9. Irish Went Down To Georgia

ATHENS, Ga. – Glenn & Stacey Murphy Notre Dame Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry will look to garner his first SEC/ACC Challenge victory when the Fighting Irish (4-4) go down to Georgia to challenge the Bulldogs (7-1). That match will tip off at 7 p.m. ET on ESPNU on Tuesday, December 3. It’ll mark Notre Dame’s first-ever appearance inside Stegeman Coliseum.

Notre Dame and Georgia are tied 2-2 in the overall series with all four contests taking place on neutral courts. Last year, the Irish lost 53-65 at South Carolina for its first-ever ACC/SEC Challenge.

STATE OF THE IRISH

Markus Burton was averaging just over 21 ppg heading into Vegas. Then the All-ACC selection and reigning ACC Rookie of the Year went down and the Irish have to come together and find a way to maintain & steer the ship without him. Burton will be out of competition on a week-to-week basis. Not to mention Sir Mohammed, Notre Dame’s primary guard off the bench, was already recovering from his respective lower-body injury, thus depleting their depth.

And despite losing the face of the program, all three games in Vegas were right there for the taking.

Matt Allocco put the team on his back against Rutgers and had a ‘March worthy’ performance. He forced overtime with a last-second three in regulation. Then in OT, he converted three triples in under 30 seconds to force a tie with under 15 seconds left. He ended up with a 24-point, 10-rebound double-double with 5 assists. He was 6-for-9 from three.

In game two vs. #6/7 Houston, the Irish recorded a 7-0 run in the second half to pull within one at 44-45. Unfortunately, ND only scored 10 points in the final 13 minutes as Houston pulled away to win 65-54. Tae Davis led the Irish in scoring with 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting. It marked his second 20+ point performance of the season. He also tallied a team-high eight rebounds and a team-high four assists.

Game three vs. #21/19 Creighton was very similar. The Irish ultimately erased a 17-point deficit to take a lead 53-52 lead with 10:19 remaining. Yet, Creighton countered with four triples over the next four minutes which became the difference maker. Tae Davis and Braeden Shrewsberry led the Irish with 17 points each.

MAKING UP POINTS

Burton entered the Vegas tournament on back-to-back games with 20+ points, totaling 54 points on a combined 23-for-38 shooting aka 60.5 percent. He went 6-for-11 from deep, including a career best four made triples against Elon.

Before Vegas, Burton was the only player in the country averaging 20+ points, 5+ assists, and 5+ rebounds.

This will be Tae Davis’ time to shine. His Players Era three-game stats — team-best 54 PTS (18.0 ppg); team best 19-40 FG (.475); 16 REB (5.3 rpg); 11 AST (3.7 apg).

He’s recorded three straight games with double-digit points. Tae ended last season on a career-best streak of seven.  Though it does mark his highest three-game total of his career.

Then there’s Matt Allocco, the ultra competitor. His Players Era three-game stats — 44 points (14.7 ppg), 14-33 FG (.424), 8-16 3PT (.500); team best 13 AST (4.3 apg); just 2 TO; co-team best 16 REB (6.0 rpg).

Next, there’s Braeden Shrewsberry. The sophomore has tied his career-best streak of four straight games with double-digit points. His Players Era three-game stats were — 49 PTS (16.3 ppg); 19-of-56 FG (.339); 9-33 3PT (.273).

Lastly, let’s keep an eye on both freshman forward Garrett Sundra and senior guard J.R. Konieczny. Sundra played his first significant minutes against #21/19 Creighton and Sundra delivered, recording his first double-digit scoring effort with 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting (3-for-4 from three).

Also against Creighton, Konieczny played his third-highest minutes of the season and dropped two threes. J.R. has the second-highest +/- on the team behind Burton at +46.

NOT LAST YEAR’S OFFENSE

When Burton was in the lineup the offense was vastly improved from a year ago. Case in point, Notre Dame posted six straight games to start the year with 75+ points. It marked the first time since the start of the 2009-10 season. .

Notre Dame’s shooting percentage naturally dipped without Burton and against top competition; however, it’s still at 48.2 percent which ranks third in the ACC. They are also shooting 55.2 percent from two.

KenPom’s offensive efficiency ranking puts the Irish at No. 51.

TAE-KING OVER

The Irish need a Tae-ke over this week. As previously mentioned he led the team in scoring in Vegas and can get to the rim at will. He’s currently averaging 14.5 ppg on 50.0% shooting.

Tae is averaging 6.7 fouls/drawn per 40 minutes. His 36 made free throws rank 7th in the ACC, while his 47 attempts rank 4th.

He’s shooting 52.3 percent from two and he’s 25-of-37 (.676) at the rim (within 4.5 feet).

In the Buffalo victory, he poured in a career-high 27 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Plus he drained a career-best 12-of-13 from free-throw line. Davis got it done in crunch time as well, scoring 13 of Notre Dame’s final 15 points. He followed that up with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the Georgetown road win. He grabbed a team-high eight boards.

BRAEDEN’S OFFENSIVE GAME

We know what Breaden is capable from three. Last season, he drained 55 three-pointers in conference play which set a new program record for ACC threes. This season, he’s averaging a team best 2.6 made threes per game which ranks fourth in the ACC.

Shrewsberry is hot from corner threes, knocking down 45.0 percent (9-for-20), which is 10.4 percent above the D1 average. Overall, he’s 32.3 percent from beyond the arc.

But Braeden has been attacking the basket and driving more in year two. He’s shooting 55.6 percent from two-point range. Thus, he’s shooting 41.8 percent from the field overall.

His 15.4 ppg ranks second behind Burton.

— ND —