Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey came to the postgame press conference with his nephew sitting by his side. He ended it by reminding the young boy, who is also the nephew of Notre Dame quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli, to say goodbye to the reporters as they left the room.
Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry left the postgame press conference in a much different manner. He hijacked it with a rant of two minutes and 40 seconds, knocked over a microphone and stormed out of the room seemingly unprovoked.
That’s how differently things are going for the men’s basketball programs at Notre Dame and Louisville. The 75-60 victory for the Cardinals on Sunday night in Purcell Pavilion was another reminder of the separation between the teams from South Bend, Ind., and Louisville, Ky.
SUBSCRIBE TO INSIDE ND SPORTS TO STAY IN THE KNOW ON NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS
More Content
► Kebba Njie caps Notre Dame MBB comeback with overtime winner at BC
► Offense sputters again in Notre Dame MBB loss to Virginia Tech
► Jalen Haralson can make future brighter for Notre Dame men's basketball
► Rivals recruiting scoop: Notes from Under Armour camp in Dallas
► No. 1 Notre Dame men's lacrosse routs Marquette on its way to bigger tests
Shrewsberry and the Irish (11-14, 5-9 ACC) are staring down a losing record for the second time in his two-year tenure as Notre Dame’s head coach. Kelsey and the Cardinals (20-6, 13-2) are looking at an NCAA Tournament bid in his first season leading the program after Louisville won just eight games last season while Kelsey was coaching at College of Charleston.
Louisville proved to be the more balanced team with all five starters scoring between 10 and 16 points. It also played like a team that was more certain about what it is and what it should be.
On the other hand, Notre Dame continued to be a team that relies too much on its top two scorers — Markus Burton and Tae Davis — and can’t complete a game without debilitating offensive slumps.
Here are the top three takeaways from Notre Dame’s fourth loss in its past five games.
1. Notre Dame’s two-man show needs more support
Sunday appeared to be the night Braeden Shrewsberry would reemerge as a consistent scoring threat for Notre Dame. The sophomore guard sank a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock on Notre Dame’s first possession, then he made two of his next three shots, all from behind the arc, to score nine points in the first 5:01 of the game.
Then he proceeded to miss his next nine shots from the field: five from the outside and four inside the 3-point line. Shrewsberry’s 3-pointer with 1:06 left in the game pushed him to a respectable 12 points, but his shooting line (4-of-14 from the field and 4-of-10 from 3) was more reflective his offensive performance.
“We’re trying to screen to get Braeden open,” said Micah Shrewsberry, his father. “We’re trying to get other guys to handle the ball to do some different things. Gotta get back to the drawing board. Gotta do it. But sometimes when people switch it becomes a playmaking game.”
Burton, a fellow sophomore guard, led the Irish in scoring once again with a game-high 22 points, but he needed 18 field goal attempts and four free throw attempts to get there. Davis, a junior forward, added 15 points with a 4-of-9 shooting effort from the field in addition to hitting all seven of his free throws.
Burton and Davis had to do too much of the offensive creating themselves. The Irish totaled just seven assists, and Burton was responsible for four of them. Burton also accounted for six of ND’s 11 turnovers, a reflection of how hard Louisville’s defense made him work.
“They’re a good defensive team,” Micah Shrewsberry said. “They do a good job of switching a lot of stuff and taking you away from some things.”
But Burton and Davis still shouldn’t have to account for so much of the scoring. Notre Dame was up 18-12 after 6:33 of play when Davis (two points) and Burton (three points) were being outscored by Braeden Shrewsberry (nine) and Sir Mohammed (four). Then Davis (two) and Burton (eight) provided the only 10 points the Irish scored the rest of the first half.
Louisville flipped the game with 13-0 run between Burton’s 3-pointer that put the Irish up six and a Davis jumper that ended a drought of 5:34. The reliance on Davis and Burton became even more apparent in the second half. Aside from a pair of free throws by forward Kebba Njie in the first minute of the second half, Davis and Burton provided all of ND’s scoring until a Mohammed layup with 5:49 left in regulation. The Irish trailed by 18 points before Mohammed scored.
Notre Dame’s bench provided only two points in the loss. Five bench players saw playing time, but senior guards J.R. Konieczny (17:22) and Julian Roper II (15:36) played the most off the bench. Konieczny provided the lone bench bucket of the night with 3:18 remaining in the game. He finished 1-of-4 from the field with a pair of misses beyond the arc. Roper provided a defensive spark with three steals, but he also committed a turnover and missed all four of his shots.
2. Sir Mohammed’s minutes need to stay significant
Guard Matt Allocco, who’s missed the last four games with a right wrist injury, is bound to return to action soon. His absence has led to Mohammed making the first four starts of his career.
The 6-foot-6 Mohammed, a freshman, hasn’t been a smashing success in those four games. He scored a combined 17 points on 7-of-19 shooting with six assists and seven turnovers. But he’s starting to look like he belongs on the court and can handle the moments. He hasn’t committed a turnover in either of the last two games while scoring 12 points.
