The letdown always seems to find this Notre Dame men’s basketball team.
Even as the Irish found a way to take three 3-pointers on the final possession in an attempt to tie the game, all three shots bounced out and time expired on a 74-71 loss at Wake Forest.
Even if one of the 3-pointers from Markus Burton, Cole Certa or Tae Davis dropped, the Irish weren’t inspiring a lot of confidence heading into a potential overtime period. Notre Dame, which led by nine points with 10:19 left in regulation, made just one shot from the field in the final seven minutes of the game. A layup by forward Kebba Njie with 1:20 remaining was the first and last field goal made after a Burton layup with 7:26 left.
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Notre Dame (12-17, 6-12 ACC) relied on free throws to keep it close after Wake Forest wiped out the Irish late. But Notre Dame missed three of its final 13 free throws attempts, which proved to be the difference. Wake Forest (20-9, 12-6 ACC) finished perfect from the free throw line on 19 attempts. The Irish, who entered the game averaging 74.9% at the line, missed eight free throws on 26 attempts (69.2%).
The Irish played again without guard Matt Allocco, who’s missed seven of the last eight games with a right wrist injury. His absence combined with the recent season-ending loss of guard Braeden Shrewsberry (abdomen injury) left head coach Micah Shrewsberry looking for a different option with his starting lineup.
The elder Shrewsberry, who wasn't asked to attend an in-person press conference after the game, chose to put 6-foot-10 Nikita Konstantynovskyi in the starting lineup alongside forwards Njie (6-10) and Davis (6-9) and guards J.R. Konieczny (6-7) and Burton (6-0). The supersized starting lineup didn’t do much to help Notre Dame’s scoring. Konstantynovyski, who grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, went scoreless in 23 minutes. Konieczny added just three points in nearly 27 minutes.
Notre Dame too frequently had to rely on Burton and Davis once again. Burton scored 29 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field plus 9-of-10 shooting from the free throw line. Burton committed six of Notre Dame’s 15 turnovers in addition to dishing out four assists.
Davis struggled both from the field (4-11) and at the line (6-11) in adding 15 points and seven rebounds. His three assists slightly outweighed his two turnovers.
Davis looked great in the first half for Notre Dame. He scored nine of the team’s first 20 points as the Irish opened a 10-point lead while Wake Forest struggled to make shots. The Demon Deacons still managed to tie the game at 25 with 1:39 left in the first half despite shooting just 33.3% from the field and 11.1% from 3 in the first 20 minutes.
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Notre Dame went into halftime with a 30-25 lead after freshman guard Certa, who finished the game with eight points, hit a 3-pointer to follow a Burton layup. The Irish were hampered by 12 first half turnovers while shooting 45.8% from the field and 40% from 3.
Wake Forest rode its top two scorers this season to a comeback victory in the second half. Guard Cameron Hildreth, who entered the game averaging 15.0 points, scored 18 of his team-high 28 points in the second half. Guard Hunter Sallis, averaging 18.6 per game, scored 13 of his 17 points in the final 20 minutes.
Even though Notre Dame’s offense was almost entirely dependent on free throws down the stretch, the Irish were still engaged in a back-and-forth, one-possession game for most of the final five minutes. A critical foul by Konieczny, a senior from South Bend, Ind., made it easier on Wake Forest. Konieczny fouled Hildreth on a 3-point shot with 53 seconds remaining in the game. Hildreth drained all three free throws to extend Wake’s lead to four.
Konieczny then missed the first of his two free throw attempts with 46 seconds left to make ND’s comeback effort more difficult. Still, the Irish could have extended the game if one of their final 3-pointers found the bottom of the net.
Burton took the first 3 on Notre Dame’s final possession, and it looked the least likely to fall. An offensive rebound led to Certa receiving a pass and getting an open look from deep up top. When Certa’s shot rimmed out short, Davis fought for the loose ball and managed to spin and heave a wing 3-pointer that rimmed out while the buzzer sounded.
Notre Dame will finish its regular season with home games against Stanford (19-10, 11-7) on Wednesday (9 p.m. EST on ESPNU) and California (12-16, 5-12) next Saturday (4 p.m. EST on ACC Network. The Irish completed their road schedule with a 3-9 record.
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