Following a close loss to Boston College loss at home, Notre Dame men's basketball went on the road for the first time in more than two weeks and was defeated by Virginia 65-53.
The Irish earned their biggest win of the season against Virginia just over a month ago, defending home court 76-54. This time, however, the Cavaliers never trailed and controlled the pace of the game. Markus Burton had 17 points on 58% shooting, and Braeden Shrewsberry added 16 points off the bench with four made threes, but it was not enough as the Cavaliers battled to earn their seventh ACC win of the year. Notre Dame falls to 2-8 in ACC play and 7-14 overall.
Virginia started things off with an Isaac McKneely 3-pointer, the first bucket of an 11-point night for the sophomore. The Cavaliers amassed a quick 11-5 lead, aided by a 3-pointer from Jacob Groves. The Irish would go on to cut their deficit to three after a Julian Roper II jumper with eight minutes left in the first half, but that would be as close as the score came on the night.
Notre Dame has struggled immensely when falling behind in the first half this season and this night was no different. The offensive struggles continued as the Irish only added eight more points in the first half and fell behind 38-23. Following the halftime break this year, Notre Dame has consistently made scoring adjustments and gotten themselves back into the game. The Irish began the second half on a 17-10 run, eventually bringing the score 48-40 off of a Logan Imes 3-pointer with 10:28 remaining.
However, Virginia never took their foot off the gas and outscored the Irish 17-13 to close the game and win 65-53. Led by senior guard Reece Beekman with 21 points, the Cavaliers dominated from the 3-point line. Groves added six made 3-pointers off the bench and Virginia looked in complete control.
The biggest story tonight was the Cavaliers shooting. While the Notre Dame defense has defended the three well, Virginia shot 13-25 from beyond the arc. While the Irish held the Cavaliers to 54 total points on 18% shooting from three point range in the last matchup, this game was a completely different story. While the Irish shot an impressive 9-18 from three, they also turned the ball over 18 times. Over their now-five last consecutive losses Notre Dame are averaging 14.8 turnovers and losing the turnover battle by an average of 5.2 each game.
With point guard Markus Burton leading the ACC in usage rate, the freshman guard has struggled to cope with the majority of the Irish ball handling this year. Looking to minimize giving turnovers, head coach Micah Shrewsberry will have to figure out how to spread out the ball handling duties. Considering the Irish only have two conference wins and trailed at the end of the first half facing MAAC foes Marist and Niagara, they'll need to figure out ways to minimize the scoring woes in the first half. One bright spot for the Irish has been freshman shooting guard Braeden Shrewsberry who is averaging nearly 14 points on 47% shooting over the last 7 games. Shrewsberry has been the only real scoring threat from deep since Notre Dame's overtime victory against Georgia Tech on January 9.
The Irish have gone 1-7 in January and will look to fare better in February. Notre Dame is set to play their next game at Pitt on Saturday, Feb. 3.
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