Notre Dame men's basketball wins 60-56 over Marist
One game does not a turnaround make.
But given the harsh message that Notre Dame head men’s basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry delivered to his team Tuesday after a 20-point home loss to the Citadel, a 60-56 victory Friday night over Marist at Purcell Pavilion might serve as at least a baby step to better days.
Irish freshman guard Markus Burton led all scorers and the three Notre Dame players who reached double figures with 21 points, as the Irish played well in the second half and turned a 25-24 halftime deficit into a much-needed four-point win.
Burton went 8-of-18 shooting, 2-of-6 three-pointers, and 3-of-4 foul shooting to break a three-game losing streak for Notre Dame.
“We were able to focus and get the job done, Tuesday we did not,” Burton said in an ACC Network interview after the game. “Coach [Shrewsberry] just told the whole team that we need to compete harder and obviously we didn’t compete hard enough against Citadel. We had very hard practices since and we worked hard to get better every single day since.”
Charity matters
With most of the other stats being equal Friday against Marist, the difference came at the foul line where Notre Dame went 18-of-20 from the stripe and the Red Foxes managed only 7-of-13.
Marist actually scored four more field goals than the Irish, in a losing effort.
Notre Dame went 15-of-16 from the free-throw stripe in the second half.
The Irish built a 53-42 lead with five minutes left in the game and looked to be in control until Marist responded with a 12-3 run to get to within 56-54 with 1:31 left, and in jeopardy of another late-game collapse for Notre Dame.
Instead, 5-of-6 foul shooting from that point kept the Irish from another late-game meltdown.
Freshman forward Carey Booth scored 11 points and added a team-high 6 rebounds, and sophomore Tae Davis chipped in with 12 points, 10 in the second half.
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The Irish (5-7, 0-1 ACC) entered Friday’s non-conference game as losers of three straight and five out of six, with the 85-65 loss to the Citadel serving as rock bottom during a season that so far has brought few highlights and plenty of heartache.
They also entered Friday’s game with an assessment from Shrewsberry that the outcome against Marist didn’t matter as much as the effort from his team did.
“This is about our team getting better. This is about our team finding some kind of focus, having some kind of competitive balance,” Shrewsberry said. “…and that starts with me. I got to change my approach. So we’ll have a different approach and we’ll see what happens.”
Shrewsberry delivered an epic postgame rant and harsh message to his team Tuesday following one of the worst losses in the last decade, and his guys responded with a much better wire-to-wire effort against Marist.
Up Next: Notre Dame gets seven days off for the Christmas break before opening full-time conference play on Dec. 30, at home against No. 22 Virginia, when nothing will get easier for the Irish.
