FORT WORTH, Texas – The Notre Dame men’s basketball team (7-3) earned a huge Quad 1 win on Friday night, downing the TCU Horned Frogs (5-3) in an 87-85 win in overtime inside Schollmaier Arena. It was certainly a resume-building week for the Irish, having previously earned a quad two win at home over Missouri. Notre Dame improved to 5-2 in overtime games in the Coach Shrewsberry era.
It was a gritty performance, and the Irish did it through team basketball, recording 27 assists on 33 made field goals. However, there were certainly some Irish standouts, including Cole Certa and Jalen Haralson, who each dropped 20 points.
Certa finished shooting 50 percent from deep, knocking down 6-12 from three, all in the second half and overtime.
It marked the second game this season in which Certa came off the bench and drained 5+ threes. For Notre Dame – most games off the bench w/ 5+ three pointers made since 1996-97 (Single Seasons Only)
- 2025-26 Cole Certa 2 (INCLUDING TONIGHT)
- 2016-17 Matt Ryan 2
- 2003-04 Chris Quinn 2
Haralson finished the night shooting 8-12 from the floor, including the big-time jumper that tied it up to send the Irish into overtime. The freshman also grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out a career-high 9 assists for the Irish.
Braeden Shrewsberry poured in 15 points in the win, shooting 5-10 from the floor and 3-7 from three. Shrewsberry also finished with five boards and four assists.
Carson Towt was just one rebound shy of a double-double, recording 13 points on a perfect 6-6 shooting from the floor. Towt grabbed nine rebounds and finished with four assists.
Markus Burton left the game at 9:48 in the first half with a lower left leg injury. He already had six points and five assists at that point.
Burton joined some elite Irish names before he went down. He recorded just the fourth instance since 1996 in which a Notre Dame player has earned 180+ points, 30+ assists & 15+ steals through his first 10 games of a season:
- 2014-15 Jerian Grant 190 Points, 17 Steals, 61 Assists (11/14/2014 – 12/09/2014)
- 2013-14 Jerian Grant 187 Points, 21 Steals, 61 Assists (11/08/2013 – 12/11/2013)
- 2002-03 Chris Thomas 182 Points, 20 Steals, 75 Assists (11/17/2002 – 12/14/2002)
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a crazy start to the game with it tied 13-13 at the first media timeout at 15:00. Notre Dame started 6-6 from the field while TCU started 5-5 (3-3 from three). Burton was cooking again in the assist department. The junior had four assists by the 12-minute mark and the team had seven assists on eight made field goals – game tied at 18-all.
At 9:48, Burton drove to the rim and converted a tough layup but came down on his leg awkwardly and had to be helped back to the locker room. The score was 23-25.
Notre Dame struggled to find some rhythm offensively after Burton left. After a great 10-15 start from the field, they went 5-11 for the remainder of the half, with six of their eight turnovers occurring in that final nine-minute timeframe.
The Horned Frogs’ offense kept churning from three where they started 7-11 and ultimately finished the half 8-14. TCU shot 63.0 percent from the floor in the first while Notre Dame finished 57.7 percent.
An Irish buzzer-beater from Carson Towt made it 36-45 at the break. Braeden Shrewsberry led with 10 points followed by nine from Jalen Haralson.
The Irish opened up the second half with a 1-2 punch from Towt and Certa as a Towt jumper was followed by back-to-back Certa three’s to bring it within one at 44-45 at the 17:26 media timeout.
Three straight triples from the hot hand of Certa tied this game at 47-all at the 15:59 media timeout. Then, Certa hit his fourth straight out of the timeout to give the Irish a lead at 50-47 in an incredible shooting stretch.
Notre Dame’s defense was also doing its part, not giving up clean looks to TCU and limiting them to a 1-8 shooting stretch heading into the under-12 timeout. The Irish led 54-50 at this point.
Certa’s fifth three of the half came at 10:11, now 59-58 Irish. The Irish and Horned Frogs continued to swap leads, but a 4-0 TCU run would give them a 64-68 edge over the Irish.
Looking to answer, Garrett Sundra hit one from deep to bring the Irish back within one yet again with 6:44 remaining. A Haralson layup followed by a Towt free throw would cap off the 6-0 run that put Notre Dame back in front 70-68.
TCU responded with a run of their own, scoring 4 straight points to give them a 72-70 advantage with 2:01 remaining.
A Shrewsberry jumper was traded for another TCU layup that would keep the Horned Frogs in front, 74-72.
With 53 seconds remaining, Haralson would take it to the rim for a tough finish to tie it up at 74-all.
A TCU free throw made it 75-74, but after missing the second shot from the charity stripe, a Haralson rebound was followed by an Irish timeout with 25 seconds on the clock.
A costly turnover in the final possession put TCU back at the foul line with just nine seconds left. After making the first and missing the second, the ball ended up in Haralson’s hands as he brought it up the floor for the final shot.
Down two with 3 seconds remaining, Haralson hit a step-back fadeaway jumper as the freshman tied it up 76-all to take it into overtime.
Who other than Haralson to score first in overtime, giving Notre Dame the early 78-76 lead. The Horned Frogs knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to tie it up yet again, but Haralson followed with two free throws of his own.
One last TCU free throw would bring them within one at 79-80, but Certa would extend the Irish lead with another big-time three to put Notre Dame up 83-79 with 2:56 left.
A TCU 3-1 scoring stint brought them within two at 84-82 with 42 seconds remaining, but a pair of Certa free throws extended the lead to four yet again with 27 seconds on the clock.
Desperate to close the gap, the Horned Frogs drained one from behind the arc to make it a one-point game, 86-85, with 10 seconds left.
Looking to regain possession, TCU fouled Shrewsberry to send him to the line where he knocked down one last Irish free throw.
With eight seconds remaining, the Irish defense dug in for a stop to secure the 87-85 overtime road win.
UP NEXT
The Fighting Irish look to make it three wins in a row and keep the good times rolling. Notre Dame will play three times at home inside Purcell before the Christmas break and ACC play begins. Up first is the Idaho Vandals on Wednesday, Dec. 10, at 7 p.m. ET on ACCNX.
– ND –