30. Home Finale vs. Stanford

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The final week of the regular season is upon us. The Fighting Irish (13-16, 4-12) and Pitt Panthers (11-18, 4-12) are tied for the 15th and final spot in the ACC Tournament; however, since Pitt defeated Notre Dame on Feb. 21, that means they hold the tiebreaker and would advance if the tourney started today. So what lies ahead for both:

Notre Dame

• vs. Stanford on Wednesday at 9 pm
• at Boston College on Saturday at Noon

Pittsburgh

• vs. Florida State on Wednesday at 9 pm
• at Syracuse on Saturday at 4:30 pm

Pitt ultimately controls their own destiny. Notre Dame ideally needs to win both to give itself the best chance. Interestingly enough, the next two opponents are ones Notre Dame has already defeated once this season.

CAN IRISH KEEP STREAK ALIVE?

The Irish are 5-0 all-time against the Cardinal and will hope to keep that streak alive after Wednesday night. The first ever game was back on Dec. 26, 1934. Next, fast forward to two victories in 1992 and 1993. Then last season, Stanford made its first visit to Purcell as an ACC school, and Notre Dame won it 56-54.

In that game, Stanford led 54-53 with 27.8 seconds remaining. Enter Cole Certa, who hit the corner three for the victory.

Lastly, these two programs met on December 30 in Palo Alto, where the Irish earned a 47-40 win. Stanford’s 40 points were the fewest the Cardinal had scored at home since a 42-34 loss to UCLA on Jan. 22, 1982, and the fewest ND had allowed in a road game since holding Northwestern to 36 at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Dec. 17, 1983.

Also in that last matchup, Ebuka Okorie was held to a season low 7 points on 3-14 shooting.

Each of the last 4 contests have been decided by seven points or less.

BOUNCE BACK

Last Tuesday, Notre Dame suffered one of the program’s worst losses on its home court, losing by 44 points to #1 Duke. Instead of hanging their collective heads, the Irish bounced back in major fashion, defeating NCAA Tournament-bound NC State, 96-90, in overtime.

Notre Dame also defied an all-too-familiar script. Facing a nine-point deficit with 4:49 remaining, ND fired off an 11-2 run to tie the game at 81-all to force OT.

Cole Certa, Jalen Haralson and Braeden Shrewsberry led the 2nd half offensive surge. In fact, the trio were the only three to score for Notre Dame in the 2nd half, combining for 43 points on 14-26 shooting (53.8%). Then Cole Certa got hot in OT where he was 3-3 from beyond the arc, 3-4 from the stripe, totaling 12 points.

Certa finished with a game-high 32 points on 9-17 shooting, 6-10 from three, 8-9 from the free-throw line. The sophomore now has three 30+ point games in ACC play, which trails only Stanford’s Ebuka Okorie (4).

Haralson poured in 20 in the second half to finish with 25 points, one shy of his career high. The freshman tied his career high mark from the free-throw line, where he was 9-10. Haralson was 8-for-15 from the field. The Anderson, Indiana, native was one board shy of a double-double.

Shrewsberry had 12 of his 16 in the second half and finished 3-6 from deep, 5-10 overall. Sir Mohammed rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points.

CERTA-FIED

Cole Certa has been one of the best basketball players in the ACC down the final stretch and we’ll let the stats speak for themselves.

Cole had the 4th highest scoring average amongst ACC players in February:

1. Ebuka Okorie – 25.6
2. Juke Harris – 22.9
3. Mikel Brown Jr – 21.1
4. Cole Certa – 21.0
5. Cameron Boozer – 20.0

Certa also converted 4.3 threes/game in February, which ranks 2nd amongst Power Conference players. That number trails only Texas Tech’s Donovan Atwell’s 4.6. Cole’s 30 total threes were the most of any ACC player.

In addition, the Illinois native has produced three 30+ point games since Jan. 27. His three 30-burgers in ACC play trail only Ebuka Okorie’s 4. In fact, Cole owns the 3rd and 5th highest scoring performances in league play with his 37 and 34 points.

Lastly, Cole is riding a career best 7 game double-digit scoring streak into Wednesday. He’s totaled a whopping 147 points (21.0 ppg), shooting 42.0% from the field, 30-74 from three (40.5%), in that span.

30-BURGERS

Now let’s take a closer look at those 30+ point performances.

