SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Before last week’s season opener against Stonehill, head coach Micah Shrewsberry tried to get his second Notre Dame team’s attention with a story about his second Penn State team, the one that qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
That team, he told them, didn’t do anything particularly special in the regular season, but it did do what was expected.
There were no huge upset wins, but there also were no toe stubs against decided underdogs.
When it was favored, it won, and the team played to its ultimate potential – something similar to what played out in Monday night’s 86-77 victory over Buffalo (2-1) in a half-filled Purcell Pavilion.
It was the kind of game, Shrewsberry acknowledged, his first Irish team might have lost, but it's now 2-0.
“This is a win where you have to be a group that shows a lot of resolve,” he said, using the word “toughness’’ a little later in his post-game conversation with the media.
“We didn’t play our best defensively. We’ve got some stuff to clean up. But we went 5-for-20 on threes and still found a way to score 86 points.”
SUBSCRIBE TO INSIDE ND SPORTS TO STAY IN THE KNOW ON NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS
Related Content
► Grad transfer Matt Allocco shows fit in Notre Dame MBB's opening win
► Notre Dame MBB are dialed in from long distance in exhibition victory
► MBB: Honors/Awards Tracker for 2024-25 season
► Rivals Roundtable: Big visits, puzzling recruitments, surprising starts
► Notre Dame's recruiting spree shows faith in what Shrewsberry's building
Almost one-third of those came from 6-9, 215-pound junior Tae Davis, the former Seton Hall player who averaged nine points a game for ND last season.
A year later he’s a stronger, more confident player, taking what the defense is offering. Against Buffalo, which applied extra pressure to ND guards Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry, Davis mostly powered his way to the basket for a career-high 27 points that included 7-for-13 shooting from the field, 1-3 on threes, and 12-of-13 from the free throw line.
“His physicality was a big thing for them,” said second-year Buffalo coach George Halcovage III, who is trying to rebuild a team following last season’s 4-27 mark. “He made the right plays and he made his foul shots.”
Davis, who had nine points in the season-opening win over Stonehill, also had six rebounds, a couple of steals and zero turnovers in just 26 minutes.
“My mindset was really just keying in on the game,” he said, “playing basketball the right way, and just kind of basically playing through my teammates.”
Davis also spent a good part of the night chasing Buffalo’s talented guard Tyson Dunn, a 6-3 senior from New Market, Ontario and transfer from Western Ontario, who came in averaging 19 points and 12 assists.
He was held to nine points on 4-for-17 shooting, including 0-8 on threes, but he did manage nine assists and seven rebounds in his active 39 minutes.
As well and smooth as Notre Dame’s offense operated at times, getting 46 points in the paint to Buffalo’s 34, there were gaps, mostly because of the missed threes.
And Buffalo has enough weapons to take advantage.
Each time Notre Dame threatened to run away, Halcovage’s club responded.
The Bulls averaged 10 threes in wins over Old Dominion and Fredonia and finished with 11 against the Irish.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON THE INSIDER LOUNGE MESSAGE BOARD
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO INSIDE ND SPORTS ON YOUTUBE
Notre Dame trailed by a bucket at the half, 40-38, but took off at the start of the second half, fueled mostly by Burton and Shrewsberry.
Seven minutes into the second half, the Irish led 62-42. Shrewsberry had 11 of his 19 points in the spurt and Burton had five.
Burton struggled with his shot most of the night and finished 8-for-21 from the field, including 1-for-7 on threes, “but he impacts the game in so many ways,” Halcovage said.
To his point, Burton flirted with a triple double with 19 points, a career-high nine rebounds and career-high-tying eight assists in 35 minutes, with just two turnovers.
“I was just playing my game,” said Burton, who wasn’t aware of how close he was to becoming the second Irish player to achieve a triple double. “It wasn’t my best night, but I thought I had to get my teammates involved and I think I did a great job of that.”
Three of those assists came on Kebba Njie dunks, as he came open with the defense shifting to Burton. Njie finished with four dunks and 12 points.
The Irish win looked secure with 13 minutes to go, but defensive breakdowns on the Bulls’ Ben Michaels shifted the story. He connected on three consecutive threes — he finished with 14 points — to get Buffalo to within 11 at 64-53 with 11:38 to go.
From there, it was a contest with the Bulls getting to within seven three times. Burton and Davis did the heavy lifting over the final six and a half minutes, Davis dropping in six free throws over the final three minutes as the Irish went 21-of-27 from the line to Buffalo’s 6-for-11.
“We’ve got a belief in each other built from the summer time together,” Micah Shrewsberry said. “A team close off the court translates to what’s going on on the court.”
Notre Dame’s biggest lead in the first half was eight and Buffalo’s was seven.
The Irish, who shot 51% for the game, trailed 37-30 with 2:23 to go in the first half before senior J.R. Konieczny came off the bench to drop in a three and complete a three-point play to give the Irish a brief 38-37 lead before Ryan Sabol (team-high 18 points) fired in a three with a couple of seconds left in the first half for a 40-38 edge at the break.
Konieczny had a productive night in his 18 minutes with eight points, on 3-for-3 shooting, six rebounds and a block.
“J.R.’s got some spurt-ability,” Shrewsberry said. “I’ve got to find a way to get him out there more.”
Notre Dame next plays at Georgetown (2-0) on Saturday at 1 p.m. EST on NBC.
---------------------------------------------------------------
• Talk with Notre Dame fans on The Insider Lounge.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean or Pocket Casts.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports channel on YouTube.
• Follow us on Twitter: @insideNDsports, @EHansenND and @TJamesND.
• Like us on Facebook: Inside ND Sports
• Follow us on Instagram: @insideNDsports
