SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Call it a home boost, call it a green boost, but the Notre Dame men’s basketball squad boosted themselves back into the win column after defeating Syracuse on Saturday afternoon, 69-64. The Fighting Irish (5-5, 1-0) won its first ACC opener since the 2017-18 season and they did it by banding together down the stretch. Neither team had a lead greater than three in the second half until 2:11 remaining in the game.
The player that broke that one-possession margin, Braeden Shrewsberry, who came up clutch on Saturday tying his career high of 25 points behind six made three-pointers. He shot 8-of-15 overall and 6-for-11 from deep.
J.R. Konieczny was a spark off the bench with a season-high 15 points – 13 of which came in the first half. Despite getting into foul trouble, Tae Davis was a crucial piece of the Notre Dame offense with 15 points, going 6-8 from the floor while also chipping in two assists and two steals. Kebba Njie was just shy of a double-double as he finished with nine points and nine rebounds for the Irish.
The Orange (4-4, 0-1) were held to without a three for the first time since Holy Cross on Nov. 28, 2014. Syracuse shot 44.9 percent overall from the field.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Tae Davis had seven points in just over four minutes of play, combine that with a four-point play from Braeden Shrewsberry and the Irish were off to an 11-6 start. However, Tae would later sit a chunk of the first half with two fouls.
Enter J.R. Konieczny, who provided a spark, recording a stretch in which he scored 11 of the team’s 12 points. Konieczny was the first Irish player in double figures as he kept Notre Dame ahead at 23-17.
Shrewsberry soon after connected on his second trey of the half which forced a Syracuse timeout with the Irish up nine.
Konieczny added a slam dunk with 1:30 remaining for good measure which was ND’s last made bucket of the half. The home squad ultimately took a 30-26 lead into halftime.
Konieczny led all scorers with 13, followed by Davis with nine. The Irish shot 30.8 percent from deep, draining four threes in the half, while holding Syracuse 0-4 from behind the arc. Syracuse shot 39.1 percent and scored 16 of their 26 points in the paint.
Syracuse came out and claimed their first lead of the game at 16:28, yet Shrewsberry quickly recaptured it with his third triple at 16:18 – it marked Notre Dame’s first made field goal of the second half. Out of the media timeout he drained his fourth and it was 39-34 Irish at 15:25.
The Orange quickly closed the gap once more and then both sides traded blows. Notre Dame recorded a stretch in which they made 5-of-7 and Syracuse simultaneously made 6-of-8. It all resulted in a 45-45 tie coming out of the 11:50 media. However, right before the timeout, Davis earned his fourth foul.
Back-and-forth it went as their were eight lead changes and eight ties in the second half up to four minutes remaining in the game. With the score tied at 60-all, Shrewsberry drained a critical three yet again, his fifth.
A Njie free throw was followed by an Orange jumper to bring Syracuse within two at 64-62. Right on cue, Shrewsberry knocked down his sixth three-pointer of the night to put the Irish up 67-62.
Syracuse would hit one last jump shot before the Irish closed it out with free throws from Njie and Roper to secure the ACC opening win 69-64.
UP NEXT
The Fighting Irish have two more home games before the holiday break, two games that sandwich finals week. The first is Dartmouth on Wednesday, December 11, at 7 p.m. ET. Then Notre Dame hosts Le Moyne on Sunday, December 22, at 6 p.m. Tickets are still available for both games.
– ND –