13. Irish Close Out Non-Conference Schedule With Purdue Fort Wayne

On Sunday, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will host one last non-conference game before the holidays as Purdue Fort Wayne  (7-6) comes to South Bend for the eighth time in program history. Notre Dame leads the overall series 7-0 as the Irish are perfect 6-0 at home against the Mastodons.

It’s been almost 10 years since the Irish and the Mastodons have last played each other. The last matchup was on 12/6/16 in South Bend as the Irish won 87-72.

A CAREER NIGHT FOR SHREWSBERRY AND MOHAMMED

The (RV) Notre Dame men’s basketball team (9-3) has won four-straight games as they defeated the Evansville Purple Aces (4-7) in a dominant 82-58 win inside of Purcell Pavilion on Saturday afternoon.

Braeden Shrewsberry had himself a week last week as he shot lights out in the wins over Idaho (80-65) and Evansville (82-53). He finished the week with 40 points, averaging 20 points per game, while shooting 66.7% from the floor on 14-21 shooting.

More impressively, he shot 70.6% from three this week knocking down 12-of-17 from three on the week.

He scored a career-high 26 points on 9-12 shooting from the floor (75%) and finished with a career-high 8 three pointers, shooting 80% from three on 8-10 shooting.

Shrewberry is now shooting 50% from three this season (39-78), which is 2nd in the ACC and 11th in the country.

Another career-high performance came from sophomore Sir Mohammed, who finished with a career-high 21 points on 8-12 shooting from the floor. Mohammed also chipped in two rebounds and three assists for the Irish.

Kebba Njie grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds, followed by Carson Towt and Logan Imes with 6 rebounds a piece, tying Imes’ career-high in rebounds.

Twelve games into the season and the Irish sit at 9-3 and look to make it five wins in a row when they host Purdue Fort Wayne on Sunday, Dec. 21 at 2 p.m. ET on ACCN.

This Notre Dame’s final game at Purcell before departing for the Christmas break and gearing up for ACC play.

HEADBAND TOWT

The Irish are now an undefeated 2-0 with Carson Towt rocking the headband. He continues to be a rebounding force for the Irish. Sporting the headband for the first time this season in the win over Idaho, Towt recorded his third double-double of the season.

He finished with an impressive season-high 19 points on 9-12 shooting while also grabbing 15 rebounds. He grabbed six boards in the win over Evansville and now has an ACC-best 122 rebounds so far this season. His 122 rebounds is sixth in the nation.

Mark Zackery IV Added to Men’s Basketball Roster

Glenn & Stacey Murphy Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry announced the roster addition of Mark Zackery IV on Thursday, Dec. 11.

Zackery IV is fresh off his freshman football season at Notre Dame, but is no stranger to the game of basketball. The former Indiana Class 4A state champion and Indiana All-Star will provide immediate depth to the point guard position.

“I think that Mark will be a great addition to our program,” Shrewsberry stated.

“I have seen him play many times throughout his high school career. Whether competing with Team Teague, Indiana Elite, or Ben Davis High School, he always does things that help lead to winning. He will be an asset for us with his ball handling, playmaking, and defensive abilities. More importantly, he is a great young man that will add more value to our locker room and culture.”

WHAT A WEEK: WINS OVER MIZZOU AND TCU

A home win and SEC Challenge victory over Mizzou … then a Quad 1 win at TCU in a hostile environment, in overtime no less … with two stellar back-to-back wins, the Irish jumped from 86 in the NET to 69. They also received votes in the A.P. poll for the first time in the Coach Shrews Era. They appeared at No. 25 in Andy Katz’s Power37 and No. 41 in Jon Rothstein’s 45.

In both games, they defied a stigma about finishing out close games. A Certa three from deep to come up clutch or a Haralson fadeaway to send it to OT. They stayed together and competed; they believed.

As Coach Shrewsberry stated, it was a culmination of all their games played, specifically the three losses this year.

In fact, not only did they close, but they battled back. The Irish were down 12 to Missouri (7 at the half) and 11 to TCU (9 at the half). The last time Notre Dame came back to win after being down 9+ at halftime was a 13-point deficit to Virginia Tech in the ACC Tourney on March 7, 2018.

“Our guys have a lot of belief,” Coach Shrewsberry said. “In order to keep that belief, something good has to happen for them. They earned the right for something good to happen to them. Our guys earned it by doing things the right way. We needed to win a close game. We needed to go through these tough moments and come out on the right side.”

It was done by playing team basketball – making the extra pass and hitting clutch shots.

Notre Dame produced 16 assists on 25 made field goals against Mizzou. Then recorded 27 assists on 33 made field goals at TCU. The latter marked the most assists in a game since at Syracuse on Jan. 4, 2020.

That’s 43 assists on 58 made field goals over the two games. The Irish collectively shot 50.9 percent from the floor and converted 23 three-pointers.

NEXT MAN UP

The Fighting Irish will be without their floor general, Markus Burton, for the forseeable future. On Wednesday, Dec. 10, he had surgery performed on his left ankle, an injury he incurred at TCU.

