Notre Dame guard Markus Burton exits Rutgers game with knee injury
Notre Dame’s worst-case scenario may have just happened. Sophomore guard Markus Burton, the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year and a preseason first-team All-ACC selection, exited Tuesday night’s game Rutgers with a knee injury.
Burton left the game with 16:36 remaining in the first half. TBS sideline reporter Allie LaForce reported on TBS that he would not return and will be evaluated after the game.
“Burton made his way out of the locker room and you can see he looks devastated,” LaForce said. “He’s got his foot propped up and he’s not going to be returning to this game.”
Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry did not have an update on Burton after the game.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but we’re just gonna put this in God’s hands and let him handle it,” Shrewsberry said. “Whatever happens next, we’ll handle it.”
When Burton went up for a layup early in the loss, junior Rutgers center Emmanuel Ogbole tried to contest it. The ball in, but the 6-foot-10 Ogbole came down on top of the 6-foot-0 guard and caused his knee to twist awkwardly upon contact.
Burton limped off the court, and that was his last action Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
Through four games of his sophomore season, Burton averaged 21.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He had also improved his efficiency, shooting 47.1 percent from the field, 34.6 percent from three-point range and 84.2 percent from the free-throw line.
His offensive output led the Irish by nearly 7 points per game over the next-highest scorer, fellow sophomore guard Braeden Shrewsberry.
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Burton nearly hit his career high in a 75-58 win over North Dakota on Nov. 19, scoring 29 points and grabbing 9 rebounds. He also came close to the first Irish triple double in over a decade, when he scored 19 points, corralled 9 boards and dished 8 assists Nov. 11 against Buffalo.
More than the numbers, though, the Mishawaka, Ind. native was the engine that made Notre Dame’s offense go. The attention he drew opened up the floor for Shrewsberry, graduate student guard Matt Allocco and the rest of his teammates, leading to a 4-1 start for the Irish in Micah Shrewsberry’s second season.
Notre Dame has already lost a key piece of its backcourt this year: Freshman guard Sir Mohammed underwent knee surgery last week and is out indefinitely. Mohammed, as an adept ball-handler and passer, would have helped replace Burton if he had to miss extended time.
Sophomore guard Logan Imes took Burton’s minutes against Rutgers and performed well, scoring 8 points and draining 2 three-pointers.
Blue & Gold will have more information on Burton as it comes available.
