Wear Green Saturday For ACC Opener Against Syracuse

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Early December means that one early ACC game where you can test the waters. For Notre Dame men’s basketball this year that means hosting Syracuse on Saturday, Dec. 7. The Fighting Irish (4-5) look to regain control of the ship and end their five-game skid by finally returning home and getting a green boost as well. Saturday marks one of the program’s four Wear Green games. The Irish will tip off against the Orange (4-3) at Noon ET on the CW.

IRISH VS. ‘CUSE

No matter what, these teams play close games. Over the last nine contests, spanning from 2018 on, not one side has won by 10 points or more. The margin of victory in those nine games – 4.7.

The CW, a channel known for drama, might get some on Saturday. In their last meeting, the Irish came a three-point shot shy of recording the largest comeback in program history. Trailing by as much as 29 points, Notre Dame had two shots to tie in the final minute but fell short.

Notre Dame trails in the overall series 23-34 with an 11-15 mark at home. The Orange have won three straight in the series.

STATE OF THE IRISH

Markus Burton was averaging just over 21 ppg heading into Vegas. Then the All-ACC selection and reigning ACC Rookie of the Year went down and the Irish have to come together and find a way to steer the ship without him. Burton will be out of competition on a week-to-week basis. Not to mention Sir Mohammed, Notre Dame’s primary guard off the bench, was already recovering from his respective knee injury, thus depleting their depth.

And despite losing the face of the program, all three games in Vegas were right there for the taking.

1. Matt Allocco put the team on his back against Rutgers and had a ‘March worthy’ performance. He forced overtime with a last-second three in regulation. Then in OT, he converted three triples in under 30 seconds to force a tie with under 15 seconds left. He ended up with a 24-point, 10-rebound double-double with 5 assists. He was 6-for-9 from three.

2. Versus #6/7 Houston, the Irish recorded a 7-0 run in the second half to pull within one at 44-45. Unfortunately, ND only scored 10 points in the final 13 minutes as Houston pulled away to win 65-54. Tae Davis led the Irish in scoring with 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting. It marked his second 20+ point performance of the season. He also tallied a team-high eight rebounds and a team-high four assists.

3. #21/19 Creighton was very similar. The Irish ultimately erased a 17-point deficit to take a lead 53-52 lead with 10:19 remaining. Yet, Creighton countered with four triples over the next four minutes and that ended up being the difference maker. Tae Davis and Braeden Shrewsberry led the Irish with 17 points each.

4. At Georgia, the Irish recorded season lows in shooting percentage and points. They cut what was a 17-point deficit to as low as four points (39-43) in the second half before the Bulldogs ran away with the 48-69 win.

MAKING UP POINTS

Before Vegas, Burton was the only player in the country averaging 20+ points, 5+ assists, and 5+ rebounds. So making up 20+ points per game is no easy task. Davis, Shrewsberry and Allocco are all averaging double digit points in the four-game span of Burton’s absence.

Davis leads the way at 17.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg and 2.8 apg. He’s shooting 45.3 percent from the field during that span. He’s also gotten to the line 27 times, knocking down 18. Tae has recorded four straight games with double-digit points. He ended last season on a career best streak of seven.

Next, there’s Braeden Shrewsberry. The sophomore is riding a career best streak of five straight games with double-digit points. Over the last four games though he’s averaging 15.8 ppg on 34.7 percent shooting.

Then there’s Matt Allocco, who is averaging 12.3 ppg since Burton went down. Allocco is shooting 39.0 percent from the field and 47.4 percent from deep in that span.

However, Coach Shrewsberry is looking for others to step up to supplement this trio in scoring. Keep an eye on freshman forward Garrett Sundra.

Sundra played his first significant minutes against #21/19 Creighton and delivered, recording his first double-digit scoring effort with 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting (3-for-4 from three). He followed that with 5 points on 2-for-3 shooting at Georgia.

A CHANGE IN OFFENSIVE DYNAMIC

When Burton was in the lineup the offense was vastly improved from a year ago. Case in point, Notre Dame posted six straight games to start the year with 75+ points, which hasn’t happened since the start of the 2009-10 season.

With Burton:
The Irish were shooting 51.9 percent from the field which ranked 14th nationally and led the ACC at the time. They were also a hot 61.0 percent from two, which ranked 17th in the country. CBB Analytics had Notre Dame’s offensive rating at 122.3 (34th nationally) while KenPom’s offensive efficiency ranking put the Irish at No. 51.

Irish Numbers Heading Into Game 10:
Notre Dame is now shooting 47.1 percent from the field, which ranks 7th in the ACC. The Irish are converting 54.2 percent from two. CBB Analytics have them with a 113.4 offensive rating with KenPom placing them at No. 60.

TAE-KING OVER

The Irish will lean heavily on Tae Davis moving forward. He has the innate ability to attack the rim like no other on the team. He’s currently averaging a career best 14.4 ppg on 48.3% shooting.

The Indy native is shooting 51.3% from two. Diving deeper, he’s 27-of-42 (.643) from around the rim (within 4.5 feet) and 5-of-6 from the mid-range.

Tae is averaging 6.5 fouls/drawn per 40 minutes. His 40 made free throws rank 5th in the ACC, while his 53 attempts rank 4th. His free-throw numbers have gone up every year in college. He’s at 75.5 percent this season.

BRAEDEN’S OFFENSIVE GAME

We know what Breaden is capable from three. Last season, he drained 55 three-pointers in conference play which set a new program record for ACC threes. He ultimately hit 78 treys which were second most by a DI freshman.

This season, he’s averaging a team best 2.6 made threes per game which ranks fifth in the ACC. Shrewsberry is hot from corner threes this year, knocking down 47.6 percent (10-for-21), which is 12.8 percent above the D1 average. Overall, he’s 31.9 percent from beyond the arc.

But Braeden has added to his offensive arsenal in year two. He’s shooting 53.7 percent from two-point range and 52.2 percent from the paint. He’s developed a dangerous floater that keeps defenders guessing.

His 15.2 ppg ranks second behind Burton.

— ND —