Burton was averaging a team best 18.5 points per game and was coming off one of his most complete games of his career after dropping his first career double-double with 18 points and 10 assists vs. Missouri. He had six points and five assists in 10 minutes at TCU. Burton had a phenomenal start of the season, becoming just 1-of-3 Notre Dame plaeyrs over the past 30 years to total 180+ points, 30+ assists and 15+ steals over the first 10 games, joining Jerian Grant (2013-14, 2014-15) & Chris Thomas (2002-03).

HARALSON IN THE CLUTCH

Adding on to the Next Man Up mantra was guard Jalen Haralson at TCU. Down two with three seconds remaining, Haralson hit a step-back fadeaway jumper as the freshman tied it up 76-all to take it into overtime.

Haralson finished the night shooting 8-12 from the floor to record a career best 20 points, push a career high 9 assists.

Other ND greats over the last three decades to match Jalen’s stat line of 20 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists and 1 block: Jerian Grant in 2015 / Chris Thomas x3 (twice in

2002 and once in 2005).

“The thing that I told Jalen, right before we went out after halftime, I said, ‘You’ve got to be the best player on the floor with no doubt of who that is,’” Coach Shrewsberry said. “I thought he did that in the second half.”

CERTA-FIED

Speaking of great weeks, ladies and gentlemen, Cole Certa. The sophomore sharpshooter flashed it in the season opener when he dropped 22 points on a career best 6-9 night from three-point range. He flashed it last season in the win over Stanford when he drained a corner three with 18 seconds left for the 56-54 win.

Then the Illinois native delivered in a major way in the win over Missouri, recording the game-winning three with 17 seconds left. In fact, Certa converted three triples in the final 4:35 of the game, ultimately finishing with 14 points.

Next, Certa went NBA Jam fire mode in the second half at TCU, where he drained four triples in a row. He ultimately converted five in the half and six in the game to finish with 20 points. It marked the second game this season in which Certa came off the bench and drained 5+ threes.

Most recently, Certa shot an impressive 75% from deep, knocking down 3-of-4 from behind the arc in the win over Idaho. He’s recorded 27 threes so far this season, which is amongst the top-10 in the ACC (7th).

For Notre Dame – most games off the bench w/ 5+ three pointers made since 1996-97  (Single Seasons Only):

• 2025-26 Cole Certa 2
• 2016-17 Matt Ryan 2
• 2003-04 Chris Quinn 2

PROTECT PURCELL

The Fighting Irish have done just that and have protected Purcell with a 7-0 start. The Irish are averaging almost 10 more points per game at home, where they are shooting a hot 50.4 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from three. They are also averaging 11.4 made threes per game at home.

Individually speaking, four Irish are averaging double figures inside Purcell: Markus Burton (20.2), Jalen Haralson (13.3), Braeden Shrewsberry (13.9), Cole Certa (10.6).

The Irish are looking for a 8-0 start at home for the first time since the 2022-23 season. If they closed out the non-con perfect at home, that would mark the first time since 2021-22.

REBOUNDING TRANSLATES

Coach on Towt: “He’s energy personified. There have been a ton of transfers that transferred up and there scoring output doesn’t necessarily follow. Rebounding translates at every level. It’s heart and it’s effort. That’s what he does. Carson is just max effort, man. He just plays really hard. His effort on the glass on both ends, his physicality. He’s a big brother to these dudes. He’s feeding their belief because of the energy and the confidence that he gives them.”

Last year’s NCAA rebounding leader Carson Towt has been a high-level impact transfer from Northern Arizona. To start, he tied his career-high 19 rebounds in the season opener, which also set a new record for an Irish debut. He produced two double-doubles in the first five games. He then became the first Irish player in the conference era (1995-present) to start the season with six straight games with double-digit rebounds.

Towt’s current rebounding rankings:

• 10.2 rpg ranks 18th nationally, 3rd in the ACC
• 3.33 offensive rpg – 4th in the ACC
• 6.83 defensive rpg – 18th nationally, 3rd in the ACC
• 1,200 career rebounds – leads all active players

NOTRE NOTABLES

• The Irish are 13 wins away from 2,000 all-time. They would become the eighth program to achieve this feat.
• Shrewberry is now shooting 50% from three this season (39-78), which is 2nd in the ACC and 11th in the country. He’s made 39 threes this season, which is also 2nd in the conference and 15th in the nation.
• Jalen Haralson has now recorded double-digit scoring in 10 straight games.
• Certa is a perfect 20-20 from the FT line.
• For the first time since the 2016-17 season, the Fighting Irish opened the season with three straight 20+ point victories.
• The Irish are ranked 30th nationally in mid-range field goal percentage, making about 44.4% of their attempts from those locations vs. Average Opponent .
• Notre Dame does a fantastic job to prevent opposing teams from capitalizing on chances from offensive rebounds. The squad allows Average Opponent to convert only 3.2% of all second-chance opportunities (ranked ninth in the NCAA), and with a rating of 10.08, they’re 12th in potential points allowed off of the offensive glass as well.
• Kenpom Rating: Offense 115.5 (70th) & Defense 101.2 (60th).
• Overall KenPom sits at 56.
• Current NET rating of 64.