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Same old story: Notre Dame men's basketball blows double-digit lead in loss to Virginia Tech

IMG_7504by:Jack Soble•about 10 hours•

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burton
Notre Dame guard Markus Burton. (Matt Cashore-Imagn Images)

Kebba Njie and Julian Roper II slumped into their chairs for postgame interviews. There wasn’t they could say after another disaster for Notre Dame men’s basketball.

A nightmarish week ended with yet another blown double-digit lead in the second half, this time against Virginia Tech.

The Irish led 18-4 early in Saturday’s game at Purcell Pavilion and held a 46-35 advantage with 12:12 to go. But just like they did on Feb. 1 at Miami and Jan. 18 at Syracuse, they let the game slip through their fingers.

“I feel like we got all the right pieces and everything,” Njie said. “[We have to] just be a little more mature down stretches.”

Notre Dame lost to Virginia Tech 65-63, dropping to 10-13 (4-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) in head coach Micah Shrewsberry‘s second season. The Irish also fell 3-10 in games decided by single digits.

“I deserve every bit of criticism that is coming this way,” Shrewsberry said. “I’ll sit here and I’ll own it and I’ll take it. But nobody’s hurting more than our guys.”

They completely collapsed down the stretch, despite the Hokies shooting under 40 percent from the field, making only 6-of-31 (19.4 percent) from three-point range and turning the ball over 13 times. Notre Dame turned it over 17 times, and Shrewsberry’s group shot 39.6 percent from the field and 17.6 percent from beyond the arc.

Sophomore guard Markus Burton scored 23 points, but an apparent eye injury appeared to limit his effectiveness down the stretch. Junior forward Tae Davis had 18 on 6-of-10 from the field and 2-of-2 from three, but it wasn’t enough. The rest of the team scored only 22 points combined, shooting 8-of-28 from the field without a single three.

Between 8:57 left in the second half and 18 seconds left, the Irish made one field goal. They became extremely reliant on mid-range jump shots from a not-100 percent Burton, and they paid for it.

“Maybe it’s different play calls, maybe it’s different people,” Shrewsberry said. “I gotta find out what it is and how we’re better at the stretch, how we can score better down the stretch.”

Everything that could go wrong for the Irish, did. The offense was stagnant down the stretch, with the other four players hoping Burton would bail them out. Many of their turnovers were unforced; Notre Dame struggled to catch and hold onto the basketball.

“It’s a focus thing for our group,” Shrewsberry said. “When we’re doing stuff, it’s like, ‘When I’m supposed to get a catch, I gotta get a catch.’ That’s a focus thing. That’s a toughness thing.”

Notre Dame heads back on the road for a game at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday against Boston College, and its schedule only gets tougher from there. Five of its final seven regular-season games are against top-six teams in the ACC standings.

Time is running short for the Irish to salvage something from the 2024-25 season.

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