DURHAM, N.C. – The Notre Dame men’s basketball team showed some great fight on Saturday in a hostile Cameron Indoor environment against the No. 4 team in the country. The Fighting Irish (7-9, 1-4) cut a 16-point first-half deficit to six and an 18-point second-half deficit to four, but the Duke Blue Devils (14-2, 6-0) were able to hold off the late crazy 15-1 ND scoring surge to take it 78-86.
The Blue Devils entered today’s matchup with the No. 1 defense in the country, limiting opponents to 58.4 ppg. The Irish were able to drop 78 points on their court and had their best three-point shooting day of the season, knocking down 14-of-24 aka 58.3 percent.
It was a solid showing for freshman guard Sir Mohammed. Back in his home state of North Carolina, Mohammed scored double figures for the first time in his career, netting 11 points.
Markus Burton tied his career high in made threes going 4-for-6 from deep. The sophomore guard finished with a team-high 23 points. Both Tae Davis and Braeden Shrewsberry extended their double-digit scoring streaks to 11 and 12 respectively. Davis netted 11 while Shrewsberry earned 14, as the latter went 3-for-4 from deep.
Duke was led by their star Cooper Flagg who set both a program and ACC freshman scoring record today with 42 points. Flagg went 11-14 from the field. 4-6 from three and 16-17 from the free-throw line. He also recorded seven assists and six rebounds. Duke outrebounded Notre Dame 34-21.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Duke came out hot, opening the game on an 14-0 run behind 5-of-6 shooting, which included 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. On the flip side, Notre Dame got some good looks but started 0-for-5 from the floor.
After a pair of Burton free throws, the Irish offense finally settled into a rhythm, draining three treys in a row – one each from Burton, Shrewsberry and Matt Allocco. The hot spurt made it 11-19 at 12:45.
After a Duke 6-0 run pushed their lead to 16 points at 24-40, Notre Dame dug deep and rallied to end the half as a Shrewsberry three kickstarted a 5-for-7 shooting stretch. With five seconds left, Burton earned a block and dished to Shrewsberry who hit a bucket right at the buzzer to get the Irish within single digits at 36-44.
At halftime, Notre Dame was 8-for-12 from deep and 4-of-13 from two. Duke was also launching the three for 17 of their 26 attempts were from beyond the arc. Blue Devils were 7-17 from three and 7-9 from two.
There were several momentum swings to start the second half. To start, Duke drew five Notre Dame fouls in the first 2:30 to push their lead back to double digits at 41-52. A Burton three followed by a Davis driving layup then cut it to six. Yet 70 seconds later, Duke countered with the same two scores to push it back to 11 at 46-57 with 15:05 remaining.
Cooper Flagg took over offensively for Duke for big stretches in the second half. In this instance he scored 12 consecutive points. Irish countered with a pair of Burton threes, along with Mohammed and Davis earning some points as well. Ultimately, the Irish faced a 54-66 hole with 10 minutes left.
The Irish suffered a 4.5-minute field goal drought which allowed the Blue Devils to extend their lead to 17. Sir Mohammed ended the drought with a great inside cut and score, moving him into double figures for the first time in his career.
With six minutes left, the Irish faced an 18-point hole down 61-79, but kept fighting. Case in point, Notre Dame fired off a 15-1 scoring spree behind a 6-for-8 shooting stretch. There was one point down five where Julian Roper II earned a steal and found Allocco open for a three but the team captain’s shot went just short.
Needing another turnover, the Irish couldn’t get it, nor could they get a Cooper Flagg travel to be called. Duke stymied the run by converting on the free throw line as Notre Dame fell, 78-86.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame will return home but have a very short turnaround. The Fighting Irish will host Boston College on Monday, Jan. 13, at 7 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
– ND –