Notre Dame Fights in 85-84 OT Loss to Rutgers
Notre Dame (4-2) needed an Alpha to rise up on Tuesday night as Rutgers (5-1) was grinding out a win in the final minutes of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, and the Irish were without star point guard Markus Burton who left the game with an injury.
Logan Imes and Burke Chebuhar hit back-to-back threes to give Notre Dame a commanding 62-56 lead with 7:08 left to play as both teams struggled to find any rhythm on offense. Notre Dame would then go on an all too-familiar scoring drought of almost five minutes before Tae Davis made two free throws to cut the Scarlet Knights's lead to 65-64 with 2:11 to play.
And then it was the Matt Allocco show. The Princeton graduate transfer scored the final five points of regulation, including a three with 8.4 seconds left to tie the game at 69 and eventually send the game to overtime.
Allocco then put Notre Dame on his back as he would go on to hit three three-pointers in 35 seconds, which tied the game at 84 with just over 10 seconds left to play. Following the third trey, freshman Cole Certa completely had a lapse in judgment and fouled Rutgers guard Dylan Harper with 11 seconds to play.
“It’s not the first time it happened and probably not the last time it’s going to happen,” Shrewsberry said of Certa’s foul. “Because of injuries, because of fouls, we’re playing late game with a freshman. That wasn’t the game. There were plenty of things that happened way before that. I thought we turned it over a couple times late in overtime, which were probably the ones that put us behind. If we handle those the right way, we never get to that situation or that play.
“I lose no faith in Cole Certa. He’s going to play tomorrow. I guarantee you he’ll make a shot tomorrow and he’ll be ready to go. I feel bad it happened to him, but it’s happened to a lot of people before. He’ll move on and we’ll be better from this situation.”
Harper, who scored a game-high 36 points on 12-of-22 shooting, made one free throw. After a series of timeouts, Allocco’s three at the buzzer was just long enough to give Rutgers a hard-fought 85-84 win.
“He’s a good player,” stated Shrewsberry. “He makes decisions at the next level. He’s seen it and he’s done it. I had the chance to coach him for a couple days at USA Basketball, so I’ve seen it before. He’s got a feel, he’s big, strong and he can attack. He can score. He had 36 points and I thought our guys did a great job. I thought our game plan was really good.
Allocco would finish his night with 24 points, which included shooting 6-of-9 from three while also pulling down 10 rebounds and dishing out five assists. Braeden Shrewsberry scored 16 points, but it came on just 6-of-20 from the field and Tae Davis added 15 points and six boards for the Irish.
“Trust and belief from my teammates,” Allocco said of what allowed him to get hot in the final minutes. “They trust me and get the ball in my hands to make a couple shots. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough. I missed a good look at the end. It’s basketball. You make shots. You miss shots.”
THE BAD
Notre Dame star point guard Markus Burton went down in the first four minutes of the game with what appears to be a knee injury. Burton attacked the glass and then had a Rutgers player fall awkwardly on his knee and then limped off the locker room.
TBS sideline reporter Allie LaForce stated Burton would not return to the game and would get further evaluated after the game.
“I don’t have any updates and I don't know what’s going on,” Shrewsberry said following the game. “We’re going to put this in God’s hands and let him handle it. Whatever happens next, he’ll handle it.”
Life without Burton isn’t pretty for Notre Dame and despite a heroic performance by Allocco, the Irish offense wasn’t in sync for large stretches of the night. Notre Dame shot 41 percent from the floor, which is respectable but a far cry from its season average of 51.9 percent.
Perhaps the biggest issue is Notre Dame lacks anyone who can create their own shot consistently, while also lacking the ability to generate offense for others. Allocco got hot, but you won’t see Steph Curry taking some of the shots he was making, which means it’s not a sustainable answer if Burton can’t play this week (or longer).
Shrewsberry was more aggressive and you don’t have to tell him to shoot the rock. Yet, it’s hard to imagine the elder Shrewsberry wanting to see his son shoot it 20 times a game, especially when he goes 3-for-13 from three. Now, Notre Dame is a bit limited in who is willing to take shots, so it’s a positive Shrewsberry wants the ball, but he also needs to be more efficient.
Davis seems like the logical answer to take on a much more significant role if Burton does miss Thursday’s game with Houston. The 6-foot-9 forward can attack the rim and create opportunities for others in drive and kick situations. However, Notre Dame will need him to be much more aggressive in attacking defenses and he can disappear from the offensive end for large stretches, if not for games.
If Burton is out for an extended period of time, Notre Dame will be in trouble. The offensive issues on the floor cannot be denied and the Irish will likely have to turn to the style of basketball they started last season, which involves mucking games up on the defensive end and grinding out buckets.
THE GOOD
in the absence of Burton, Notre Dame had several players step up and play quality minutes. Big man Burke Chebuhar scored 11 points and pulled down seven boards in 19 minutes, which helped the Irish win the glass 42-36 and second-chance points 14-6.
Sophomore guard Logan Imes hadn’t been in the rotation, but provided 35 minutes of quality basketball as he scored eight points, handled the ball and ended the game with zero turnovers. Imes will likely be counted on more to handle the ball if Burton is out and Shrewsberry was very pleased with the minutes he got out of the Indiana native.
“Logan is a good player,” Shrewsberry stated. “I’ve watched him play since he was a freshman in high school. Just a tough dude. He hadn’t gotten as many opportunities this year, but he’s always stayed ready. It was just his time. We needed him to play more and he needed to do more. I thought he gave us really good minutes.”
The effort was there all night from the Irish despite the adversity and multiple changes with the loss of Burton. Notre Dame didn’t feel sorry for themselves and almost pulled off the upset.
“There’s no other group of guys or locker room I’d rather be in than with our group,” said Shrewsberry. “We might not be as talented as every team that’s out here, but we’re damn sure as tough. We compete and we execute. We’re going to fight no matter who is put in this uniform.”
UP NEXT
Life doesn’t get easier for Notre Dame as they’ll play No. 6 Houston (3-2) at 12:30 AM ET on Thursday morning. The Cougars fells to No. 9 Alabama 85-80 in overtime on Tuesday night.
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