On Feb. 14 vs. Georgia Tech, Cole went off for a career high 37 points in the 89-74 win over Georgia Tech. The 37 points tied Matt Farrell for the second most in an ACC game (most in regulation), trailing only Markus Burton’s 43 points in 2OT game against Cal a season ago. Cole drained a career-best seven threes, finishing 7-11. He was 12-20 from the field overall. Certa dropped 21 points in the first half, marking the first time an Irish player has done so since Markus Burton’s 22 at Syracuse on Jan. 18, 2025.

Certa also went off for 34 points against No. 17 Virginia, shooting 10-19 from the floor, 5-13 from three and 9-11 from the free-throw line. Certa’s 34 points were the most by a Notre Dame player against an AP-ranked team since Nov. 26, 2008, when Kyle McAlarney scored 39 in a loss to No. 1 UNC.

And most recently, Cole lifted the Irish to a 96-90 overtime victory over NC State, recording 32 points. He went 3-3 from beyond the arc in OT and ultimately drained 6-10 from three in the game.

JALEN SURGING

The previous sections talked about Cole Certa’s offensive surge, but now let’s discuss  Notre Dame freshman standout Jalen Haralson.

After missing three games due to an ankle injury, Haralson’s return resulted in one of the program’s best wins in the Coach Shrewsberry era – a 96-90 OT win over NC State. In the 2nd half alone, Haralson scored 20 points on 7-9 shooting, 6-6 from the stripe. He recorded 14 of the team’s final 20 points. He ultimately finished the game with 25 points, one shy of his career best.

Take out those 3 games Jalen missed and the Indiana native has posted four 20-point games over his last 6 games played – 20 vs Virginia, career high 26 at Syracuse, 23 at SMU, then 25 vs. NC State.

Furthermore, Jalen has averaged 19.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in his last 6 games played.

SHREWSBERRY LEADING FROM THREE

Braeden Shrewsberry continues to prove he’s one of the best from deep, ranking 4th in the ACC in three-point shooting percentage at 40.3%. That number also ranks 38th in the country. He’s converting 2.8 made threes per game, which ranks 3rd in the league.

Shrewsberry’s sweet spot? The corner three – where he’s draining 48.0%, which is 12.2% above the Division I average.

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.

Braeden has drained a career-best 81 made threes on the year. For comparison, he recorded 78 as a freshman and 72 in a shortened sophomore campaign.

BRAEDEN CAREER ACCOLADES

Speaking of Shrewsberry making it rain, the junior enters Wednesday’s matchup with 231 career made threes. He is now 6 away (237) from moving into the program’s top-10.

A milestone already achieved – Braeden reached 1,000 career points at SMU on Feb. 10, doing so in 84 games. He became the 69th Notre Dame player all-time to reach the milestone. That number ties Louisville for 3rd most all-time behind Duke (70) & UNC (81).

REBOUNDING TRANSLATES

Towt’s current rebounding rankings:

• 9.3 rpg ranks 26th nationally, 4th in the ACC
• 3.7 offensive rpg – 1st in ACC/16th in country
• 5.7 defensive rpg – 5th in ACC
• 1,348 career rebounds – leads all active players
• His 1,348 career rebounds have pushed him into the top-100 all-time list at #54. 20 more rebounds would put him in the top-50, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

NOTRE NOTABLES

• The Irish are 9 wins away from 2,000 all-time. They would become the eighth program to achieve this feat.
• Certa is averaging a team-best 16.6 ppg against ranked opposition.
• Brady Koehler has been excellent in the midrange, where he’s shooting  57.9%.
• Logan Imes recently produced back-to-back games in double figures for the first time in his career, filling in for the injured Jalen Haralson. He produced 12 points at Pitt, and the game prior vs. Georgia Tech, Logan delivered a career high 14 points on 6-12 shooting (2-4 from three).
• Cole is 83-92 from the free-throw line. His 90.2% leads all ACC players and would rank 2nd for a season at ND. Steve Vasturia holds the top spot at 91.0%.
• Garrett Sundra is 9 for his last 10 from two-point range.
• Sir Mohammed thrives in the paint, where he’s shooting 50.0%.
• NET is at 91 — 3-10 in Quad 1 // 1-4 in Quad 2// 1-1 in Quad 3 / 8-1 in Quad 4.
• KenPom is at 84 — ORtg ranked 82 at 115.8 — DRtg ranked 104 at 106.0.

— ND —