Notre Dame Grinds Out 78-60 ACC Win Over Boston College
Notre Dame star Markus Burton might be back, but Tae Davis isn’t taking a backseat.
The 6-foot-9 forward carried the Irish while Burton was out for 39 days and on Monday night, Davis led the way with 26 points as Notre Dame (8-9, 2-4) earned its second ACC win of the year and ended a four-game losing streak as the Irish topped Boston College (9-8, 1-5) 78-60.
The first 30 minutes of the game were a back-and-forth affair as there were small runs and a lot of sloppy basketball until back-to-back three-point plays by Davis and Matt Allocco turned a one-point lead into an eight-point advantage.
“He’s a hard matchup,” Shrewsberry said of Davis. “We do a bunch of stuff offensively, but there’s a lot of stuff you have to prepare for when you come to play us. You have to figure out what you want to do with Markus on ball screens. You have to talk about the drives. You have to get Braeden (Shrewsberry) off the line and not let him get to threes.
“At the same time, you have to work on ball screen defense with Tae. He can set them or use them. I thought Mush (Matt Allocco) and Braeden do an unbelievable job of setting screens. Tae is just getting comfortable making the right play and reading the defense. He closed down the game for us when we needed it.”
It appeared Notre Dame was going through the motions early until Davis came down the lane and threw down the dunk of the year for the Irish. The play immediately gave the Irish some much needed energy, but it’s a play Julian Roper has seen all too often.
“He does that a lot in practice,” laughed Roper. “We all knew this last year when he came. It was just a matter of time. He’s in the gym every day. It’s just what he works on. It’s not really surprising to me. I’ve seen him do better than that in practice.”
Notre Dame was coming off a quick turnaround as they played a noon game at Duke on Saturday, so a slow start was somewhat expected. The Irish were sloppy with the basketball as they turned the ball over nine times in the first 20 minutes and shot just 2-of-9 from three.
Yet, the Irish stuck with it and grinded Boston College down in the second half. In fact, Notre Dame outscored 29-12 over the final 10 minutes of the game following the mini-run by Allocco and Davis.
”There were like little things we needed to adjust to defensively,” Shrewsberry explained. “I thought we did better in the second half with our ball screen coverage and our depth. Early on, they were holding it for a really long time or getting deep into the paint and our guys had to help for too long and then Hand is getting those threes.
“As we adjusted, it made them get the ball out of their hands quicker. When they’re getting the ball out of their hands quicker, I thought Mush, Markus, Roper guarding the ball got a bunch of deflections because they were playing with active hands. We were able to flip some things defensively and stay with it until we got into a rhythm.”
Burton finished the night with 20 points, including 9-of-10 from the free throw line, while Allocco added 13 points and three boards and Kebba Njie finished just short of a double-double with 11 points and nine boards.
As a team, Notre Dame shot 47% from the field, but just 3-of-15 from three-point range, which makes the victory that much more impressive as they’ve relied on the three-ball at times this season.
ROPER ENERGY
If you look at the stat sheet, you will see that Roper finished with two points in 26 minutes. It was not that impressive from a scoring perspective, but Roper played a significant part in Notre Dame, pulling away in the second half. The senior guard added seven rebounds, including five offensive rebounds and came away with a high-effort steal at a crucial time to gain another possession.
It’s a performance Roper has given more than a few times during his career and one Notre Dame needs to get from him more as he can provide a ton of value despite not scoring the ball.
“I think he was locked into what was needed,” explained Shrewsberry. “For us, it was a matchup situation with Elijah Strong playing the four, who could post our guards. He wants the challenge. He’s over there itching. He’s a guy who is old and been through it. He wants to win so bad and he’s done whatever has been asked of him.
Roper’s time has been all over the charts at Notre Dame. He’s started games, played off the bench and not played in games, but he’s not complained. The Detroit native has embraced his role and is more than willing to do any job asked of him.
“Just be Roper,” Roper said of Shrewsberry’s message to him. “I’m tired of losing.”
IMPORTANCE OF A WIN
Notre Dame desperately needed Monday’s win as they entered the game in second to last place in the ACC. The Irish started ACC play in December with a win over Syracuse but then dropped games to Georgia Tech, North Carolina, NC State and Duke.
The win over Boston College not only gave the Irish some much-needed confidence, but it showed them that the work they’ve put in can pay off.
“It was good to get back in the win column,” stated Roper. “Build our confidence. I think we can get back on track. I think everybody was a big factor, not even offensively but all around. Everyone was hustling. Kebba was one rebound short of a double-double. I think we’re tired of losing, so we’re trying to do anything to win at this point.”
Shrewsberry also felt the win was important for the team to see a victory as he believes his team has been doing the work necessary to win in the ACC.
“It was great,” said Shrewsberry. “You’re doing good things, but at the end of the day, you want to get the result. it helps you maintain that confidence. I don’t think these guys ever lost confidence, but it’ll start to waver a little bit if you keep doing the same thing and you come up short. Doubt starts to creep in a little bit.
“I thought our guys kept believing something good was coming if they kept doing the same things. It’s a credit to them.”
UP NEXT
Notre Dame will travel to Syracuse on Saturday for a 4:00 PM ET tip on ACC Network.
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