CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-11, 4-6) fell 63-57 on Saturday night to Miami (5-17, 1-10) in a tough one on the road.
Despite Notre Dame leading at halftime, the Hurricanes were able to string together runs in the second half to outscore the Irish 38-21 in the final 20 minutes of play.
Notre Dame finished the night shooting 23-54 (42.6%) from the floor with Miami going 23-50 (46%). While the Irish knocked down nine threes, they were just 2-9 from the free throw line in comparison to Miami’s 13-17 from the charity stripe.
The Irish were led by Markus Burton with 17 points, two assists, and two rebounds, while going 7-17 from the floor.
He was followed by Braeden Shrewsberry, who finished with 14 points, knocking down four three’s on eight attempts. Tae Davis finished in double-figures as well, putting up 11 points and grabbing three boards.
The rebounding efforts were led by Matt Allocco and Kebba Njie, finishing with eight and seven, respectively.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a slow start for the Irish as they trailed 4-0 early until an Allocco jumper in the paint put the Irish on the board at 16:52.
The Irish would take the first lead of the game at 14:22 as a hustle play led to an offensive rebound for Julian Roper, where he found Shrewsberry open on the wing for a knockdown three to put Notre Dame up 7-6.
Roper’s hustle plays continued to keep the Irish in front as another Roper offensive board led to a Njie triple from the corner. It was followed by back-to-back finishes at the rim from Davis, whose dunk made it 19-11 with 9:17 remaining in the half.
Several Irish players had the hot hand as Shrewberry was heating up too with back-to-back threes to extend the lead 25-13 to force a Miami timeout.
The Hurricanes worked to chip away at the deficit, cutting it to five at 30-25 with 1:49 left in the half until a Mohammad corner three, a Burton free throw, and a Shrewsberry layup would close out the half to make it an 11 point ballgame at 36-25 going into the second half.
The Irish shot 46.2% from behind the arc in the first half as they were 6-13 from deep. Notre Dame was 14-30 (46.7%) from the floor, while the Hurricanes were 11-23 (47.8%) from the floor and 2-9 (22.2%) from three.
Shrewsberry led the offensive charge in the first 20 minutes of play with 11 points, going 3-6 from deep.
The Irish opened up the second half with a pair of Burton layups followed by a three and a layup from Davis to make it 45-33 heading into the first media timeout.
A 6-0 run from the Hurricanes closed the gap to six at 45-39 to force a Notre Dame timeout. Miami’s offensive surge continued as they went on another 7-0 run and closed the gap to two at 48-46 with 10:45 remaining.
The Irish were in dire need of an offensive spark and while a Burton triple stopped the run, the Hurricanes had an answer for each Notre Dame bucket.
It was a two-point ballgame at 53-51 heading into the 7:52 media timeout, but it would become an even 53-all after a pair of Miami free throws.
The Hurricanes reclaimed the lead 55-53 for the first time since the 14:22 mark in the first half.
After another 9-0 run from Miami, the Irish answered with a tough finish at the rim from Burton to bring Notre Dame back within two at 57-55 with 5:09 remaining.
A Davis dunk tied it up yet again at 57-57 with 3:40 left, which would be Notre Dame’s final basket of the evening as the Hurricanes closed it out to win 63-57.
UP NEXT
The Irish will stay in Florida as they head to Tallahassee to take on Florida State (13-9, 4-7) on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. ET.