“Sometimes you need some playmaking,” Micah Shrewsberry said. “He’s one of the best passers that we have. We had seven assists. We need a guy that can help create some easy offense for you.
“But how they play, you shift out, you gotta downsize and you gotta play a different lineup, and now you can’t run your regular stuff. You gotta change what you do a little bit.
“He’s got a great basketball IQ where he can play more than one position. Some people are stuck. But he can move around even if he doesn’t practice it. He can move. He can do what Kebba does offensively, and those things. Then he can pass the ball.
“We gotta keep working with him to get better to drive and finish some of those and keep working on the shot when people are helping.”
Even if it’s off the bench, Mohammed should still be able to find plenty of playing time. The Irish shouldn’t have to go stretches with Roper and sophomore guard Logan Imes in the backcourt together. Mohammed is already a better offensive threat than both of them.
Notre Dame needs to try to win games the rest of the season, but it also needs to find things that can carry over into next season. A gradual improvement for Mohammed the rest of the season could be important on both fronts.
3. Micah Shrewsberry’s postgame message was misguided
Notre Dame’s head coach typically makes a statement before answering questions from reporters in his postgame press conference. Not on Sunday.
“You can just go to questions,” Shrewsberry said. “I ain’t got nothing to say.”
Turns out Shrewsberry had plenty to say. He just waited until the fifth question to unleash it.
When a reporter asked what the biggest issues have been in the last five games, Shrewsberry twisted the opportunity to attack doubters of what he’s building in ND’s program and rant on that tangent.
“I don’t know,” Shrewsberry said. “We’re gonna keep fighting. That’s it. As a group, as a team, we’re gonna keep fighting. We’re gonna keep trying to get back to the drawing board. We’ll keep trying to guard people. We’ll keep trying to score. And we’re playing good people, too. But I know these guys aren’t gonna quit. I know they’re not gonna quit.
“I understand that a lot of people have quit on us and well deserved. If you hate me, absolutely, man. Great. If you think I suck, if you think I can’t coach, I’m with you, man. Good. Good for you. Because you’re allowed to have opinions. You think I should be fired? Good for you. You’re allowed to have opinions, right?
“A lot of people have given up on this team. They’ve given up on me. I don’t really give a damn. I believe in myself, and I believe in these guys. So, like, don’t give up on these guys. Don’t give up on these kids. You don’t want to show up because of me? Don’t show up because of me. Because you think I suck. Cool. I’m OK with that. I’m OK with it.
“I know people believe in me. I know people at Notre Dame believe in me. But don’t give up on these kids, man. What have they done for people to give up on them? I know if you’re not with us because we’re losing, you don’t want to come watch us, fine. Fine. But do it because of me then. But not these kids. They don’t deserve that. They don’t deserve that.
“Ain’t nobody else getting home at 5 a.m. from Boston College and going to class the next day and coming to practice and working out and preparing to play Louisville. Nobody else is doing that. Don’t give up on these kids, man.
“I don’t care about anybody’s opinion. I know who I am. I know I can coach basketball. I know I’m turning this program around. If you gave up on me already, I’m gonna see you back here. I don’t give a damn. Don’t give up on these kids. Because we’re gonna get this thing rolling.
“I sat there and watched more Louisville fans in here than Notre Dame people. That’s embarrassing. That’s embarrassing for me, because I’m the head coach here. Yes, I got us in this predicament. But don’t come back when we’re losing — or when we’re winning. Because we’re turning this around, man. You better believe that.
"Everybody that gave up on me, believe it. Write this date down and believe it. Because we're gonna get this thing rolling. I don't care if you gave up on me or not."
The whole thing felt performative. As if Shrewsberry wanted to drag all the attention to his postgame comments rather than the game itself. That will almost certainly happen. More people will probably end up seeing portions of Shrewsberry’s rant than watched the Notre Dame-Louisville game.
Clearly, Shrewsberry wasn’t happy with the crowd that showed up in Purcell Pavilion on Sunday night. The reported attendance of 5,437 might be inflated, but so was Shrewsberry’s perception that the crowd had more Louisville fans than Notre Dame fans. That was only true when Irish fans left the building early with the ending no longer in doubt.
The smaller Louisville crowd certainly seemed more united and into the game, but it also had more to cheer about in a 15-point road win. Maybe it felt worse to Shrewsberry because Jalen Haralson, the star signee of his 2025 recruiting class, was in attendance for the game.
Shrewsberry seemingly has a radar for negative comments made about him or his players. Only the most unreasonable fans are actually calling for him to be fired in his second season. The more reasonable ones are just asking for signs of progress.
That progress must be shown on the court. It doesn’t happen in postgame performances.
---------------------------------------------------------------
• Talk with Notre Dame fans on The Insider Lounge.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean or Pocket Casts.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports channel on YouTube.
• Follow us on Twitter: @insideNDsports, @EHansenND and @TJamesND.
• Like us on Facebook: Inside ND Sports
• Follow us on Instagram: @insideNDsports
