Notre Dame will return home from the Legends Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y. a tired team.
A changed team, too.
And maybe a more confident team.
A night after having body and psyche bruised by a relentless Auburn club in a 24-point loss, Micah Shrewsberry’s team (2-2) showed some late grit for the first time this season to edge Oklahoma State (1-3) in overtime, 66-64, at the Barclays Center Friday afternoon.
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“I just asked our guys and challenged our guys before the game and just said this game is about our resolve, like who are we going to be? How are we going to respond on day two?” said head coach Micah Shrewsberry, who thanked his entire support staff for getting his team ready to play less than 24 hours after the loss. “This was a total team effort and total team win. And all those people (support staff) gave our guys a chance to lay it on the line tonight, which is what they did for 45 minutes.”
Oklahoma State isn’t expected to do much in the Big 12 this season, and it didn’t help Friday that leading scorer Bryce Thompson (14.3 points a game) was on the bench with a leg injury suffered in Thursday’s two-point loss to St. Bonaventure.
Tired legs, no doubt, contributed to a mutually clunky performance, particularly in the second half when the Irish cashed in a 12-point lead. But player of the game Markus Burton gave the Irish just enough of a second wind to hold on.
He has been better through the first few games, but never as clutch.
With the Irish trailing by four, 62-58, with 2:34 left in overtime, the 5-11 freshman, who came in averaging 19.3 points a game, slashed through the lane for a driving layup, drew a foul, then hit a free throw to complete a three-point play.
On the next possession, following a missed jumper in the lane by the Cowboys’ John Michael Wright, he drove again and was fouled by 6-foot-11 Brandon Garrison.
He made both free throws with 1:35 to play, returning the lead to the Irish at 63-62.
Then, with a burst of defensive energy, he got into the face of the Cowboys’ Javon Small, a 6-3, 195-pound junior who had wrecked ND’s bid to win in regulation, and forced a turnover on the perimeter with 1:09 to go.
After a failed Irish possession, Small let loose with a 3-point attempt with 11 seconds left. The ball hit the back of the rim and bounded into the lane where all hands went up. ND’s J.R. Konieczny came down with half the ball, Oklahoma State’s Quion Williams the other half. A tie-up was called and the possession arrow pointed Notre Dame’s way.
Konieczny got the ball on the inbounds and was fouled.
So, the junior who entered the two-day tournament averaging just 10 minutes a game and had played sparingly in his career, went to the line — and delivered. The South Bend (Ind.) Saint Joseph product’s two free throws came with 5.7 seconds left for a 65-62 lead.
Shrewsberry chose to foul, rather than risk a made 3-pointer, and had Logan Imes foul Small in the backcourt. Small made both — he went 9-for-9 from the line — giving him 29 for the game.
When the ball was inbounded to Burton, he was fouled with 2.8 to play. He made one of two and after his miss, the ball went to Wright. Under pressure from Imes, he fired a shot offline a few feet over the mid-court line.
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It was a satisfying finish for an Irish team after suffering consecutive losses to Western Carolina and Auburn, following an opening season win over Niagara.
They don’t get there without their point guard.
“Yeah, he really looked at the (Auburn) film and learned from it,” Shrewsberry said of Burton. “He kind of saw things a little bit better and when it was his time to score and when the help was there and he had to kick it out. It's constantly a learning experience for him but he can get through small cracks with so much speed … but he's a tough kid, man. He's gonna keep getting better as the year goes on.”
Shrewsberry may have found a little more help for his struggling offense. Following his 18-point, 11-rebound performance against Auburn, Konieczny got his first start in place of freshman Braeden Shrewsberry and delivered the first five points of the game. He finished with another double-double — 11 points and 10 rebounds — in 35 minutes, without committing a turnover.
The younger Shrewsberry continues to struggle with his shot. He came in shooting just 28% from the field and 17.6 from the 3-point line. He had five points Friday but went 2-for-8, including 1-for-7 from the 3-point line.
The Irish were significantly improved from the arc, going 8-for-25 (32%) after making just 2-of-26 against Auburn.
Junior transfer Julian Roper II, averaging 7.7 points, had an offensive burst midway through the first half, scoring seven of his 12 points in a two-minute span to push the Irish ahead. That lead grew to 12, the largest of the game, on a Burton drive to the basket with 13:29 to play.
It was mostly downhill from there for the Irish with the offense suddenly lost and caving to the Cowboys’ pressure, committing nine turnovers in 10 minutes to finish with 16. That was after committing just four in the first half.
Micah Shrewsberry took part of the blame in slowing down the offense.
“I got the brakes on a little too fast,” he said. “But I didn't know how much we had left in the tank. So I tried to shorten the game a little bit. I slowed them down a little too much. And we got stagnant.”
“... But then to come back and fight and guys were out there — Konieczney was playing so hard he was cramping up and all those guys are tired but you know, I think we grew from this and we're going to keep growing from this — every small victory or thing like this just gives us more confidence.”
The Irish are off until next Wednesday when they host Maryland Eastern Shore at 7 p.m. EST in Purcell Pavilion.
“Last night (vs. Auburn) was a wake-up call for some of our guys to really see how physical, athletic and deep some teams are,” Micah Shrewsberry said. ““Sometimes you need to see something … Sometimes you think you're ready. And then you run up against something and it’s like, ‘I'm not quite as ready as I thought I was.’”
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