Micah Shrewsberry shares what makes him excited for Notre Dame entering February

Now in his second season as the head coach of the men’s basketball team at Notre Dame, Micah Shrewsberry has seen some ups and downs but he also knows that the Irish have a lot to be excited about as the calendar turns to February.

Following the recent win over Georgia Tech, Shrewsberry shared that he sees Notre Dame as a team that’s still growing in several different ways. Now, there is a chance to begin capitalizing on that growth.

“I think we’re still growing,” Micah Shrewsberry said. “I think we’re kind of learning who we are and how we should play. We had some hard conversations after that Syracuse game, leading into that week, about who we need to be as a team. What we need from each player. Like, how we should play the game offensively and defensively.”

Notre Dame currently sits at 10-10 overall and 4-5 in ACC play. They’ve also won three of their last four, though, with the only loss coming to Syracuse. Since then, the Irish have added wins against Virginia and Georgia Tech. The Georgia Tech game was Notre Dame’s first win in a one-score game since last season.

“I thought we responded well to how we played on the road with the last one and coming back and following that up with a win was huge. It would have sucked to lose all momentum from that win on Saturday if we couldn’t pull this one out.”

Those close games have been a challenge for Notre Dame in recent seasons. Now, Micah Shrewsberry thinks he may have unlocked a new leader who can help propel them moving forward this season.

“But those guys kind of felt it. It’s like late in the game and I’d gotten on Kebba [Njie] for — I didn’t think he’d sprinted back on a play. They missed a layup, they got the offensive rebound. I took him out and I got on him, but when he went back in, he probably played with unreal effort. Then, at a timeout, he’s just yelling at the guys to like, ‘We want this.’ Like we want this, and I thought that inspired them a little bit because he’s normally a pretty even-keeled guy. He’s a, like, he’ll talk defensively and everything else, but he’s not a super rah-rah guy in huddles. I think when he did that, there’s probably two and a half minutes left in the game, that was huge for our guys to like, they feel that,” Shrewsberry said.

“Mush [Matt Allocco] is usually that guy for us and we’re trying to push other guys and encourage other guys. Braeden [Shrewsberry] and Markus [Burton] are still quiet but they’re sophomores. They’re good. They’re really good players but they’re still finding out how to become leaders, and I think somebody else besides Mush stepping up and being about what we needed to win this game I thought was a huge step for us.”

Notre Dame’s next game is set to be played on February 1st on the road against the Miami Hurricanes. It’s one of eight games, all against ACC opponents, the Irish will play in February.