CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Notre Dame men’s basketball put up a good fight against Virginia Wednesday night inside JPJ Arena, but the Fighting Irish (7-14, 2-8) ran into a very hot three-point shooting Cavaliers (16-5, 7-3) team – resulting in a 65-53 loss. Virginia improved to 12-0 at home this season.
A major plot point in the game tonight was Virginia lighting it up from three, particularly in the first half. Virginia finished with a season high 13 made three-pointers, which also marked the most made against the Irish this season. The Cavaliers drained 60 percent from deep in the first half, which included nine treys.
Leading the Irish tonight was the freshmen duo of Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry. The pair each scored double-digit points in the second half alone, combining for 22 of the team’s 30 points in the second.
With 16 points tonight, Braeden Shrewsberry has now produced six double-digit scoring performances in the last seven games. He’s now 23-of-50 (.460) from three during that span.
Markus Burton pushed his double-digit scoring streak to 14 games with a team high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting. He also dished out a team best four assists.
Lastly, freshman Logan Imes made his first collegiate start tonight and finished with three points, three assists, five rebounds and just one turnover.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was 5-2 Virginia out of the first media timeout and the game turned into a flurry of three-pointers from both teams. In fact, the next six baskets were all from beyond the arc. The Cavaliers hit three in a row while Shrewsberry, Roper II and Burton offset the blows.
That ultimately led to Notre Dame recording a stretch in which they went 5-of-6 from the field to pull within three points at 15-18. Yet, Virginia was on a heater as well, recording a 7-for-10 stretch to go up 15-23 at the 6:04 media.
Virginia became unconscious from three, particularly Jacob Groves, who simply couldn’t miss. He went 5-for-6 from deep in the first half, already tying his career high. The team finished the half with nine made treys – they average 6.5 made threes per game. Virginia’s ultimately shot better from three (60.0 percent) than they did from two (5-of-12, 41.7 percent).
Shrewsberry and Konieczny each tacked on a three in the final 90 seconds of the half but Virginia’s hot shooting resulted in a 23-38 halftime lead. Notre Dame was 5-of-10 from three and 9-of-21 overall from the field.
Irish got off to an 11-5 start in the second half after Shrewsberry and Zona each splashed a three. Shrewsberry later drained his fourth three (4-for-6 start) but Virginia immediately countered with a three of their own. Imes then joined the three party at 10:28 as the Irish started the second half 4-for-6 from deep. That basket cut the lead to 40-48.
However, a 9-2 scoring run from Virginia pushed the Cavaliers lead back to its halftime amount of 15, now 42-57. Later, Burton recorded a stretch in which he scored six of the team’s next eight points, cutting the deficit to 48-59; yet the momentum was stymied with yet another three, their 13th of the game, to make it 48-62 Virginia with 2:37 remaining. Virginia then settled in for the 65-53 final.
Notre Dame out-rebounded Virginia 28-25 and ended up outshooting them 46.5 percent to their 45.3 percent.
UP NEXT
The three-game road swing continues with leg two in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Feb. 3, at 6 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
— ND –