| ACC Tournament: | #12 NOTRE DAME (12-19, 7-13) |
|---|---|
| ACC TOURNAMENT CENTRAL: | CLICK HERE |
| WHERE: | WASHINGTON D.C. | CAPITAL ONE ARENA |
| TICKETS: | PURCHASE ONLINE |
| LISTEN: | NOTRE DAME RADIO NETWORK | CLICK HERE |
| SOCIAL: | @NDMBB | #GOIRISH |
| 1ST ROUND: | #13 GEORGIA TECH | TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2 PM ET | ACCN |
| 2ND ROUND: | #5 WAKE FOREST | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2:30 PM ET | ESPN |
| QUARTERFINALS: | #4 PITT | THURSDAY, MARCH 14 , 2:30 PM ET | ESPN/2 |
| SEMIFINALS: | #1 NORTH CAROLINA/TBD | FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 7 PM ET | ESPN/2 |
| FINALS: | TBD | SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 8:30 PM ET | ESPN |
BROOKLYN – It’s time for some early season tournament hoops for the Notre Dame men’s team, as the Fighting Irish (1-1) jet off to Brooklyn for the Legends Classic. Taking place Nov. 16-17 at the Barclays Center, the Irish will be joined by Auburn, St. Bonaventure and Oklahoma State. On Thursday, the Irish will square off with SEC foe Auburn at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2, with the Bonnies and Cowboys squaring off earlier. Then on Friday, the third place game takes place at 4:30 pm, with the title game to follow at 7 p.m.
HISTORIC DEBUT FOR BURTON
Not only did freshman point guard Markus Burton ball out in a historic debut in the season opener, but he got to do it in front of his hometown crowd and family. 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. Now a few other notes on Burton’s performance.
Burton absolutely took over the end of the game. From 8:38-2:20 in the second half, Burton recorded 16 points on 6-for-6 shooting. He became 1-of-5 freshman in the history of the program to score 29 points or more, joining David Graves, Troy Murphy, Chris Thomas and Adrian Dantley.
Lastly, Burton’s 29 points currently stands as the freshman-high benchmark in Division I.
FUTURE ON DISPLAY
- Burton’s now 23.0 ppg leads all DI freshmen. Overall, his scoring average ranks fifth in the ACC and 27th in the nation.
- Booth nearly recorded a double-double in his debut with 10 points and 9 rebounds. Then he followed that up with a 20-point explosion, connecting on 4-of-8 from three.
- Together, Booth and Burton are the highest-scoring freshmen duo in the country, for Notre Dame is the only team with two freshmen averaging at least 15.0 ppg.
TABLE OR BOOTH
In terms of ACC freshmen, Booth has the third-highest scoring average at 15.0 ppg. Amongst all DI freshmen, he ranks 18th.
The Colorado native went off against Western Carolina (11/11) with a team-high 20 points. There was a three-possession stint in the second half in which he hit three three-pointers in a row.
With that said Booth is now 5-for-11 (.455) from beyond the arc to start the season. His three-point field goal percentage ranks 10th in the ACC.
Now we all know it’s only the first week, but after two games, only 5 freshmen in the country can say they’re averaging at least 15 points, 7 rebounds and shooting at least .450 from three, and Carey Booth is one of them.
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 top-30 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
BATTLING BACK
The Irish have shown some fight and battled back in both the win over Niagara and close loss to Western Carolina. First with 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. Notre Dame then found its touch in the second half where they shot 57.7 percent and outscored Niagara 41-33 for the win.
It was another slow start in game two, falling behind 13 points to Western Carolina at the half and facing a deficit as large as 17 early in the second half. Despite that, Notre Dame fought back with a 15-3 run to cut the deficit all the way to one possession, down 60-57. The Cats ultimately took the contest though, 71-61.
ROPED INTO A (SCORING) SITUATION
During the preseason when a media member pointed out that not a single member of the roster averaged more than five points per game a year ago, Coach Shrewsberry simply replied, ‘Well we are going to score more than 12 points per game. Players will step up.’ One of those people making the most of his opportunity – Julian Roper. He’s averaging 10.5 points on 45.0 percent shooting from the floor. He tied his career high of 12 points in game two vs. Western Carolina. He’s also averaging the second most minutes on the court at 34.0.
LEGENDS CLASSIC
This will mark the second time Notre Dame has competed in the Legends Classic, winning the event back in 2016.
Then, the Irish went 4-0, defeating Bryant, Seattle, Colorado and Northwestern for the tournament crown.
Since this is the Legends Classic, an Irish legend will be joining the team this week in Brooklyn. Laphonso Ellis donned the Irish jersey from 1988-92, finishing his career as the all-time leading shot blocker (200), third-leading rebounder (1,075) and eighth on the all-time scoring list (1,505). He is now in Notre Dame’s Ring of Honor.
Notre Dame and Auburn have surprisingly never met on the hardwood. Even on the women’s basketball side, they’ve only met once, back in 2003.
Funny enough, Notre Dame and Oklahoma State have never played either. ND and St. Bonaventure have clashed a total of eight times, with the Irish holding a 5-3 edge, despite the loss in last year’s Gotham Classic in Long Island.
— ND —