SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Hard to have too much balance on a basketball team.
But it’s even better when there’s an alpha in the mix.
Tae Davis may be emerging as that guy as Micah Shrewsberry — his club now 4-4 — rebuilds the Notre Dame program.
Davis was in double figures for the third straight game Tuesday night with 4,883 watching in Purcell Pavilion with a team-high 19 points — one of four in double figures — along with 10 rebounds in a satisfying 86-65 victory over 2-6 Western Michigan.
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“And he's just getting more and more confident as it goes,” Shrewsberry said of the 6-9, 208-pound sophomore from Warren Central High School in Indianapolis, who transferred in from Seton Hall. “I kind of expected this from him, right? I recruited him in high school before I left Purdue (as assistant coach) and this is kind of who he was. He plays with the ball in his hands. He's a guard.
“He's a tall guard, but he's a guard and he's getting good at attacking closeouts. He's reading things, he's getting to the rim and the next stage for him is now developing his playmaking even more. But he's playing really confidently, and we’ve got to keep him here.”
Davis had to implement some of those point guard skills Tuesday when he took over for Markus Burton, who was limited to 27 minutes by foul trouble.
Davis was 8-for-11 on mostly drives to spearhead ND’s 59.2% shooting night and had just one turnover in almost 35 minutes.
And as is the case with Shrewsberry, who puts a premium on defense, he emphasized that Davis helped limit the Broncos’ top scorer, Seth Hubbard (16 points a game), to 13 on 4-for-15 shooting.
“He's playing with great effort,” Shrewsberry said of Davis. “You know, he gets you 19 and 10 and he guards Hubbard for me … so he's got their best guy and he’s (still) scoring for you.”
He wasn’t the only one scoring for the Irish against the Broncos, who were picked to finish 10th in the 12-team Mid-American Conference after going 8-23 in Dwayne Stephens’ first year as head coach last season.
Still, no matter the opponent, there was great relief in the offensive production after the Irish had not topped 53 points in the previous two games. Their field goal percentage had dropped to 39.3 (330th in the country) and their 3-point mark to 26.4% (334th).
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From the start, the Irish were fairly effective from the 3-point line. They finished 9-for-22 (40.9%), led by freshman Braeden Shrewsberry’s 4-for-6 night (16 totals points) after he went 2-for-10 from the arc in the 13-point loss at then No. 8 Miami last Saturday.
“Yeah, I guess I wish he played more home games,” his dad said. “You know, he's a confident kid and he’s not going to let off-shooting nights really bother him at all.
“We were at Penn State for two years. They're all hard workers coming through there. But probably nobody took more shots in that gym than he did. And he's probably approaching the number at Rolfs right now.
“This dude is in the gym non-stop working on his shot, so he's not gonna stray away from letting it go. But I think of the six shots (he took Tuesday) they were all really good shots, kick-out threes.”
It was a strong first half for the Irish as they built the lead to 15 on a Davis dunk with 6:09 left in the first half.
But they suddenly went stagnant on offense, lost their rhythm and let the Broncos back in it.
The visitors whittled the deficit all the way down to three, 37-34, when the Irish scrambled for a shot with 7.8 seconds left. Burton tried to turn the corner to get to the basket but was cut off by three defenders near the corner.
He whirled around and found Julian Roper II on the wing, who squared up and dropped in a three at the buzzer to double the lead to 40-34.
“I didn’t think much of the (shot), but I guess it kind of got me going and got us kind of on the right track going into the second half,” said Roper, a junior starter who is averaging 8.4 points a game and shooting 42.9% — 33% from the 3-point line — after Tuesday’s 14-point effort (6-for-8 from field, 2-for-4 on threes).
“Coach was just telling me that I was just thinking about everything too much and to just go out there and play like I know how to play. And so I just took that with me into the second half.”
He had nine points in the second half and finished with six rebounds.
The scoring balance may have helped no one more than Burton who has been the focus of defenses since he got off to a hot start.
His average is down to 15.1 and he is shooting at a 40.4% clip, but he had 17 against Western Michigan, going 5-for-6 from the field and 2-for-3 on threes to give him 5-for-26 for the season.
More importantly, he’s running the point Shrewsberry’s way.
“I thought he was great,” Shrewsberry said. “The hard thing for a young guy, especially a young guy who can really score the ball, is constantly making the right play and how people have guarded him.
“The right play has been him attacking the pick and roll and passing out of it. And now that's gotten everything really flowing and moving for us. … He took six shots, but he took really good shots.”
Notre Dame’s defense kept the drama to a minimum in the second half and WMU’s Titus Wright, who had 10 in the first half, finished with 14.
The Broncos, who were 5-for-22 on threes, never got closer than nine and the scoring balance continued in the second half to give Shrewsberry his largest margin of victory as a Notre Dame coach.
Notre Dame travels to Milwaukee to meet No. 8 Marquette. Tip is 9 p.m. EST on FOX.
Through eight games, Shrewsberry is happy, to a point, how his defense and rebounding has developed.
“That’s what we've hung our hat on,” he said. “It's given us a chance to be in every game right? Except for the Auburn game, we've been in every single one. … But, for a young team, we don't recognize actions … But we really guard. Just purely effort (carries us). We’ll keep getting better at recognizing situations, recognizing plays. … Wait till we start understanding what's going on and seeing it and talking to each other.”
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