DePaul Visits Purcell Pavilion for Final Irish Tune-Up

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – An old rival and memories renewed – Notre Dame men’s basketball welcomes DePaul to Purcell Pavilion on Friday night in its final preseason exhibition tune-up. The Fighting Irish and Blue Demons will tip off at 6 p.m. ET. The exhibition will not be streamed so come out and get your first glance at the 2025-26 Irish. If you can’t make it, listen to Conor Clingen on the call on 960 WSBT-AM.

A POSITIVE EARLY SHOWING

Basketball was officially back last Friday night in the historical Hinkle Fieldhouse as two Indiana staples, Notre Dame and Butler battled it out on the hardwood floor in a preseason exhibition. The Fighting Irish never trailed and led by as much as 16. Thirteen total Irish saw time on the floor and four finished in double figures. The Irish ultimately took it 77-76.

If the stats officially counted, sophomore guard Cole Certa would have tied his career high of 12 points and set a new personal best for three-pointers made with four. Junior guard Markus Burton tied him for the team high with 12 points as well.

Sophomore guard Sir Mohammed would have netted his second career double-digit scoring game as he finished with 10 points. He converted 2-of-3 from deep.

Freshman Brady Koehler also shone with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Fellow freshman, Jalen Haralson, impressed with seven points and team highs in rebounds (6) and assists (4).

FINAL EXHIBITION – DEPAUL

Notre Dame will get one final preseason tune-up, but this time at home, when DePaul visits Purcell Pavilion on October 24. There’s been 106 total games against one another on the hardwood, with the Irish up in the series 62-44. The last time the Blue Demons took the trip down I-90 to South Bend was back on Nov. 24, 2018 – a 95-70 Irish victory.

DePaul is led by senior guard CJ Gunn, who earned Preseason All-BIG EAST Third Team honors. He becomes the first Blue Demon to earn preseason All-Conference honors since Charlie Moore in 2020.

Gunn returns as DePaul’s leading scorer from the 2024-25 season after averaging 12.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game while shooting 42.9 percent from the floor. He also led the team in steals with 43 on the season while totallng 21 games across the season in double-digit scoring.

Overall, DePaul returns five players from its roster a year ago plus 11 newcomers. Last season, the Blue Demons increased their win total by over 10 games, finishing with a 14-20 (4-16 BIG EAST) record. Among the newcomers is Tulane transfer, Kaleb Banks, who earned All-Conference honors in the AAC last season after averaging 14.7 points and 6.7 rebounds. Other newcomers include transfers Brandon Maclin (Radford), Jeremy Lorenz (Wofford), Khaman Maker (St. John’s) and RJ Smith (Colorado). Additionally, DePaul brought in two freshmen – Kruz McClure and Isaiah Medina – as well as a pair of international recruits in Ilija Milijašević and Fabián Flores.

CORE NUCLEUS INTACT

For Notre Dame and Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry, retention and player development has been key. For the second consecutive year, the Fighting Irish return the highest scoring by percentage of any ACC school.

Leading those returners is one of the best backcourt duos in the ACC – junior guards Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry. Approaching their third year together on the court, the duo combined for a league best 35.3 ppg.

KNOW THE NAME – MARKUS BURTON

If you don’t know the name Markus Burton, you should. The 6-0 junior guard, who is playing in front of his home town, recorded a sensational sophomore season and is poised to have an even bigger junior campaign.

Burton averaged 21.3 ppg last year, which ranks third nationally amongst returners.

1. PJ Haggerty, Kansas State – 21.7

2. Jaron Pierre Jr., SMU – 21.6

3. Markus Burton, ND – 21.3

4. Terrence Brown, Utah – 20.6

5. Nick Martinelli, NW – 20.5

The last Irish player to average 20+ points in a season was Luke Harangody (21.8 ppg) in the 2009-10 season.

Burton continued to write his name in different areas of the record book, alongside the all-time Irish greats. Here’s one for example – Burton joined David Rivers as the only Irish players to average 20+ points and 3+ assists in a season. He averaged a team best 3.0 apg last season.

He averaged 23.5 ppg in conference play which led all ACC players. His 423 points in ACC play broke the program record he set his freshman season. He now boasts 722 career ACC points which already ranks him fifth all-time at ND.

Furthermore, Burton finished last year as one of the hottest shooters in the country. Over his last four games of the regular season – 31.5 ppg on 46.9 percent shooting, 11-22 (.500) from three & 39-46 (.848) from the line.

MASTER OF THE MIDRANGE

Burton is most dangerous attacking the basket and utilizing his quickness. He shot 46.9 percent from two-point range overall. More specifically he was 44.6 percent from the midrange and 46.4 percent from the paint.

Burton’s true shooting percentage climbed to 54.8 percent and his turnover rate dropped to 14.7 percent.

And more likely than not, Burton will get fouled attacking the basket and last season he was the team’s best free-throw shooter. He converted 84.8 percent from the stripe, which ranked 6th in the ACC. He drew 5.3 fouls per 40 minutes.

If that wasn’t enough, Burton improved from beyond the arc from year one to year two. He went from a 30.0 percent shooter from three as a freshman to 37.5 percent as a sophomore. In ACC play, Burton converted 40.2 percent from deep.

