Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 9, 2024 53 BY JACK SOBLE O n Sept. 25, Notre Dame head men's basketball coach Micah Shrews- berry was asked what he wants his team's offensive identity to be as he en- ters his second season in South Bend. He responded without missing a beat. "Score," Shrewsberry said. He was joking, of course. But as sim- ple as that sounds, it was anything but for the 2023-24 Irish. Notre Dame struggled to score the basketball more than nearly every other high-major team. A group led by a lineup of three freshmen and two soph- omores scored 64.0 points per game, good for 342nd in men's college basket- ball. Only Wagner, Cal Poly, Virginia, Lafayette, Dartmouth, Siena, Army, Coppin State and Mississippi Valley State were worse. "Score" would be a great place to start. But Shrewsberry did give a real answer a second later. "I think our pace is a lot faster," Shrewsberry said. "That's not always full-court pace. Sometimes it's half- court pace." This would also be a major shake- up from last season, when Notre Dame ranked 339th in the country in fastbreak points. Among high-major schools, only Virginia, Louisville and South Car- olina ran less. The Irish have been practicing with a 24-second shot clock, forcing them- selves to move faster and avoid the shot-clock violations that plagued last year's team. "I want us to push the ball after misses and makes and force people to sprint back and stop that, and then have to guard us at a high rate of cutting and speed in the half-court," Shrewsberry said. Shrewsberry hopes his team is more difficult to guard as a whole, and they've put in the work this summer and fall to make that happen. Notre Dame worked almost exclusively on offense through- out the summer, to the point where Shrewsberry said he wouldn't be sur- prised if the team's defense was lacking on its trip to Spain. In the fall, the Irish have mixed in more defense. They still have the same defensive principles, including the ef- fort level expected on that end of the court. Those principles gave Notre Dame the 49th-best scoring defense in the nation last season, allowing 67.2 points per game. But the focus remains the same as it was back in June: "Score." "This is a better offensive team," Shrewsberry said. "You play more skill, you play more shooting, you lean offense a little more, sometimes your defense might suffer. So maybe we're not the same defensively as we were last year, but I think we'll be better offensively." With the faster pace, Notre Dame will almost certainly employ a deeper ro- tation than it did a year ago. The Irish are more talented, adding freshmen Sir Mohammed, Cole Certa and Gar- rett Sundra, and graduate transfers Matt Allocco, Nikita Konstantynovskyi and Burke Chebuhar. Allocco, in particular, should help on the offensive end. Notre Dame To Play Faster, Better Offense In 2024-25 Head coach Micah Shrewsberry said of his offensive approach this season, "I want us to push the ball after misses and makes and force people to sprint back and stop that, and then have to guard us at a high rate of cutting and speed in the half-court." PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER MEN'S B A S K E T B A L L 2024-25 NOTRE DAME MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Time (ET) Oct. 30 Purdue Fort Wayne# (ESPN+) 7 p.m. Nov. 6 Stonehill (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Nov. 11 Buffalo (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Nov. 16 at Georgetown (NBC) 1 p.m. Nov. 19 North Dakota (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Nov. 22 Elon (ACCNX) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 26 vs. Rutgers^ (TBS) 10:30 p.m. Nov. 28 vs. Houston^ (TBS) 12:30 a.m. Nov. 30 vs. TBD^ TBA Dec. 3 at Georgia% (ESPNU) 7 p.m. Dec. 7 Syracuse* (CW) 12 p.m. Dec. 11 Dartmouth (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Dec. 22 Le Moyne (ACCN) 6 p.m. Dec. 31 at Georgia Tech* (ACCN) 2:30 p.m. Jan. 4 North Carolina* (CBS) 12 p.m. Jan. 8 at NC State* (ESPN2/U) 7 p.m. Jan. 11 at Duke* (ESPN) 12 p.m. Jan. 13 Boston College* (ACCN) 7 p.m. Jan. 18 at Syracuse* (ACCN) 4 p.m. Jan. 25 at Virginia* (ESPN/2) 6:30 p.m. Jan. 28 Georgia Tech* (ACCN) 9 p.m. Feb. 1 at Miami* (ESPN2) 8 p.m. Feb. 4 at Florida State* (ACCN) 7 p.m. Feb. 8 Virginia Tech* (CW) 1 p.m. Feb. 12 at Boston College* (ESPN2/U) 9 p.m. Feb. 16 Louisville* (ACCN) 8 p.m. Feb. 19 SMU* (ACCN) 7 p.m. Feb. 22 Pittsburgh* (CW) 2:15 p.m. Feb. 26 at Clemson* (ACCN) 7 p.m. Mar. 1 at Wake Forest* (CW) 5:30 p.m. Mar. 5 Stanford* (ESPN2/U) 9 p.m. Mar. 8 California* (ESPNU) 8 p.m. Mar. 11-15 ACC Tournament$ TBD # Exhibition; ^ Players Era Festival in Las Vegas (Alabama, Creighton, Oregon, San Diego State and Texas A&M are the other five teams com - peting); % ACC/SEC Challenge; * ACC game; $ at Charlotte, N.C.