26. Party Like It's 1990

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Six regular-season games left. Six games to flip the switch and get hot. Six games to play spoiler. Six games to cement your spot in the ACC Tournament. On Wednesday night, the Fighting Irish (11-14, 5-9) will throw back the clock and give fans a matchup they haven’t seen since 1990, when the SMU Mustangs roll into Purcell Pavilion. That matchup will tip off at 7 p.m. ET on ACC Network.

The Irish lead the overall series 4-1 and are 2-0 in South Bend. That last South Bend matchup occurred on Jan. 17, 1989. It was a 67-45 victory in which Irish great LaPhonso Ellis played in.

The final six games present a challenge and unique opportunity at the same time. No doubt the Irish have the hardest remaining ACC schedule left having just played Louisville while SMU, Pitt, Clemson, Wake, Stanford and Cal await. According to ESPN, Clemson and Wake are projected NCAA Tourney teams while SMU sits in First Four out.

BURTON – A WALKING BUCKET

Grab your popcorn because Markus Burton is a certified walking bucket. After 39 days away rehabbing his knee injury, Burton returned on Jan. 4 and has been playing his best ball since. The sophomore fired off five consecutive games with 20 or more points in January, which hadn’t been done by an Irish player since Ben Hansbrough in February of 2011. In fact, Burton has produced 20+ points in 10 of his 12 games since his return.

Last week, Burton dropped a career-best 32-point performance at BC on Feb. 12. It marked the fourth-highest point total by a Notre Dame player in an ACC game.

With that said, he’s now averaging 22.9 ppg in ACC play which leads all league players. The next highest is Duke’s Cooper Flagg at 21.8. 

Overall on the year, he’s averaging 21.3 ppg which places him fifth nationally. For perspective, the last Irish player to finish a season with a 20.0+ ppg average was Luke Harangody (21.8 ppg) in the 2009-10 season.

Now here’s the kicker. If you take out his two-point Rutgers injury game in which he departed four minutes in, Burton’s average would be 22.5 ppg which would rank him second nationally.

Lastly, Burton’s scoring average leads all sophomores in the nation.

CHASING ACHIEVEMENTS

Burton is quickly approaching 1,000 career points. He enters Wednesday’s SMU matchup with 961. He is currently on pace to become the seventh fastest Irish player to reach 1,000 career points, putting his name alongside the all-time greats:

1. Austin Carr – 35 games
2. Adrian Dantley – 44
3. Tom Hawkins – 44
4. Bob Arnzen- 47
5. John Shumate – 47
6. Troy Murphy – 48
7. Markus Burton – ??? — currently at 51
8. Gary Brokaw – 58
9. Chris Thomas – 60

He would become the program’s 68th 1,000-point scorer which would move Notre Dame into fourth place for most 1,000 point scorers behind UNC, Duke and Louisville.

There’s another rare list Burton can write his name on as well. He is currently averaging 21.3 ppg and a team best 3.0 apg. If those averages hold, he’ll join David Rivers as the only Irish players to average 20+ points and 3+ assists in a season.

However, Burton isn’t the only one who can cement his name in the Irish record books this season. Grad transfer Matt Allocco owns a 3.76 assist-to-turnover ratio – the highest in program history for a season was 3.16 by Martin Inglesby back in 2000-01.

Allocco is also converting a career high 47.3 percent from deep. That number currently ranks second all-time for a season. The top spot belongs to Joe Fredrick who shot 52.1 percent in 1988-89.

BURTON BALLIN’

With Burton, we’ve talked about his scoring prowess and what records await, but let’s dive a little deeper.

In ACC play, the sophomore sensation currently ranks first in scoring, third in steals (1.9), ninth in threes per game (2.2) and eighth in free-throw percentage (.855).

Offensively speaking, Burton worked really hard in the offseason on his three-point shot and it shows. He went from a 30.0 percent shooter from three last year to 38.9 percent this season. He’s tied his career high of four made triples three times since returning Jan. 4 In fact, he’s converting 40.6% from deep in ACC play.

Burton is also the team’s best free-throw shooter, converting 85.2 percent from the stripe.

FINDING A 2ND HALF GEAR

Notre Dame men’s hoops developed a certain narrative over the ACC season of building double-digit first half leads, only to falter down the stretch and lose close. Virginia Tech, Florida State, Miami, Syracuse and NC State all followed the same script.

All but two of the nine ACC losses Notre Dame has ocurred was by a single-digit margin. Case in point, their average margin of defeat has been just 6.6. Three losses by one possession. Over the whole 2024-25 season, the Irish are 3-6 in games decided by six or fewer points.

What was great to see in the Boston College double-overtime win on Feb. 12 was the fact that Notre Dame flipped the script. They trailed the Eagles by 14 points with 14 minutes left in the game. However, this time around they were the team clawing back, they were the team giving the other fits. Even in double OT when a player was ejected and BC retook the lead, the Irish remained calm, dug deep and gutted out the 97-94 win.

BEST TWO GUARDS / BEST BIG THREE

With Burton averaging 21.3 ppg and Shrewsberry checking in at 13.7, we were curious where that stacked up amongst guard combos in the ACC. The answer – first. Their combined 35.0 tops Duke’s Flagg/Knueppel (32.9).

So then that got us thinking, where do ND’s big three of Burton, Shrewsberry and Davis (15.7 ppg) stack up amongst other ACC big threes – regardless of position. The answer was yet again number one.

The Irish trio are a combined 50.7 ppg, which tops Stanford’s trio of Raynaud/Blakes/Sellers and their 47.7.

NOTRE NOTABLES.

• The 14-point comeback at BC was the largest come from behind victory in the Coach Shrews era.
• The Irish completed a season sweep against Boston College for the first time since 2019.
• Burton’s 32-point performance at BC was not only a career high but the fourth highest point total for an Irish player in an ACC game.
• Burton has been ramping up his defensive pressure. He now ranks third in the ACC in steals/game at 1.9.
• Notre Dame was a perfect 16-16 from the free-throw line against Virginia Tech on Feb. 8. It marked the third best free-throw shooting percentage game in program history.
• Allocco boasts a true shooting percentage of 61.0 on the year.
• Kebba grabbed a career high 12 rebounds in win at BC and recorded the game-winning putback.
• Speaking of Kebba, the junior is averaging 2.8 offensive rebounds/game in ACC play, which ranks seventh.
• Braeden bounced back from a 0-point showing vs. Virginia Tech with a combined 28 points over the next two games.
• Sir Mohammed is shooting 53.8 percent from two-point range.

— ND —