2 truths and a lie after Notre Dame Fighting Irish hang tough with Houston
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball team played its first game of the season without star guard Markus Burton. It was a heck of a first test as Micah Shrewsberry’s crew had to face off against No. 6 Houston.
It was a safe bet that without its best player, in fact, one of the best players in the ACC, there was a chance Notre Dame would have problems hanging with one of the best teams in the sport. And while the Blue and Gold never led, they acquainted themselves well enough that all might not be lost if Burton has to miss significant time.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish lost a game to the Cougars that few fans likely saw considering it started at about 1am South Bend time. When the smoke cleared, Shrewsberry’s squad had lost its third straight, but showed in the 65-54 loss that it wouldn’t be a pushover even with its star player sitting out.
Truth: Tae Davis took his game to the next level
Someone is going to need to step up in Burton’s absence and on Wednesday night/Thursday morning Tae Davis showed that he could be up to the job. The big man has had a solid start to the season, but he had his best overall game of the campaign when you take the quality of competition into account.
The forward finished with 22 points (his second 20+ scoring game of the year) and 8 rebounds while dishing out 2 assists. It was a nice follow up to his 15 points scored and 6 rebounds the night before in an overtime loss to Rutgers. The Irish will need more outings like that while they try and figure out how to win without Burton.
Truth: Braeden Shrewsberry has to be better
While the guard is trying his best to fill in and provide the scoring that usually comes from Burton, he’s having some real problems hitting the deep ball. Shrewsberry did score 16 points in his second straight game, but like the contest against Rutgers he had to take and miss far too many shots to get there.
Against Houston, Shrewsberry hit just 33.3% of his shots from the field and was only 4-of-13 from beyond the arc. That’s a follow up to shooting just 30% and 3-of-13 from deep. He needs to start hitting some shots if the Irish want to win their next game on Saturday against Creighton.
Lie: Notre Dame Fighting Irish don’t have a shot without Markus Burton
No, the Irish didn’t beat Houston, nor did they ever lead. But they hung with the Cougars longer than most people would have imagined without one of the best players in college basketball. The team has shown itself to be scrappy beefore. Now the Notre Dame Fighting Irish need to show just how scrappy while they hope they can get Burton back by the start of the ACC slate.