SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s basketball team improved to 2-0 on the 2024-25 season after dispatching Buffalo, 86-77, inside Purcell Pavilion on Monday night. The Fighting Irish were powered by a second-half surge after they trailed by two at the half. The Irish made eight of its first nine shots from the field and recorded a 24-2 scoring spree to build a lead as large as 20 with 13:20 remaining.
The trio of Tae Davis, Braeden Shrewsberry and Markus Burton combined for 43 of the team’s 48 points. Davis had a career night with 27 points on 7-of-13 shooting. He also recorded a career high 12-of-13 from the free-throw line.
Burton flirted with what would have been just the program’s second ever triple-double. The sophomore guard supplied 19 points, a career high nine rebounds and a career-high tying eight assists.
Shrewsberry scored all 13 of his second-half points in the opening 7.5 minutes. Shrewsberry finished with 19 points.
Also sixth man of the game had to go to J.R. Konieczny, who made the most of his minutes by tallying eight points and six boards on 3-for-3 shooting.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Trailing 8-5, the Irish defense kickstarted the offense, starting with a Tae Davis steal turned fast-break bucket. That was followed by a Kebba Njie dunk and back-to-back buckets from Burton to give the Irish a 14-8 advantage, forcing the Buffalo timeout after the 9-0 run.
Later, Braeden Shrewsberry connected on back-to-back baskets and ultimately made it a 13-4 run in just over a four-minute span as the Irish claimed an 18-12 lead heading into the 11:20 media timeout.
Soon after, the Bulls countered the Irish momentum with a 9-0 run over 93 seconds, making 4-of-4 from the field to take a 20-21 lead which prompted a Coach Shrewsberry timeout.
Buffalo’s hot hand resulted in a 9-for-11 shooting stretch in which four were from beyond the arc. However, the Irish weathered the storm and traded baskets, staying within two possessions at the 3:17 media timeout.
An 8-0 Notre Dame run, which included six points from Konieczny, put the Irish in front as an and-one from Konieczny capped off the run to put Notre Dame up 38-37 with 32 seconds left in the half. Buffalo would knock down their seventh three-pointer to close out the first half as the Irish trailed 40-38 at halftime.
Notre Dame shot 13-of-19 (.684) from two in the first half but only 2-of-12 from three-point range. Burton, Davis and Konieczny each led the Irish with eight points.
The Irish opened up the second period with a 17-2 run, shooting a perfect 5-5 from the field and 5-6. Shrewsberry had eight of the 17 points, knocking down another three-pointer to force the Bulls timeout.
The Irish outscored the Bulls 24-2 before Buffalo knocked down just their second shot of the half at the 13:11 mark. Notre Dame was 8-9 from the field with Shrewsberry scoring 11 of the 24 second-half points.
The Bulls would go on a run of their own to bring it within seven at 67-60 with 7:22 remaining. The Irish, however, would extend their lead yet again as they led by 12 at the final media timeout with a score of 76-64.
Davis had the hot hand to close out the 86-77 win as he scored 13 of Notre Dame’s final 15 points. In his career-high night, the junior forward put up 19 points in the second half, shooting 5-7 from the floor and a perfect 9-9 from the charity stripe.
The Irish finished with 46 points in the paint, second most in the Shrewsberry era.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame has a revenge game in mind for this coming Saturday. Last season, the Irish lost an overtime game to Georgetown, 68-72, inside Purcell Pavilion. This go around, Notre Dame heads to Capital One Arena in Washington D.C., the very place they played in March for the 2024 ACC Tournament. The Irish at Hoyas will tip off at 1 p.m. ET on Nov. 16 and will be the lead into the Notre Dame football game on NBC.
– ND –