SOUTH BEND, Ind. – So, this is what “growing pains” looks like to a developing program in culture-building mode.
It includes some second-guessing, and, apparently, severe slams to the midsection.
Notre Dame was just 14.5 seconds away from a big celebration Saturday afternoon when it all dissolved in a 74-73 loss to Atlantic Coast Conference opponent North Carolina in front of a Purcell Pavilion sellout that was only about half pro Irish.
ND, 7-7 (1-2 ACC), needed just one more stop after grad student Matt Allocco dropped in a couple of free throws to give the Irish a 73-70 lead.
Seconds later, Allocco was called for a foul on 6-1 sophomore Elliot Cadeau as he drilled a wing 3-point shot, then converted the free throw for a one-point lead with 4.8 seconds to play.
Sophomore guard Markus Burton, who had made a triumphant return with 23 points after suffering a leg injury against Rutgers on Nov. 26, drove the length of the court and his shot in traffic rolled off the rim at the buzzer.
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Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry shouldered the blame after the Tar Heels pushed its series lead over the Irish to 31-9.
As the final seconds ticked off, Notre Dame had a foul to give before putting the Tar Heels (9-6, 2-1) in the bonus, but a foul to break up UNC’s offensive rhythm never came.
“I told them I let them down at the end, and I apologized to them,” Shrewsberry said. “And I apologize to all the Notre Dame fans that came and stuck with us. I’ll get better from this. I’ll grow from this.
“You should foul in that situation — you foul every single time (when you’re) up three with 14, almost 15 seconds left. We were going to wait a little bit, but then they got away from us. They (ND) lost the ball, they (UNC) swung it back and by that time you can’t go and foul. We should have done it earlier.”
It still wouldn’t have guaranteed a win, a shame considering the strong comeback the Irish staged to put themselves in position to win.
A game that featured nine ties and 17 lead changes got very interesting four minutes into the second half.
In the middle of it all was Burton, whose playmaking and 18 point-a-game scoring average was sorely missed in five losses without him.
With ND trailing by 11, he completed a three-point play at the 15:46 mark of the second half, then scored seven of ND’s next nine points. His two free throws at 13:09 gave the Irish a 48-47 lead and neither team had more than a four-point lead the rest of the way.
“He’s just a warrior,” Shrewsberry said of the 6-foot, 190-pound Burton. “He’s worked his ass off to be able to get back and play and to give us 23 minutes.
“You know, some people would be scared to come back against a team like North Carolina and think, ‘Hey man, let’s hold off till we play somebody not as good.’
“He wanted to be out here. He wanted to help his team and that’s what he did. … He put us in position to win.”
Burton scored 17 points in the second half, finishing 7-for-14 from the field and 9-for-10 from the free throw line with a couple of steals.
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Notre Dame’s largest lead of the day, 63-59, came with 6:27 remaining on a Tae Davis drive. He had 17 points for the game, 11 in the second half, and Braeden Shrewsberry had 16 points along with a team-high six rebounds. Carolina tied the score at 64 with a little less than five minutes to go on a Drake Powell 3-pointer, his first after six misses.
Carolina was tough in the lane with 32 points to Notre Dame’s 24, along with eight blocks to zero for the Irish, plus five dunks. They shot 53% from the field, but only 28.6% (6-for-21) from the 3-point line.
But the biggest reason Hubert Davis’ club returned to Chapel Hill with a win was freshman guard Ian Jackson, who had 27 points. He was making his third start with second-leading scorer and steady defender Seth Trimble (14.8 points) missing his third game with an upper body injury.
Jackson, a five-star recruit and the country’s No. 6 recruit per Rivals, is acclimating quickly. He came in averaging 13.9 points but was averaging 24.3 and shooting 55% over the Heels’ last three games.
He finished 11-for-18 from the field, including 2-for-7 on threes.
“He’s 6-6, athletic and can get to his spot any time he wants,” Davis said. “It’s just easy for him.”
The Irish shot 44% from the field — they came in averaging 47.1% — and were 7-for-23 (30.4%) on threes.
As was the case in the Wednesday loss at Georgia Tech, it was another slow start for the Irish who shot 41% in the first half when it also committed eight of its 13 turnovers, three over their average.
They fell behind by 12, their largest deficit, at the 8:42 mark of the first half.
“Yeah, we didn’t execute well,” Shrewsberry said. “We just had too many guys who weren’t on the same page …
“When you don’t have five guys on the same page, you’re gonna struggle offensively. And when you work all week on the package you’re gonna run and then you come out and you don’t execute it, you think maybe the moment’s too big, or whatever it may be, but you just keep plugging, you keep fighting.”
Freshman Garrett Sundra was on the floor for 18 minutes Saturday, twice his average coming in.
The 6-11 forward didn’t take a shot, but his four rebounds contributed to ND’s 32-30 edge on the boards, and Shrewsberry liked his intensity.
“He went out there and battled his ass off and he executed everything we were talking about,” Shrewsberry said. “He can go and guard, he can move his feet, he can fight you and go rebound. And he’s gonna grow from this. And now, his confidence is gonna skyrocket. So now we’ve got more and more guys we can lean on and count on.”
Notre Dame plays NC State (8-6, 1-2) in Raleigh at 7 p.m. EST on Wednesday (ESPN2/U).
“We’re getting back healthy, and now we’ll keep growing,” Shrewsberry said, “we’ll keep getting better. We’ll learn from this. As much as it hurts, we’ll learn from this.”
“We’ve got a bunch of fighters,” he added. “When we compete and play like we can, we can play with anybody.”
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