BRAEDEN, YEAR ‘3’

Braeden’s sophomore campaign was shortened by seven games with a lower-abdomen injury, but he certainly showed the world that he added to his game. He averaged 14.0 ppg, which was up from his freshman year’s 10.2. He also shot 41.3 percent from the floor, which also marked an improvement.

The 6-4 guard connected on 2.8 threes per game on a .369 clip – both ranked third in the ACC. In ACC play, he knocked down 40.0 percent from deep which ranked fifth. Shrewsberry’s sweet spot? He converted 45.5 percent from corner threes (15-for-33).

Furthermore, Braeden shot 48.7 percent from two-point range. Specifically, he shot 43.2 percent from the midrange and 44.9 percent from the paint.

Like Burton, Shrewsberry ended on an extreme high note. He totaled 49 points over the last three games before his injury.

He netted 16 points at BC, 12 points vs Louisville and a team high 21 points vs. SMU. Braeden averaged 16.3 ppg over that three-game span on 16-39 shooting (.410), plus 11-24 from beyond the arc (.458).

BIG PRESENCE INSIDE WITH THE ADDITION OF TOWT

The nation’s top rebounder from last year transferred to South Bend and will be paired with a top-5 scorer in the country in Markus Burton. Transferring in from Northern Arizona, Carson Towt led the nation with 12.4 rebounds per game last season. Notre Dame is the only school in the country to have players on the top-10 returning scorers and rebounders list.

Towt was a 2025 Second Team All-Big Sky selection and a unanimous Big Sky All-Defensive Team member.

Towt set a Big Sky conference single-season rebounding record, grabbing 423 rebounds across 34 games. The 423 rebounds also led the country.

The 6-8 forward averaged a nation’s best 8.9 defensive rebounds per game and 3.5 offensive boards per game – latter ranked 14th nationally.

Towt broke a 63-year record reeling in a career 1,044 rebounds. He also amassed 1,199 career points.

Last season, Towt averaged 13.4 points per game and produced 20 double-doubles which ranked sixth in the nation. He shot .569 overall from the field which ranked second in the Big Sky and 26th nationally

CLUTCH GENE

Burton added the clutch gene to his arsenal after recording a career high 43 points in the 4OT win over Cal at the end of the regular season. The Mishawaka native dropped 21 points in the overtime periods in which he was 6-9 from the field and 4-4 from three. Burton’s 43 points were

the most by an Irish player in an ACC game

most by an ND player of any game since Adrian Dantley recorded 49 against Air Force on Feb. 10, 1975

most by any ACC player in any game this year

A PROGRAM OF PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

In the first note, we mentioned that Coach Shrews maintained his core nucleus, spearheaded by Markus and Braeden. In this section, we look at the other returners.

6-6 guard Sir Mohammed was slowed as a freshman as he worked through a lower-body injury. He ultimately played in 23 games, with eight starts, and shot 51.1 percent from two.

6-11 forward Garrett Sundra shot 53.3 percent from the field and 72.7 percent from two in 21 games. He was 8-of-20 (.400) from three-point range.

6-5 guard Cole Certa recorded a few clutch moments down the stretch of last season. In a 76-72 win over Pitt, Certa recorded all 12 of his points in the 2nd half but it all stemmed from a 125-second period in which he drained 3 triples. Then, down one with 18 seconds left vs. Stanford, Certa drained a corner three right in front his bench for the eventual 56-54 win.

Rounding out the returners are senior forward Kebba Njie and junior guard Logan Imes. Njie is the only player on the current roster to play four years under Coach Shrewsberry (freshman year at Penn State). Last season, Njie shot a career best 55.5 percent from the floor. Imes played in 26 games and shot 46.4 percent from two.   

HIGHEST RATED ND RECRUIT CLASS IN MODERN HISTORY TAKES THE FLOOR

When Micah Shrewsberry became the Glenn & Stacey Murphy Notre Dame Men’s Basketball Head Coach he told fans to jump on now because the train was taking off. Said recruiting train built massive momentum that materialized in Notre Dame’s highest-rated recruiting class in the modern era.

The class was ranked fourth in the nation by 247Sports, fifth by ESPN, fifth by Rivals and sixth by ON3. It’s also the top-rated class in the state of Indiana; second overall in the ACC.

The class is comprised of Tommy Ahneman, Ryder Frost, Brady Koehler and Jalen Haralson – the latter (at the time of his signing) was the highest rated recruit for Notre Dame in the modern era.

Haralson became the 20th McDonald’s All-American in program history and the first of the Shrews Era.

Frost was on Paul Biancardi’s 2025 top shot-makers list. In 2024, he led the UA summer circuit in three-point percentage, converting 45.2 percent.

Koehler was a 2025 AP Indiana Boys Basketball All-State First Team selection. He attended Coach Shrews’ high school and averaged 16.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals.

Ahneman was the top-ranked prospect in the state of Minnesota and led Cretin-Derham to a Class 4A Station runner-up finish as a senior. He averaged 16.3 points and 10.6 rebounds.

— ND —