27. Irish Wear Green on Saturday vs. Pitt

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – With five guaranteed regular-season games remaining, Glenn & Stacey Murphy Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry is searching for urgency from his team. He’s asking for his Fighting Irish (11-15, 5-10) to dig deep and do it for those seniors who may never put on a jersey again. The next test is the Pittsburgh Panthers on Saturday, Feb. 22, inside Purcell Pavilion, presented by Beacon Health System. Tip-off is slated for 2:15 p.m. ET on the CW. It will mark Notre Dame’s fourth and final Irish Wear Green game.

The Fighting Irish lead the overall series 39-32 and are a strong 21-11 inside Purcell Pavilion. In the first Shrews vs. Capel matchup last season, the Panthers earned a 70-60 victory in Pittsburgh. In that game, Markus Burton recorded a team high 17 points and was joined in double figures by Tae Davis and his 16 points.

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 13 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.

Burton is now averaging 21.3 ppg in ACC play which ranks 2nd in the league behind Duke’s Cooper Flagg (21.8).

Overall on the year he’s averaging 20.3 ppg which places him 10th 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 21.3 ppg which would rank him fifth nationally.

CHASING ACHIEVEMENTS

Burton is quickly approaching 1,000 career points. He enters Saturday’s matchup with 963. 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:

Austin Carr – 35 games

Adrian Dantley – 44

Tom Hawkins – 44

Bob Arnzen- 47

John Shumate – 47

Troy Murphy – 48

Markus Burton – ??? — currently at 52

Gary Brokaw – 58

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 20.3 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 3.67 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 45.5 percent from deep. That number currently ranks eighth all-time for a season.

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 second in scoring, fifth in steals (1.9), 10th in threes per game (2.0) and ninth 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 37.6 percent this season. He’s tied his career high of four made triples three times since returning Jan. 4 In fact, he’s converting 38.8% 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.

Three losses have been 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.

Time is of the essence now. The bottom three teams do not make the ACC Tournament and the Irish have some wiggle room but not a lot.

BEST TWO GUARDS / BEST BIG THREE

With Burton averaging 20.3 ppg and Shrewsberry checking in at 14.0, we were curious where that stacked up amongst guard combos in the ACC. The answer – first. Their combined 34.7 tops Duke’s Flagg/Knueppel (32.9) and Pitt’s Lowe/Leggett (32.8).

So then that got us thinking, where do ND’s big three of Burton, Shrewsberry and Davis (15.6 ppg) stack up amongst other ACC big threes – regardless of position. The answer was yet again number one.

The Irish trio are a combined 50.3 ppg, which tops Stanford’s trio of Raynaud/Blakes/Sellers and their 47.7.

THE TAE-KOVER

Tae Davis should be a candidate for Most Improved in the ACC. He’s averaging a career best 15.5 ppg, up from last year’s 9.2 ppg. His scoring average ranks 12th amongst ACC players. The Indy native is shooting a career best 49.3 percent, which ranks fourth in the league in overall games. He’s also shooting a career best 75.5 percent from the free-throw line.

In ACC play, Tae is averaging 15.5 ppg on 47.7 percent shooting – the latter ranks ninth.

The junior has been highly proficient around the rim where he’s 90-of-136 (.662).

After recording just four points against Georgia Tech on Jan.28, Tae has responded with six consecutive games in double figures. Just last week, Tae dropped a 20-point performance at Boston College.

EVOLVING

When Burton was recovering, other Irish had to step up and evolve. We’ve already mentioned Tae Davis’ emergence but we’ve also seen Braeden Shrewsberry’s evolution.

The sophomore guard is averaging 14.0 ppg, up from last year’s 10.2. He’s shooting 41.3 percent, which is up from last year’s 39.8.

He’s connecting on 2.8 threes per game this season, with a .369 clip from beyond the arc. Shrewsberry’s sweet spot has been the corner three where he’s 15-33 (.455).

Shrewsberry is connecting on 40.0 percent from deep in ACC play, which ranks fifth.

However, Braeden is more than just a three-point shot, take his floater for instance. In fact, he’s Notre Dame’s best guard when it comes to the two-point shot. He’s added to his arsenal and is shooting 48.7 percent from two-point range. Specifically, he is shooting 43.2 percent from the midrange and 44.9 percent from the paint.

VET LEADER

Matt Allocco missed four consecutive games with a right wrist injury and made his return on Feb. 19 vs. SMU. He continues to work with trainer Nixon Dorvillien on his wrist. When Coach Shrews added the grad transfer he was hoping to add two things – a talented guard with NCAA Tournament experience and a leader by every definition of the word. Coach Shrews hoped that his young core of players would pick up those characteristics and then be leaders to the next group young freshmen group coming in.

This season, Allocco is averaging 9.0 ppg on 44.8 percent shooting. He’s draining a career best 45.5 percent from three. As previously mentioned, Allocco is also on pace for the highest A/TO ratio in program history at 3.67.

Allocco also leads the team in defensive rebounds per game at 4.1 and leads in +/- at +74 on the year.

NOTRE NOTABLES.

• The 14-point comeback at BC was the largest come from behind victory in the Coach Shrews era.
• 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.
• 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.
• Kebba grabbed a career high 12 rebounds in win at BC and recorded the game-winning putback.
• Speaking of Kebba, the junior is averaging 2.6 offensive rebounds/game in ACC play, which ranks seventh.
• Sir Mohammed has started in five straight games and has increased his points total in each start.
• Limited sample size but Sir is shooting 54.8 percent from two-point range.
• J.R. is shooting 39.1 percent from three in ACC play.
• Garrett Sundra tied his career high of 11 points vs. SMU on Feb. 19.
• Sundra has made eight of his last 12 from the field, raising his field goal percentage to 60.0 percent.

— ND —