The Fighting Irish men’s basketball team put together a solid performance in their most recent game, a 68-64 victory over the Boston College Eagles. The leader in scoring in that contest was junior guard Braeden Shrewsberry, with 22 points, his third game with 20-plus points on the year. For a Notre Dame team that has certainly had its fair share of struggles this season, Shrewsberry has been a bright spot for them.
This season, Shrewsberry is second on the team in points per game, averaging 11.2. The junior also boasts a 41% 3-point shot percentage, which not only leads the team, but is good for second in the ACC as well. In his other two truly dominant performances, he found a lot of his scoring from outside the arc. In the loss against California earlier this year, Shrewsberry had 21 points, with all of his field goals coming from beyond the arc. He went 5-12 from deep in that contest, which matches his percentage on the season. Additionally, he drilled his free throws, going 6-6 from the line. He had his career-high earlier in the year against Evansville, picking up 26 points in one of the Irish’s most dominant showings of the year. Shrewsberry shot 9-12 from the field and an astounding 80% from deep, going 8-10. He is arguably one of the best 3-point shooters in the country, and when he is feeling hot from three, the Irish offense is certainly dangerous.
During Saturday’s game against Boston College though, he was relatively cold from the arc, only shooting 2-9 from deep. However, he found other ways to contribute as he was very aggressive in creating shots for himself inside as well. There were numerous instances where he was able to drive inside and either take the ball all the way to the basket for an easy layup or where he took a shot from midrange, where he is nearly automatic. He shot 8-17 from the field in that contest while also shooting 4-6 from the foul line. His offense helped the Irish squeeze out a much-needed win against the Eagles.
Shrewsberry often finds most of his offense through cuts with the help of off-ball screens. Coach Micah Shrewsberry, Braeden’s father, talked after the game Saturday about how he thought the “screening was better at getting Braeden, getting Cole [Certa], getting Jalen [Haralson], some of those guys open.” If the team can continue providing Shrewsberry opportunities to get open and he gets hot from deep, the Irish have a real chance to find their footing through the rest of this season.
Shrewsberry also helped on the defensive side of the ball as well. As a junior, he is one of the leaders of this team with only one player older than him getting serious minutes, graduate forward Carson Towt. He holds a big responsibility to put in nonstop effort on the defensive side, and he talked about the role of the defense in their comeback win against Boston College stating that it “started on the defensive end.” He continued on saying, “We hadn’t been very good out of the half in the last couple of games, so really just keying in and getting stops early helped fuel our offense in transition.” It was a very solid comeback by the Irish fueled by a very good defensive showing in the second half, only allowing Boston College to score 29 points.
It’s no secret that the Irish’s performance this season has left a lot to be desired. However, there is still a month and a half of basketball left to be played, and the Irish still have some time to get hot. If the Irish want to do that though, they are going to need to run a large chunk of the offense through Shrewsberry, as his 3-point shot will provide an incredibly valuable asset to this Notre Dame team.
