SOUTH BEND − Given what we witnessed in terms of gotta-see, high-energy events this month on this campus, there was hope Sunday for a Christmas miracle from the Notre Dame men’s basketball.
Something. Anything. Please?
Maybe sophomore point guard Markus Burton shrugging off the right knee injury suffered last month and returning to his rightful place in the starting lineup, and atop the stats sheet.
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Maybe freshman point guard Sir Mohammed shrugging off his left leg injury that has sidelined him virtually all season and returning to the rotation where he would show why he was such a coveted recruit.
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Maybe an Irish player flirting with the program’s second triple double and first since guard Chris Thomas secured his in his first career game in 2001.
Maybe the first 40-plus point game from a Notre Dame player since Luke Harangody (Gody!) in 2008 or the first 20-plus rebound game since John Mooney (Moon!) in 2019. Heck, it would’ve been a blast to see the first Irish ejected since Bonzie Colson in 2017 (sorry, Bonz).
Something that would make this a game, a night, to remember.
We’d have settled for Notre Dame graduate Robby Carmody, returning Sunday as the leading scorer for LeMoyne and making a run at the arena scoring record for an opponent (40 points), held by (trivia!) Lowes Moore of West Virginia.
We didn’t see any of that. No Burton surprise. No Mohammed return, though he did tease us by suiting up in uniform and going through some early basketball stuff in pre-game. No historic game from the Irish or an opponent. In the grand scheme of a college basketball season, it was just another game in another arena for two teams that hope for better days ahead.
We got a lot of points, and from unexpected individuals, and a lot of lopsided numbers. Notre Dame never trailed, led by as many as 31, got a career high 11 points from sophomore guard Logan Imes and broke for Christmas with a 91-62 breeze past LeMoyne. It was enough to send everyone home for the Holidays happy.
LeMoyne (5-9) wasn’t good. Notre Dame (7-5) was good. The Irish looked like a team that was ready to do something besides work on skill work against one another after 11 days off for final exams.
“Our guys looked fresher, were moving quicker,” said head coach Micah Shrewsberry. “We hadn’t played in forever.”
This wasn’t the Notre Dame women’s basketball team hosting Connecticut in front of a sold-out house of 10 days ago. This wasn’t the Notre Dame football team hosting Indiana in the first-ever College Football Playoff game across the way at the stadium, which happened barely 48 hours earlier. That stadium looked a lot more lonely and a lot colder Sunday than it did for much of Friday.
This one was just … there. Get through it, get home and throw another log on the fire.
The two most challenging games to wrap non-conference play – Atlantic Coast Conference play begins again on New Year’s Eve in Atlanta for Notre Dame – often have been the first game after finals and the last game before Christmas break. Usually, that’s two separate games. On Sunday it was the same game – first time back after finals break and last game before Christmas break.
Letdowns lurked everywhere, except the Irish never let them in. Prior to this one, Shrewsberry wrote three phrases on the locker room whiteboard that he wanted to see from his team – more energy, more focus and more hunger.
“I wanted to be the hungrier team,” Shrewsberry said. “We needed to be the hungriest team coming out of here.”
More points, the most point this season, well, that was a Christmas bonus.
How would the Irish play? Sluggish and uninspired coming off a battle with the books or sleepy and preoccupied knowing they can get home for a couple of days to family and friends? They were good almost from the start. That they scored 49 in the first half and 42 in the second with a few weird lineups that likely haven’t worked together at all, even in practice, was good to see. Especially without Burton.
“Guys were just ready to go from the jump,” said guard Julian Roper.
“Just trusting our teammates and trusting each other,” Imes said. “Like, everyone can make a play.”
This one was the final non-conference game of the year and the final game of the 2024 calendar. When Notre Dame again plays at home, it will be ACC time, and it will be 2025 and it will be one of the league’s blueblood programs (North Carolina) in the house. That game is already sold-out. It will be the first home sellout of the Micah Shrewsberry Era.
A new year brings new hope that Burton will be close to returning to the lineup. He’s been out since November 26 when a Rutgers player fell across his right leg/knee in the opening minutes of the Players Era Festival. That torpedoed any chance of the Irish have success in the desert, and really, any hope of seriously chasing an NCAA tournament bid.
The hope is Burton will be back sometime next month – maybe sooner than later.
“We don’t know, exactly,” Shrewsberry said. “Every week that goes by, every calendar that goes by, he’s getting better. There’s still no exact timeline. He’s doing good stuff. You can see progress. I know he’s tired of not playing.”
Without Burton, this Irish team isn’t whole. It’s a piece it together with bubble gum and Duct tape and a prayer and hope everything goes well. Those guys without Burton mean well, but this season hasn’t been able to get off the ground without Burton. The ACC is down right now, but the Irish need Burton to stay afloat in it. They just do.
Sunday’s easy one aside, it’s often been a tough watch. It’s been a rough watch. Hopefully, we’re through all that. Better days, better games, ahead in the new year.
We can only hope. Holiday hope.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
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