| GAME 12: | NOTRE DAME (6-5) |
|---|---|
| OPPONENT: | LE MOYNE (5-8) |
| WHERE: | SOUTH BEND, IN | PURCELL PAVILION |
| WHEN: | SUNDAY, DEC. 22 | 6 PM ET |
| WATCH: | ACC NETWORK |
| LISTEN: | NOTRE DAME RADIO NETWORK | CLICK HERE |
| LIVE STATS: | STATBROADCAST |
| TICKETS: | PURCHASE ONLINE |
| SOCIAL: | @NDMBB | #GOIRISH |
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – For the first time on the hardwood, Notre Dame men’s basketball will challenge the Catamounts of Western Carolina. The Fighting Irish (1-0) will look to carry their momentum from a successful season-opening victory over Niagara and #ProtectPurcell once more. The Irish and Catamounts will tip at 2 p.m. ET on ACCNX.
HISTORIC DEBUT FOR BURTON
Not only did the freshman point guard ball out in a historic debut in the season opener, but got to do it in front of his hometown crowd and family/friends. Burton poured in 29 points to lift the Irish to a 70-63 win over Niagara, marking the most points in program history in a freshman debut. The previous record was 27 points from Laphonso Ellis back in 1988. Ellis was also in attendance and acknowledged the passing of the torch moment after the game when he came back to the locker room to take a photo with Burton.
Now a few other notes on Burton’s performance:
- 1-of-5 freshmen in the history of the program to score 29 points or more, joining David Graves, Troy Murphy, Chris Thomas and Adrian Dantley.
- Still the first week of play so take this as you will, but Burton’s 29 points currently stands as the freshman high benchmark in Division-I.
- Burton absolutely took over the end of the game. From 8:38-:20 in the second half, Burton recorded 16 points on 6-for-6 shooting.
FUTURE ON DISPLAY
There were multiple occasions in both the first and second halves of the season opener in which all four freshmen were out on the court together at the same time. In the +/- category, when those four were together, the Irish were +5 in the Niagara game.
Now we’ve already covered Burton’s breakout performance but another standout was Carey Booth off the bench. The 6-11 freshman forward nearly recorded a double-double in his debut with 10 points and nine rebounds. He was 4-for-8 from the field with one three-pointer.
In addition, Logan Imes recorded the fourth most minutes and produced four points and three rebounds. Braeden Shrewsberry started and notched seven points.
FRESHMAN FOUNDATION
A little over a month into the job, Coach Shrewsberry had himself a top-30 ranked incoming freshmen class – Carey Booth, Logan Imes and Braeden Shrewsberry – all flipped from their Penn State commits. Then add in Mr. Indiana Basketball Markus Burton, who kept his commitment to Notre Dame. That brought the 2023 class to four signees which ranked 23rd in the country according to 247Sports.com.
Furthermore, cementing the bond among the freshmen class, there was an Indiana connection among most of them:
— Imes and Shrewsberry played together throughout all four of their high school years with the Indiana Elite.
— Imes and Burton were teammates on the 2023 Indiana All-Stars squad
ALL FIGHT
‘All Fight’ – the slogan for Notre Dame throughout all sports all season long. The Irish showed that fight and battled back some adversity to get the win over Niagara. The Irish had a cold shooting start and faced a 12-point deficit at the 11:20 mark. Notre Dame rallied to cut it to one, down 30-29 at the half. In fact, the Irish started 0-for-11 from three. Yet, the Irish found their touch and went on to shoot 57.7 percent in the second half and outscored Niagara 41-33 for the win.
MR INDIANA BASKETBALL
On April 20, 2023, now freshman point guard Markus Burton, was named Mr. Indiana Basketball. It marked the third time in program history in which a future Notre Dame player took home the honor. The two former winners were Chris Thomas in 2001 and Luke Zeller in 2005.
Burton averaged a state-best 30.3 points per game, along with 5.7 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 3.6 steals. Burton also secured the school single season scoring record by pouring in 909 points as a senior.
— ND —