SOUTH BEND, Ind. — With Notre Dame men’s basketball playing Saturday’s game without guards Braeden Shrewsberry and Matt Allocco, an even greater offensive burden was expected to be on the shoulders of guard Markus Burton and forward Tae Davis, the team’s top two scorers this season.
Davis and Burton delivered in the 76-72 home win over Pittsburgh. Davis finished with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Burton scored 20 on a less efficient 8-of-17 line from the field. But the Irish (12-15, 6-10 ACC) likely wouldn’t have won Saturday to end a two-game losing streak without the efforts from guards J.R. Konieczny and Cole Certa.
Konieczny, a 6-foot-7 senior, started for just the second time this season, but his free throws late allowed the Irish to avoid disaster. Notre Dame led by 11 points with 2:43 remaining in regulation, but Pittsburgh (16-11, 7-9) kept hitting shots to cut into ND’s lead. The Irish used nine free throws in the final 1:18 to close out the victory. Konieczny was 6-for-6 from the line during that stretch.
“I was up there and was just like same shot every single time, and it’s gonna go in,” Konieczny said. “It’s gonna see the bottom of the net. I kinda had that confidence going in there, and I was like, ‘I want to be the one that’s shooting the free throws at the end of the game.’
“We drew some plays up, and I was able to get open, and they were just fouling. I was just confident in my shot when I got to the line."
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Konieczny grabbed five rebounds and forced two steals in addition to scoring 10 points for his highest point total since reaching 15 against Syracuse on Dec. 7.
“The free throws were big and a couple other buckets, but I thought his rebounding was really good for us,” said Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry.
Notre Dame won the rebounding battle 28-24, but there weren’t a lot of rebounds to be had with both teams shooting at least 50% from the field. Notre Dame finished at 56.3% on 27-of-48 shooting. Pitt finished at 50.9% (27-53).
Certa didn’t grab any rebounds for the Irish. But his 3-point shooting provided a much-needed depth. Certa played nearly six minutes of scoreless basketball in the first half. That wasn’t terribly surprising from a player who scored 12 points all season heading into Saturday.
Then Certa matched his season total in points in a stretch of less than four minutes that prevented Pittsburgh from gaining any momentum as he accounted for Notre Dame’s next 12 points. He split a pair of free throws with 13:06 left in the second half. Then he hit a wing 3 near Notre Dame’s bench and a corner 3 in front of the bench in a span of 40 seconds. His last 3 was his deepest as he launched it from near the ND monogram on a kick out from Burton.
Certa finally missed his first 3-pointer at the 9:59 mark, but he drew a foul ND’s next possession and hit both free throws to complete his 12-point streak.
“It just really helps with every time I check in, the other four dudes on the court always instill confidence with me,” Certa said. “Same thing with the coaches. Them telling me shoot that whenever you’re open, that just builds everything up. They don’t know how much that means. They contribute a lot to my success to tonight.”
Burton and Konieczny didn’t want Certa’s postgame humility to go on without their own comments.
“Sidenote: He be in the gym early as shit. Excuse my language,” Burton said.
“It’s the work he puts in. It’s showing,” Konieczny said.
Burton added: “Yo, he be in there before the coaches, dog. I be like, ‘OK, Cole Certa, OK.’”
Konieczny added: “He’s always in the gym, man.”
Micah Shrewsberry echoed the sentiments of his players and mentioned Certa was in the gym getting up shots Thursday morning before he arrived in his office around 9 o’clock.
“It's hard to make shots in inconsistent minutes no matter who you are,” Shrewsberry said. “You can go to guys in the NBA that don't play a whole lot. It's hard to be a knock-down shooter in inconsistent minutes.
“He's now starting to sniff it and play a little bit more. He's getting on the court a little bit more, and he's missed some of his open 3s, but you just knew at some point in time he's gonna start knocking them down. That's what he does. If you watch him in practice, if you watch him sometimes when he's on the scout team, that's what he does. Like that dude has unwavering confidence, unwavering.”
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That’s typically what Shrewsberry’s son brings to the Irish offense. Prior to Saturday, Braeden Shrewsberry accounted for 72 of the team’s 208 3-point makes this season. But the younger Shrewsberry was held out Saturday with a lower abdomen strain that he suffered in Wednesday’s loss to SMU. Allocco, who is a 45.5% 3-pointer shooter this season, missed action for the fifth time in six games with a right wrist injury.
“We really missed Braeden’s 3-point shooting, and we missed Matt’s talking and facilitating and him just being a leader, because he’s much older than us,” Burton said. “It was all around a good game. Cole came in, he gave us great minutes. He kinda filled in for Braeden a little bit. It was a team effort today.”
Team and effort needed to be emphasized after Wednesday’s blowout loss to SMU that was never close. That followed a 15-point home loss to Louisville on Sunday.
“Just proud of our guys for fighting, scratching, clawing, kind of doing whatever was needed,” Micah Shrewsberry said. “They made a commitment to each other on Thursday. They were disappointed. They just said we want to do whatever it takes, whatever possible, to stay together, to scratch, claw and get the job done.”
Ishmael Leggett led Pitt with 21 points, but nine of his points came in the final 2:30 with the Panthers trying to make a late comeback. Forward Cameron Corhen finished with 20 points after scoring 14 in the first half.
Davis, who has improved his scoring average by more than six points from last season to this season and often draws the toughest defensive assignment for the Irish, led Notre Dame in points Saturday for the eighth time this season. The 6-9 former transfer from Seton Hall added three rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal to the Irish effort.
“I met with all these guys on Thursday,” Micah Shrewsberry said. “Tae asked me, what can I do to help more? And this is a guy that’s been consistent in how he's played and what he's done. His first thought is what can I do to help the team even more?
“Just the challenges like him scoring. His rebounds weren't as high, but they made a bunch of shots. But he's chasing around Ish Leggett the whole game. So, he's guarding more on the perimeter. He can move around, he can shift around defensively. Then just hunting different matchups, getting into the paint, attacking people, getting to the free throw line. He’s one guy that you never question how hard he's gonna play. That's pretty consistent with him.”
With four regular season games remaining on the schedule starting Wednesday at No. 18 Clemson (22-5, 14-2 ACC), effort must remain a top priority for the Irish. It has to come from Notre Dame’s stars and bench contributors alike.
“We got a great challenge coming up in our next game,” Micah Shrewsberry said. “You go on the road and you play a really good team. I just want us to fight and compete. Play good basketball. That's it. Let the results be what the results are. But give yourself a chance.”
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