On Tuesday evening, Notre Dame will take on its biggest challenge of the season in Purcell Pavilion with No. 1 Duke, led by freshman Cameron Boozer. The 25-2 Blue Devils are heading to South Bend after arguably the best college basketball win of the season, a 68-63 victory over then-No. 1 Michigan as the underdogs. Anyone might write this game off as an instant loss, but Notre Dame has shown its ability to be competitive against high-caliber opponents.
Notre Dame is entering this game after a rough month-long stretch. Since its Boston College win on Jan. 24, the Irish have won only once, against Georgia Tech, which sits at the bottom of the ACC. It took a career-high 37 points from sophomore guard Cole Certa and the Irish shooting 50% from beyond the arc to bring home the 89-74 victory. Freshman guard Jalen Haralson, who has led the team in scoring since junior guard Markus Burton’s early-season injury, has missed the last two games due to an ankle injury. His status remains unclear for the contest against Duke, but the Irish would love to have his dynamic scoring ability back against the top ACC defense.
At home, Notre Dame is 9-5 but has struggled mightily in ACC play. The Irish have managed three conference wins, coming against Stanford on the road, Boston College and Georgia Tech. If you take a closer look, however, Notre Dame has multiple other close losses, such as the 72-71 fiasco against Cal, the 100-97 double overtime heartbreak against No. 14 Virginia and, most recently, the 82-79 home loss to Florida State. If Notre Dame has a chance to win this game, it will certainly be an opportunity late in a close game, considering Duke has not lost by more than three points this season.
Last season, Notre Dame traveled to Durham, N.C., in a Carolina ice storm and gave Duke a challenging game. The Irish stormed back in the second half and, despite their eventual 67-59 loss, had the game within five points in the last five minutes against the No. 1 team in the country. During the game, Duke’s Cooper Flagg set a freshman ACC scoring record, scoring 42 points and eventually going No. 1 in the NBA draft the following summer. This season, without Burton and injured senior forward Kebba Njie, the Irish will have to find a way to replicate the close game formula against Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils.
The only recipe to beat Duke this season has been elite-level scoring by forwards and centers who can attack the paint. In the first Duke loss, Texas Tech forward TJ Toppin led the Red Raiders over the Devils with a 19-point double-double. Alongside guard Christian Anderson, who tallied 27 points, the Red Raiders stormed back, overcoming a 14-point second-half deficit, and still only eked out an 82-81 victory. The other Duke loss came at the hands of rival North Carolina, which had another sensational freshman performance out of forward Caleb Wilson with 23 points. More importantly, though, the Tar Heels erased another second-half lead, overcoming a double-digit deficit with a buzzer-beater Seth Trimble three-pointer for the first lead of the game. Can Duke be beaten? Yes, but it has taken magic in the final moments of the game.
These are the only two losses of the season for Duke, and they both can reveal something. The Red Raiders and Tar Heels had the personnel to attack Duke’s inexperienced front court in the second half. Carolina had Wilson and center Henri Veesaar, the latter earning a double-double with 13 points in the second half. UNC forced starting Duke center Patrick Ngongba II to foul out, and pushed backup forward Maliq Brown into foul trouble with four fouls. This allowed the Tar Heels to attack Boozer on defense, where he can be vulnerable compared to the rest of his game. The 6-foot-9, 250-pound freshman is averaging 22.6 points, 10 rebounds and four assists while shooting nearly 40% from three-point range. Notre Dame has to find a way to attack Boozer in the paint and score difficult shots to remain competitive.
Texas Tech did a fantastic job of limiting the other Duke top scorers, sophomores Isaiah Evans and Ngongba II, to be largely non-factors offensively. Evans, a presumptive first-round draft pick, is averaging 2.5 made three-pointers per game with 14.7 points as a do-it-all wing scorer. Duke’s limitation might be depth, as it relies heavily on Boozer’s broad shoulders to carry the offensive load when other players can’t step up. Duke plays only seven or eight players significant minutes, which has allowed the best teams to attack the frontcourt and force players into foul trouble. It is imperative that the Irish discover a way to exploit any minor Blue Devil flaw.
The Irish will require another heroic shooting performance from junior guard Braeden Shrewsberry or Certa to keep this contest competitive. Certa has averaged 17 points over the last 10 games and will need to be a threat from distance. The biggest problem for the Irish scoring is the Blue Devil defense. Duke’s defense is third in the country, holding opponents to 63 points and under 40% shooting; in the last 10 games, they have held opponents to only 58 points.
Head coach Micah Shrewsberry has never won a ranked game for Notre Dame. The Irish are currently tied for third-to-last in the ACC. Only the top 15 teams will even make the ACC tournament. In other words, the pressure is on for Shrewsberry. Notre Dame controls its own destiny with three consecutive home games against Duke, NC State and Stanford before finishing on the road at Boston College. The Irish will have to win at least two of these final four to guarantee a spot in the ACC tournament. Is it possible to beat Duke? Maybe, but few, not even No. 1 Michigan, have been able to do so.
The contest against Duke will tip off at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 24, and will be broadcast on ESPN.
