Idaho (6–4) did everything it could to linger on Wednesday night, but Notre Dame (8–3) simply had a little more juice in the key moments.
The Fighting Irish used a pair of 7–0 bursts to seize control in the second half, with the second surge stretching into a 12–1 run over the final 5:53 to put the game on ice, 80–65.
“I'm just really happy with our guys for how we guarded and really how we attacked in the second half,” stated Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry. “I thought we played well. We were up and down in the first half, right? We went on runs, we did good things, and then we let them back in it. That's something that we got to keep working on – you can get somebody down, you got to keep them down.”
Both spurts featured a three from Cole Certa and a bucket from Carson Towt, who delivered his best performance in an Irish uniform.
Towt, a graduate transfer, finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds against a familiar opponent after facing Idaho several times during his Northern Arizona days.
“I don't think I changed much,” said Towt. “I just try to do my job to the best of my ability.”
The Vandals entered the night leading the nation in three-point attempts but went just 10-of-24 from deep. Their best stretch came in the first half, when a 10–0 run gave them a 28–26 lead with 4:47 left.
Despite the numbers, Idaho shot only 3-of-10 from three in the opening 20 minutes.
Shrewsberry wasn’t pleased with the end of the half and let his team know it.
“I thought it was more of us not finishing layups,” stated Shrewsberry. “I wasn't happy with that, with us getting the ball at the rim. I didn't think we played offense the way we practiced the last couple days.”
Notre Dame freshman Jalen Haralson led all scorers with 20 points, while Certa finished with 15 points, three boards and one assist.
For the game, Notre Dame shot 52 percent from the field and 64 percent from three-point range. Certa went 3-of-4 from deep, while Braeden Shrewsberry hit four treys.
The Irish out-rebounded Idaho 39-27 and held a commanding 46-22 advantage in points in the paint.
X-FACTOR
Notre Dame had four players score in double figures, but freshman Brady Koehler quietly shifted the game. The 6-foot-10, 205-pounder scored just once, yet made his mark with four blocks and four rebounds.
In fact, Notre Dame finished +15 with Koehler on the floor. Koehler might have taken a page out of Towt’s playbook as he was everywhere on the floor and found ways to contribute without scoring.
Idaho’s Jack Rasmussen scored 14 first half points and then Notre Dame stuck Koehler on him in the second half. Rasmussen shot just 1-of-4 from the field and scored two points in the final 20 minutes.
“Brady came in and did a hell of a job on No. 12,” said Towt. “He had four blocks. Cut his water off and he had three points or something in the second half, two maybe. I thought he did a hell of a job.”
LIFE WITHOUT BURTON
Wednesday was Notre Dame’s first game without star Markus Burton, who had surgery earlier in the day to fix an ankle injury.
One could say the Irish missed Burton’s 18.5 ppg, but one could also make a strong point that Notre Dame worked through it and didn’t miss his presence at the end of the day.
That said, both can be true. Notre Dame’s offense struggled in the first half to find someone to step up at times. Towt led the way with 11 points in the opening half, but that’s risky for Notre Dame to bank on him scoring in bunches.
Sir Mohammed flashed in the first half by hitting two three-pointers and pulling down two boards to go with one assist. In the second half, Mohammed played just six minutes and was 0-for-1 from the field.
The Irish will need more from Mohammed moving forward, but he showed there is life there. He just has to find a way to be consistent, as there are plenty of minutes available for the taking.
In the second half, Notre Dame had three players score in double figures as Certa and Shrewsberry combined to make six threes.
Notre Dame should be fine without Burton over the next two games against Evansville and Purdue Fort Wayne.
The true test comes when ACC play starts, especially with Notre Dame opening on the road against Stanford and Cal.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame will host Evansville on Saturday afternoon for a 2:00 PM ET tip on the ACC Network.
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