Many people leave Las Vegas with a crazy story or two to tell when they arrive home, and the same will be true for anyone who was in attendance at Notre Dame's first game in the Players Era Tournament game against Rutgers. Unfortunately for Micah Shrewsberry and the Irish, they fell short 85-84, but there is a lot to hand their hat on, and still a lot of basketball yet to be played in this 2024 season.
Rutgers entered this matchup 4-1, coming off of a tough road loss to Kennesaw State this past Sunday 79-77. The Scarlet Knights will be a sneaky team that could make a push for a Big Ten title run, largely in part two their two dynamic freshman Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. Harper, son of Chicago Bulls legend Ron Harper, and Bailey are two former five-star prospects, and are early projections to go in the top 10 of the NBA draft in 2025.
In short, the first half was sloppy. Both teams combined for 14 turnovers in the first half, with 9 of them belonging to the Irish. Sophomore shooting guard Braeden Shrewsberry started the game off hot, hitting his first three of four from behind the arc, but eventually went cold largely in part to the defensive effort of Rutgers guard Jeremiah Williams who plays aggressive defense and has great length. For the Scarlet Knights, Harper scored 13 points, grabbed three rebounds, and shot 6-9 from the floor.
However, the biggest story from the first half, was the early injury to star Irish point guard Markus Burton. After scoring his first basket of the night, he came down hard, with 6-10 270 pound center Emmanuel Ogbole landing on Burton's right knee. He immediately limped off the floor and was helped straight into the locker room only three and half minutes into the game. He came back out mid way through the first half in street clothes. This put Notre Dame in an interesting position, and with the injury to Sir Mohammad earlier this season, Coach Shrewsberry would be without two of their main ball handlers for the majority of this game.
Notre Dame headed into the half shooting a mere 39% from the floor, but shot 41% from behind the arc which helped them head into half time with a one point lead 35-34. They also out rebounded Rutgers in the first half 24-13 resulting in 11 second chance points. However, the Irish only scored 8 points in the paint compared to Rutgers' 14.
With the loss of Burton, Notre Dame needed to do a better job of moving without the basketball in the second half, which is exactly what they did. The Scarlet Knights put their best defender on Shrewsberry, so other players needed to step up and hit big time shots. Burke Chebuhar and Logan Imes were two players who stepped up big time for Notre Dame when they needed a bucket. Imes finished with 8 points and shot 50% from three point land, while Chebuhar finished with 11 points and shot 50% from behind the arc as well, going 3-6.
For Rutgers, Harper continued to show why he was a Pre-Season All Big Ten selection as a true freshman. Similar to Burton for the Irish, Harper is a player who can go and get you a bucket at any point throughout the game, and is able to score at every level. He's an extremely smooth athlete with NBA level talent, something that was on full display tonight. Late in the second half, Rutgers went on a 9-0 run, which seemingly put the game away, but Matt Allocco would not go quietly.
When Burton went down, Notre Dame needed another player to step up and become the focal point of the offense, and Allocco being the most experienced player in the starting lineup, took that challenge head on. With 8.4 seconds left in a 69-66 ball game, Rutgers had the lead. Allocco drained a three with only seconds left on the shot clock to tie the game 69-69 to force overtime.
Overtime started out slowly, but after two big turnovers in back to back possessions for the Irish, Rutgers began to stretch the lead. With 57 seconds in the game, the Scarlet Knights held a 79-73 lead. Tae Davis drove the lane, and put in a lay-up cutting the score to 79-75. Harper made back to back free throws for Rutgers extending their lead 81-75. With 41 seconds left Allocco hit a three point shot cutting the deficit to 81-78. Tyson Acuff made back to back free throws making it an 83-78 ball game. Once again, Allocco hit another big three point shot making it 83-81 Rutgers. Jordan Derkack went 1-2 at the free throw stipe to put Rutgers up 84-81.
For a third time in a row, Allocco went down the court and drained another shot from beyond the arc tying the game 84-84. Harper was fouled, went 1-2 at the free throw line, and extended Rutgers lead 85-84. With three seconds left in the game, Coach Shrewsberry drew up a play for Allocco to take the game winning three point shot, it was on line, but too long and hit the back iron. Notre Dame fell in overtime 85-84 to Rutgers.
This was a tough loss for the Irish, and even more so when you factor in the uncertainty around Burton, but it was evident this team was willing to do whatever it took to give themselves a chance to win, which is something we haven't seen from a Notre Dame basketball team in quite some time. With Burton being out for an undisclosed amount of time, other role players will have to step up and play major rolls. They will have to get some sort of offensive output from their big men, and take pressure off of their shooters, who struggled getting open in spaced against this aggressive and long Rutgers defense.
Notre Dame is back in action again on Thanksgiving when they take on the No. 6 ranked Houston Cougars in Las Vegas in the next round of pool play in the Players Era Tournament. Tip off is at 12:30 AM ET.
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