Notre Dame Holds Off Rutgers in 68-63 Battle; Players Era Championship Day Two Recap
- Brenden Duffy
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Photo via Notre Dame Athletics
Day Two of the Players Era Championship tipped off Tuesday with a pair of 4-2 squads coming off Day One losses with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The Irish were coming off a ten-point loss to Kansas, while the Scarlet Knights fell in a 25-point defeat at the hands of Tennessee yesterday.
Notre Dame’s offensive trio of Braeden Shrewsberry, Markus Burton, and Jalen Haralson led the way for the Irish with 49 of the Irish’s 68 points. The Irish had it going from deep, shooting 8/18 from three, while the Scarlet Knights were struggling to find the bottom of the basket. After yesterday’s loss to Kansas, it was apparent that team rebounding was an emphasis today, with four Irish players snagging at least four boards today, as they out-rebounded Rutgers 37-28.
The aforementioned trio of Shrewsberry, Burton, and Haralson impressed early, combining for 29 of Notre Dame’s 36 first-half points. Following a Rutgers three that opened the game’s scoring, the trio got to work, scoring 20 consecutive Irish points to give them an early 20-9 lead with 8:47 on the clock. Notre Dame continued to scorch the Scarlet Knights between the 8:00 and 4:00 media timeouts, outscoring Rutgers 11-2 in the four-minute stretch to extend their lead to 31-13. After Shrewsberry buried a three to give the Irish their largest first-half lead of 19 points, Rutgers closed the half on a 7-0 run to cut their halftime deficit to 12 points, 36-24. Notre Dame’s 6/13 three-point shooting and 20-13 rebounding advantage were contributors to the Irish’s first-half success.
Notre Dame was able to handle an attempted Rutgers comeback and secure the win after being out-scored 39-32 in the second half. Burton led the Irish with 11 points in an impressive second-half effort. Rutgers had the hot hand early in the half, knocking down three three-pointers to cut the Irish lead to just five, 40-35, with 17:24 to play. Notre Dame was able to respond with an 8-0 run featuring four different scorers that pushed their lead back to 50-37 with 14:04 remaining. After the Irish run, Rutgers punched back with a 14-8 run before the 8:00 media timeout to make it a 58-51 contest. Out of the break, a Rutgers three made it a four-point game with 5:56 to play, but Notre Dame’s Logan Imes got the points right back with a three-pointer of his own, marking his first points of the game. Burton clutched up and got back-to-back tough layups to fall, pushing the Irish lead to 67-56 with 2:53 remaining. After Haralson knocked down a free throw, Rutgers drew a three-point shooting foul on Burton and hit their free throws to make it a seven-point, 68-61 game with 1:53 to play, forcing an Irish timeout. After a series of tie-ups and fouls, Rutgers hit a quick two off an Irish turnover to make it 68-63 with 47 seconds to play. After a flurry of fouls and missed free throws in the final seconds, Notre Dame was able to secure the 68-63 victory.
Notre Dame awaits the results of the remainder of Tuesday's Players Era Championship games before being given a designation for their next contest.
Irish Star:
Markus Burton - 21 points (9-13 FGs, 2-4 3FGs), 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, +8
Key Team Stats:
Field Goal Percentage: ND (49%) - RUT (39%)
Three Point Percentage: ND (44%) - RUT (41%)
Rebounds: ND (37) - RUT (28)
Points in the Paint: ND (36) - RUT (16)
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