A trend is becoming noticeable for Notre Dame men's basketball.
In the first few minutes out of halftimes in recent games, head coach Micah Shrewsberry's squad shows its inexperience through turnovers, defensive lapses and lack of scoring.
After playing on Saturday, the Irish turned around and traveled to Boston College on Monday with an opportunity to earn a second consecutive win. Notre Dame, who held a seven-point halftime lead, fell victim to another slow start to the second half in their 63-59 loss.
Within the first 10 minutes of the second half, Notre Dame (7-11, 2-5 ACC) committed six turnovers — four from freshman point guard Markus Burton — and only made four field goal attempts, including a 3-pointer from sophomore guard J.R. Konieczny.
"First off, congrats to Boston College," Shrewsberry said. "Hard-fought win. I thought they were the more aggressive team in the second half and that showed, our turnovers picked up and that was the game."
By Konieczny's bucket, the Eagles (11-6, 2-4 ACC) had already crept back into striking distance and positioned themselves with the lead on their home floor with under nine minutes left.
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An 8-2 run from Boston College's leading scorer, graduate student center Quinten Post, proved to be more than the Irish could handle in the final five minutes.
After creating an extra possession with an offensive rebound following Burton's missed free throw, freshman forward Carey Booth got a clean 3-point attempt in the corner on the baseline out-of-bounds play — which would've given ND a 62-61 lead with 11 seconds remaining — but Booth's shot didn't materialize and bounced off the rim.
"Yeah, we got a good look but don't put yourself in that position," Shrewsberry said. "We did some good things to get that ball and get in that position but also had one-and-one free throws at a tie game at a crucial point and we missed them. We're missing free throws, turning the ball over and that's losing us games."
Post, who was primarily defended by sophomore forward Kebba Njie, found continual success against Notre Dame's late closeouts on the Eagles pick-and-pop offensive sets. Post finished with 17 points while junior guard Jaeden Zackery scored a game-high 20 points.
"[Post] scored it in different ways ... I remember the lob play when we overplayed it and we didn't need to and went for a steal, he got a dunk," Shrewsberry said. "When you get something like that, it gets you going a little bit, right? He was shooting some of the threes early [and] they weren't going in because he didn't feel comfortable or he wasn't in the rhythm.
"Like, you give him a dunk or you give him something easy, now he starts to feel good. Now he starts to make threes. I mean, he made some big shots late. Last one was just total miscommunication on our part and he made us pay."
Familiar offensive struggles
Burton led the Irish with 19 points, with freshman guard Braeden Shrewsberry a little behind with 12 points, including a 2-of-5 mark from 3-point range. The Irish were significantly more stagnant on offense in the second half, where they shot 29% from the field and 25% from 3 after shooting 52% and 50% in those areas in the first half, respectively.
Notre Dame's lack of size against the 7-foot Post didn't impact the rebounding matchup, which the Irish won by a +16 margin. Three Notre Dame players: Booth (13), Njie (10) and junior guard Julian Roper II (10) registered double-digit rebounds while no Boston College player finished with more than eight.
Boston College made up for its head-to-head loss on the glass by forcing 14 turnovers while only committing three of its own. Shrewsberry said the Eagles didn't do anything different schematically in the second half but the Irish succumbed to pressure.
"I thought they aimed up their pressure a little bit more," Shrewsberry said. "They were more physical. I thought our point guard was getting bombed and riden and rode... I can't wait until the day that he's a senior and he gets some of the calls as some of the seniors in this league get.
"They probably know that going in. Young fella is not gonna get a call, so be more physical with him and get him to turn it over and that's what he did."
Notre Dame will have the rest of the week off and return to Purcell Pavilion next Wednesday for a matchup with Miami (12-4, 3-2 ACC). The Hurricanes defeated the Irish 62-49 in Notre Dame's conference opener in December. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. EST on ESPN2.
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