21. Irish Look For First Ranked Win vs. #17/17 Virginia On Tuesday

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame men’s basketball is coming off a feel-good win over Boston College, in a right-the-ship moment; meanwhile, Virginia just had its five-game win streak snapped in a ferocious second-half comeback by North Carolina. The two teams will clash inside Purcell Pavilion on Tuesday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

Two minutes before halftime, Virginia led North Carolina by 16 points, but the Tar Heels dominated the second half to escape with the 85-80 win. The loss ended Virginia’s five-game win streak. Virginia enters Tuesday’s matchup with a 16-3 record, 5-2 mark in ACC play & ranked 17th in the country. If Notre Dame were to emerge victorious, it would mark the first ranked win for Coach Shrewsberry at Notre Dame and the squad’s third potential Quad 1 win this season.

Now, the Fighting Irish have not had much success in the overall series against the Cavaliers, trailing 5-18 all-time. However, Notre Dame has found success of late, winning two of three under Coach Shrewsberry. Associate Head Coach Kyle Getter also knows the Cavaliers quite well, serving on the staff there from 2018-23.

Last time Virginia visited Purcell Pavilion, the Irish rolled to a 76-54 victory, marking the most points scored by Notre Dame all-time in the series. Then last season, Notre Dame stormed into Charlottesville and earned their first win ever inside JPJ Arena, 74-59.

The Irish will have to slow down a potent UVA offense that has scored 80+ points in 14 of its games. They are averaging 83.8 ppg, which is the third most in school history. The Cavaliers also attack the boards relentlessly, ranking 11th in the nation & 1st in the ACC in rebounds per game (42.1). Defensively, UVA ranks 2nd in the country with their 6.2 blocks per game.

Virginia is 0-3 this year if the opposing team can reach 80 points.

COACHES VS CANCER

Tuesday night is Notre Dame’s annual Coaches vs Cancer game. The staff will be sporting special patches on their quarterzips, while the players will be wearing special shooting shirts pregame that were drawn from kids within the Beacon Health System here in town.

In addition, Will Czachowski, who has been with the team for most of the season, will get special recognition tomorrow. He will be in the starting lineup and presented with a signed ball at halftime.

BOTTLING THAT 2ND HALF

Notre Dame ended its five-game skid with a 68-64 victory over Boston College this past Saturday. The Irish erased a 13-point deficit, marking not only their largest comeback of the season, but their third double-digit comeback victory of the year.

The Blue & Gold will look to bottle the offense it displayed in the second half, where they outscored Boston College, 44-29, shooting 50% from the field. The 44 points were the most ND has scored in any half of an ACC game this season.

Braeden Shrewsberry finished with a game-high 22 points, marking his second-highest scoring output of the season and second ACC game with 20+ points. The junior found success driving into the paint & midrange, making 6-8 from two. Though Shrewsberry’s biggest shot of the night was a three-pointer with 1:26 remaining to push the Irish up five.

Jalen Haralson recorded 11 of his 17 points in the second half and finished 8-13 overall on the night. Carson Towt reeled in 13 boards, seven offensive, to go along with his six points and two assists.

FRESHMAN STANDOUT JALEN HARALSON

Jalen is currently averaging 14.7 ppg, which ranks fifth amongst ACC freshmen. He’s registered double-digit points in 17 of his 19 games played. His scoring average during ACC play is just about the same at 14.9 ppg.

Jalen is strong and shifty when attacking the rim, converting 70.1% from within 4.5 feet. The 6-7 guard shoots 51.5% overall from two-point range. In addition, he leads the team in FT attempts, averaging 5.6 per game.

#1

Notre Dame fans know Cole Certa can get hot from three, but what people might not know is that the sophomore guard currently ranks 1st in the country in free-throw percentage.

Certa started the year 27-27 from the stripe before he missed two at California. He is now an impressive 50-52 on the year as his 96.2% leads all Division I players in the country. The requirement from the NCAA to stay on the list is 2.5 made free throws per game.

Now, to get into the Notre Dame record book, the requirement is 75 total FT attempts; if he can get to that, his FT% would rank first all-time for a season. The current placeholder is Steve Vasturia at 91.0%.

YES SIR

Coach Shrewsberry is looking for Sir Mohammed to continue to be a spark off the bench. From Jan. 13-21, spanning 3 games, Mohammed posted 3 straight games in double figures, which was a career best. He averaged 13.7 ppg on 54.8% (17-31) against Miami, Virginia Tech and North Carolina.

Sir has thrived both in the paint (51.6%) and the midrange (50.0%) this season. In these two areas, he’s a combined 23-45.

FEELIN’ FROSTY

The temperatures in the South Bend area are frigid to say the least as a frosty air blankets the town. Yet, we are hoping for some more Frost inside Purcell Pavilion. Ryder Frost has found some recent success, recording 20 points over the last 3 games, draining 6-11 from three (.545).

The freshman recorded his third game in double figures with 10 points at North Carolina, draining 3-4 from beyond the arc.

KOEHLER AWARDED WITH FIRST START

Freshman Brady Koehler was awarded his first career start at North Carolina after being Notre Dame’s best player at Virginia Tech on Jan. 17, scoring 15 of his career high 17 points in the 2nd half. Overall, he was 5-7 from the field, plus 2-3 from three & 5-6 from the stripe – all were personal bests.

He’s shooting 47.4% from two-point range, but has been at his best in the midrange, where he’s 53.8%.

But don’t let the 6-10 frame fool you, for Koehler can knock it down from three. He may own fewer three-point attempts than most of his Notre Dame teammates, but with that said, he boasts the 2nd best three-point shooting percentage at 40.7%.

SHREWSBERRY LEADING FROM THREE

Braeden Shrewsberry ranks 2nd in the ACC in three-point shooting percentage, knocking down 41.1%. That number also ranks 40th in the country. He’s converting 2.7 made threes per game, which ranks 5th in the league.

Shrewsberry’s sweet spot? The corner three – where he’s draining 52.9%.

Against Miami on Jan. 13, Braeden reached the 200 career made threes milestone, becoming the 14th Irish player all-time to do so.

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

REBOUNDING TRANSLATES

Towt’s current rebounding rankings:

• 9.9 rpg ranks 20th nationally, 4th in the ACC
• 3.9 offensive rpg – 1st in ACC/11th in country
• 6.0 defensive rpg – 5th in ACC/43rd in country
• 1,275 career rebounds – leads all active players

NOTRE NOTABLES

• The Irish are 11 wins away from 2,000 all-time. They would become the eighth program to achieve this feat.
• Sundra has bounced back from a 0-10 stretch from three and has made 3 of his last 4.
• Career high 5 assists for Shrewsberry at North Carolina.
• After turnovers were a problem over the course of mid January games, the Irish have begun to right the ship. Notre Dame totaled 45 turnovers combined for Clemson, Miami & Virginia Tech, but committed a season low of 5 at UNC, then followed that up with just 8 vs. Boston College.
• Certa is averaging the 2nd most points in ACC play at 9.9 ppg.
• NET is at 83 — 2-6 in Quad 1 // 1-2 in Quad 2// 2-0 in Quad 3 / 6-1 in Quad 4.
• KenPom is at 82 — ORtg ranked 109 at 113.7 — DRtg ranked 68 at 103.6.

— ND —