SOUTH BEND, Ind. – With talented sophomores Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry a full season stronger and wiser, Notre Dame men's basketball already figured to have one of the better scoring backcourts in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Adding seasoned guard Matt Allocco to that pairing makes for some intriguing potential.
On a night when Burton and Shrewsberry each scored 18 points to share the team lead, Allocco didn’t miss a shot as the Irish took care of Stonehill College, 89-60, in the season opener in front of a crowd of 5,000 Wednesday night.
Growing up as a Notre Dame fan in Hilliard Ohio, the grad senior transfer from Princeton said it was special for him to be in the starting lineup at Purcell Pavilion, but he’s had plenty of starts — 62 in all in his career at Princeton.
That’s where he carved out a reputation as one of the country’s most efficient scorers.
Wednesday, he went 3-for-3 from the field, including 2-for-2 on threes, and the same from the free throw line for 10 points. He added three rebounds, a couple of assists and a steal without a turnover in 25 minutes.
“You know, he's just a communicator, right?,” said head coach Micah Shrewsberry. “He's just got a nose and a knack for making a play when you need it … He’s just a tough, solid, efficient leader. And for a fifth year guard, that's what you want, right?”
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Allocco’s patience and steady hand should only enhance the scoring potential of Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry.
The fit looked good Wednesday.
“It's fun,” the 6-4, 190-pound Allocco said, “You can play with the ball because those guys can space the court so well, and then without it, because they attract a lot of attention, and they'll draw a lot of help, and they’re just unselfish guys, great teammates. So you can't ask for anything better than having great people to play with.’’
Stonehill, 1-1, of Easton, Mass., plays in the Northeast Conference. The school has an enrollment of approximately 2,600 and the schools were meeting for the third time (the Irish won in 1977, 1982).
It wasn’t a particularly fast start for the Irish as Micah Shrewsberry tinkered with different combinations every few minutes.
The bulk of Shrewsberry’s first roster, which finished 13-20 and 7-13 in the ACC, remained intact. Two contributors lost were Carey Booth (6.4 points) to Illinois and Matt Zona (2.3 points) to Fordham.
By the 12-minute mark, 11 players had entered the contest and by the time it was over, 13 appeared in the box score.
A little more than midway through the first half, a 10-0 run started by an Allocco reverse layup and finished by a Braeden Shrewsberry three put the Irish in control.
Sounding a lot like a coach, Allocco said, “I think the first game is always, regardless of who you play against or anything like that, it's always choppy. You know, everyone's excited to play, maybe a little too excited, you know, a little jumpy.
“But once we got in the flow of things, I think we started to settle down on both ends. And, you know, at times, executed pretty well. And when we did, we got great shots.’’
The Irish shot 51% for the game and 47.8% from the 3-point line. That latter is a key stat for a team that shot 31.8% a year ago.
“We had to take some tough shots (threes) last year,” Shrewsberry said of his club’s youth. “I’m confident with our guys shooting it. If we get open looks, we’re going to take them.”
Breaden Shrewsberry struggled with his shot early last season but came on strong late, and Wednesday he was 4-for-5 on threes and 6-for-9 overall. Burton’s 18 came on 6-for-17 shooting, including 2-for-6 on threes.
Micah Shrewsberry looked at all kinds of player combinations and he did get 25 points from his bench, but it impacted the flow of the game at times. He clearly wanted to give his trio of guards the most work with Burton (32), Shrewsberry (28) and Allocco (24) commanding the most minutes.
“I wanted to see some stuff,” Micah Shrewsberry said of mixing it up, then kind of excused his players for some clunky stretches. “When you’re not playing consistently, it’s hard to have consistent production… But you (also) want to get your guys some reps. It’s a delicate balance.”
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The Irish had 14 turnovers to Stonehill’s 10, but took advantage in the lane for a 50-23 rebounding edge, including 17 on the offensive side.
Center Kebba Njie, a junior who averaged 5.4 rebounds and 4.3 points last season, had 10 and nine, respectively.
Among the freshmen, 6-foot-6 Sir Mohammed got the most minutes with 17. He wound up with five points on 2-for-7 shooting, six rebounds and three assists.
“Sir was a little jittery,” Shrewsberry said. “He knows what’s going on. He can process things pretty quickly. He can build on this.”
And so can the Irish, per Shrewsberry. He knew it wasn’t always pretty, but there also was a lot of good effort.
“The worst thing I think about coaching is you're always the eternal pessimist, right? So I walk off and I'm sitting there in the locker room by myself and I'm like, ‘Man, we gotta be better.’’’
It was hard to find too much fault with his defense with Stonehill shooting 30% for the game, but he thought his club’s 16 fouls was an issue. Offensively, it could have looked smoother, crisper, but it was hard to expect given his tinkering.
“You don't want to be perfect on night one,” he said. “You definitely don’t want to peak on November 6, I can tell you that right now. So we have a lot to work on. We have a lot of film that we can watch and we can get better from this. And we will.”
Notre Dame hosts Buffalo on Monday (ACCNX) at 7 p.m. EST.
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