The Notre Dame men's basketball team opened conference play last December with a loss.
Its regular-season conference slate ended Saturday with another loss, this one at Virginia Tech. But what happened within the Irish program between that first loss to Miami and their most recent 82-76 defeat at the hands of the Hokies in Blacksburg, Va., should not go unnoticed.
Freshman point guard Markus Burton turned into one of the most formidable scorers in the ACC.
Braeden Shrewsberry and Tae Davis, two underclassmen, took their lumps early but emerged by mid-Feburary as legitimate second and third options offensively for Notre Dame (12-19, 7-13 ACC).
The Irish still have their lapses, like lack of rim protection beyond 6-foot-10 forward Kebba Njie, as well as occasional turnovers and rebounding — Virginia Tech crashed the glass and won the rebounding margin 39-28 (15-5 offensively).
“First off, congrats to Virginia Tech," head coach Micah Shrewsberry said in a statement provided by Fighting Irish Media. "A hard fought game against a good team. They were hard to prepare [for] and tough to deal with. They are so good offensively, and we gave them extra chances. They wanted it more, and all those offensive rebounds killed us.”
Last season, Shrewsberry led a No. 10-seeded Penn State to three wins in three days in the Big Ten Tournament before losing in the league championship game to top-seeded Purdue.
Repeating that same success will be a tall task during next week's ACC Tournament at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. — where the Irish will likely open the first round against Georgia Tech in the No. 12-vs-No. 13 matchup on Tuesday at 2 p.m. EDT — but Notre Dame is a different team than most saw earlier in conference play.
The Irish swept their season series against Georgia Tech, winning by a combined 10 points, including an overtime win in Atlanta on Jan. 9. If ND's effort until the final whistle at Virginia Tech indicates anything, it's that Shrewsberry's young nucleus is prepared to compete for all 40 minutes — against any level of opponent — for however long their ACC Tournament run is destined to be.
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Burton cements name in record books
Burton led Notre Dame's offense and became the program record-holder for most single-season points by a freshman, adding 24 points to his total on Saturday for 535. With 17:47 left in the second half, Burton drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key to etch his name in program history.
The record was previously held by Troy Murphy, who scored 519 points in the 1998-99 season under former head coach John MacLeod. Burton took more than 100 field-goal attempts more than Murphy (340) to hit the milestone but also hit significantly more 3-pointers (38) than Murphy (four made 3-pointers as a freshman).
Burton, a former Mishawaka (Ind.) Penn standout and 2023 Indiana Mr. Basketball was one of the lesser-recruited players to win the award in years, with his only Power 5 offer coming from Notre Dame and then-head coach Mike Brey the summer before his senior year.
The 5-11, 166-pound Burton has started every game he's played in and scored over 20 points nine times, including a career-high 31-point outing in a 70-65 win over Wake Forest last month. He's also grown in other facets of his game as the season has progressed, with career highs in assists (eight), rebounds (six) and steals (six) occurring in the final month of the season.
Notre Dame got additional scoring punches from Davis (13), Julian Roper II (11) and Shrewsberry (10). Eleven of Davis' points came in the second half, with strong surges after halftime becoming a regular occurrence for the Indianapolis Warren Central product. He has scored in double digits in six of Notre Dame’s past seven games. Roper shot a perfect 2-of-2 from the 3-point line, off the bench.
Freshman Carey Booth scored eight points in the first half, including two 3-pointers, and seemed on pace for one of his best statistical games of the season. However, the 6-10, 203-pound forward only took three shots in the second half, all misses.
Njie finished with four points, while freshman guard Logan Imes and senior forward Matt Zona contributed three points each.
Notre Dame's offense scored well above its 63.4 season average, but it was the Irish defense that the Hokies took advantage of. Guard Sean Pedulla poured in 28 points, including four points in 15 seconds, that extended Virginia Tech's lead from two to six in the final minute.
Pedulla, a 34% 3-point shooter, was ice cold from beyond the arc on 0-of-5 shooting, but he made the Irish pay with a combination of hook shots, floaters and driving layups. Guard MJ Collins and forward Tyler Nickel scored 15 points each,
With Booth in foul trouble and Njie's minutes cut to just 18, Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young sent his Hokies to the offensive boards. And Pedulla, Collins and forward Robbie Beran combined to grab four offensive rebounds in the game's final seven minutes.
The Hokies' 17 second-chance points helped them keep the lead for the entire second half, even though Notre Dame trimmed their deficit to two points at several different moments of the last six minutes.
In contrast, Notre Dame's four offensive rebounds in the last six minutes only resulted in five second-chance points, including a three-point play from Davis and a made layup from Burton.
In its last two ACC tournaments, Notre Dame has been one-and-done, including an opening-round loss against Virginia Tech last March, which was Brey's final game as head coach. The Irish have not won an ACC Championship since 2015.
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