Notre Dame men’s basketball season ends with blowout loss to North Carolina
If No. 12 Notre Dame had a chance in Wednesday’s Atlantic Coast Conference tournament second-round matchup against No. 5 North Carolina, Jae’Lyn Withers erased it.
The 6-foot-9 forward averaging 6.0 points per game for the Tar Heels knocked down an open three early. Then he made another one. Then another one. Then another one. Then another one. After Withers’ fifth triple, which put UNC up 33-17, he covered his mouth and laughed. Even he couldn’t believe it, and neither could Notre Dame.
The Irish were content to let Withers, who shoots 43.5 percent from deep but only tries 1.9 (making 0.8) three-pointers per game, beat them from beyond the arc. They had enough to deal with in a matchup that would always be uphill battle. Notre Dame had tired legs, playing four overtimes on Saturday against Cal and an intensely fought first-round game Tuesday against Pittsburgh. North Carolina was fresh as a daisy.
But when Withers started making threes — and he made 7 of them Wednesday afternoon — the curtains closed on the 2024-25 Fighting Irish. Notre Dame lost 76-56, ending its season at 15-18 overall and 8-12 in the ACC to set up a pivotal offseason ahead.
“We finally just ran out of gas, I guess,” head coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “But it’s not anything for lack of effort.”
The Irish were overmatched from the jump against the North Carolina, who entered Wednesday as ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s second team out. The Tar Heels desperately needed a win and wasn’t going to allow anything else, so they dominated Notre Dame in every facet of the game.
UNC jumped out to a 17-5 lead, and head coach Hubert Davis’ group didn’t let its foot off the gas. The difference between the Irish and Heels’ offenses was apparent, with the latter winning the assists battle 19-6.
“This was probably one of the fewest assist teams I’ve ever been around, and a lot of that was the shot making,” Shrewsberry said. “We’ve got to get back in the gym. We’ve got work.”
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North Carolina also guarded like its season depended on it. The Tar Heels stayed in front of Notre Dame’s penetrators, namely sophomore guard Markus Burton and junior forward Tae Davis. The two stars combined to go 6 of 24 (25.0 percent) from the field, and when that happens, the Irish don’t have the firepower to compete with a team like Carolina.
“It’s honestly just been a tough week for me,” Burton said. “I feel like both Pitt and North Carolina, they did a really good job of guarding me and keeping me out of the paint and just denying me.”
On the interior, the Irish went 10 of 23 on layups. Much of that was due to the presence of former Irish forward Ven-Allen Lubin, who put up a double double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Notre Dame also struggled from the three-point line once again, shooting 6 of 20 from beyond the arc. Graduate student guard Matt Allocco hit three of them, but the rest of the Irish couldn’t keep pace.
Allocco’s college career is over. Nikita Konstantynovskyi and Julian Roper II are done, too. J.R. Konieczny has one year left, but after he went through senior day, his future is uncertain. And Irish fans will wait with bated breath to find out what Burton and Davis will do.
Notre Dame expected to take a massive step forward in Shrewsberry’s second season. Instead, as Wednesday’s game and many others proved, the Irish have a long way to go.
