Notre Dame Fighting Irish put it all together in blowout over UMES

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish handled Maryland-Eastern Shore with ease pretty much from the opening tip as confidence is building for a young team.

Is the Notre Dame basketball team growing up right before our very eyes? They just might.

On Wednesday night, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish took on the Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks in a game that was never really in doubt. UMES opened the game with a 5-2 lead and was then outscored 36-17 the rest of the first half.

While the Irish let up a bit in the second half, Micah Shrewsberry’s team showed a level of dominance and rhythm they really hadn’t shown so far this year. In logging a 75-55 win, even over a lesser opponent like the Hawks, it’s the kind of confidence builder that a team not used to playing with each other needs badly.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish Player of the Game

Not only was the blowout a welcome sight, but so was the performance by Braeden Shrewsberry. The coach’s son has struggled mightily at times this season, including an 0-for-7 shooting outing in Notre Dame’s loss to Western Carolina.

On Wednesday night, Shrewsberry hit 4-of-6 shots from deep and scored a season (and college career) high 13 points. That was also a team-high for the game.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish by the numbers

Markus Burton has had a heck of a start to his career. He has yet to score less than 12 points in a game. While he did only score 12 tonight, he also did more than score as he had 6 rebounds and 5 assists, both career highs for the freshman.

Braden Shrewsberry wasn’t the only one who was red hot from behind the arc. In fact, just about everyone who played for Notre Dame tonight was feeling it. As a team, they hit 13-of-27 from 3-point land.

As hot as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were on offense, they were also smothering on defense. Two Hawks. Troy Hupstead scored 15 and Devon Ellis scored 13. Outside of those two, no one on UMES scored more than 6 points and they shot just 34.1 percent from the field.

Next up for Notre Dame

After putting together a two-game winning streak, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will get almost a week off before they take on the 5-0 South Carolina Gamecocks at 6pm on November 28.