 2021.
• Braeden Shrewsberry was 4-for-5 from three in the season opener. He drained 78 as a freshman, including a program record 55 in ACC play.
• Notre Dame made 11 three’s against Stonehill, shooting 47.8 percent from beyond the arc. The latter ranks 10th in the country.
• A victory on Monday night would mean that Coach Shrewsberry’s squad will have won six straight on their home court, dating back to their four-win homestand that ended last season (Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Clemson).

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: “(Burton) 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.

SOMETHING BREWING IN SOUTH BEND

Though we can’t talk specifics until ink hits the paper on Wednesday, it’s hard not to notice the momentum that Coach Shrews is building in South Bend. He talked how in year one he was setting the foundation and the ‘right culture.’ Heading into year two, Coach Shrews is on an absolute heater on the recruiting trail.

Notre Dame currently has four verbals from one five-star and three four-star players. The five-star recruit would be the highest signee in program history (in the modern era with rankings), ranked No. 10 from ESPN. The Irish recruiting class is ranked in the top-six by 247 Sports, Rivals and ON3.

WAKE UP THE ECHOES LIVE ON THURSDAY, NOV. 14

Wake Up The Echoes, which is the official podcast show for Coach Freeman, Ivey and Shrewsberry, is hitting the road for a special on location recording at Brothers Bar & Grill this Thursday. It will be a celebration of basketball season getting underway with both Coach Shrews and Ivey slated to be on the show. In addition, both Markus Burton and Hannah Hildago will have segments on the show as well.

FROM LEAST TO MOST

When Coach Shrewsberry took over the Notre Dame job, he had to start at the ground-level. In fact, 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 2022-23 season, 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.

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.

Burton and Shrewsberry also proved they aren’t afraid of a hostile environment. In true road games, Burton and Shrewsberry averaged 16.3 points and 12.8 points, respectively.

Lastly, don’t forget that this duo went off in the nation’s capital for the first round of the ACC Tournament in the win over Georgia Tech. Shrewsberry scored a team-high 23 points, shooting 8-of-12 from the field, including 5-of-8 from three-point range. Four of Shrewsberry’s threes came in the second half. It marked his third game of 20+ that season. Next, Burton followed right behind with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Burton also tied his season high in assists with eight.

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.

— ND —