Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM DECEMBER 2024 37 BY JACK SOBLE F or about 18 hours, the 2024-25 Notre Dame men's basketball season looked like it ended in late November. On Nov. 26, in the Players Era Festi- val opener against Rutgers in Las Vegas, Irish sophomore guard Markus Burton went up for a layup. Scarlett Knights junior center Emmanual Ogbole tried to contest it. The ball went in, but the 6-foot-10 Ogbole came down on top of the 6-foot guard and caused his knee to twist awkwardly upon contact. Burton limped off the court. TBS sideline reporter Allie LaForce later re- ported that he would not return to the game, and he sat with his foot propped up on a chair as Notre Dame prepared for the worst. "Burton made his way out of the locker room and you can see he looks devastated," LaForce said. "I don't know what's going on, but we're just going to put this in God's hands and let Him handle it," head coach Micah Shrewsberry said. "What- ever happens next, we'll handle it." When tests came back the next day, their results were as positive as the Irish could have hoped. Burton is not out for the year, but according to a report from ESPN's Jeff Borzello, he will miss sev- eral weeks. The official word from Notre Dame is that he will miss games "on a week-to-week basis." "We are thankful that Markus will be back this season at full strength," Shrewsberry said. A season without Burton would have been a lost season. Everything the Irish do offensively is centered around the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year and preseason All- ACC selection from Mishawaka. Entering the game against Rutgers, Burton was averaging 21.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He had also improved his effi- ciency, shooting 47.1 percent from the field, 34.6 percent from three-point range and 84.2 percent from the free throw line. His offensive output led the Irish by nearly seven points per game over the next-highest scorer, fellow sophomore guard Braeden Shrewsberry. But with Burton on the shelf for the foreseeable future — and a 4-0 start being flipped on its head in record time — Notre Dame's campaign has entered survival mode. The Irish must steady the ship after four straight single-digit losses, and they'll have to do it without their star. LOSS TO ELON WAS A LOW POINT The Irish trotted into Purcell Pavilion Nov. 22 against Elon and were humbled in a big way. They had Burton, and he did his job with 25 points. Shrewsberry had 22. But defensively, the night took a dark turn. Elon — which is better than its projected 12th-place finish in the Coastal Athletic Association — blitzkrieged Notre Dame with 84 points on 57 percent shooting and 48 percent from beyond the arc. "You need to try and break a rhythm early, and they had 15 points before the four-minute mark, probably," Shrews- berry said. "Our defense let us down tonight." Despite the defensive lapses, the Irish held a 73-72 lead with 2:15 left in the second half and the ball. But a bad-pass turnover from graduate student guard Matt Allocco at the top of the key led to a fast-break layup at the other end, and the Phoenix never let the lead go after that. "We weren't sharp enough," Allocco said. "We missed some shots, some good looks. That's basketball. We're going to make them sometimes, but we can't let offense affect our defense." Allocco would respond in a big way four days later in Las Vegas. But the damage to Notre Dame's budding NCAA Tournament odds wasn't done. IRISH ARE SWEPT IN VEGAS Notre Dame was done. Cooked. Left for dead, down 81-75 with 50 seconds remaining in that fateful overtime game against Rutgers at the Players Era Festi- val and without Burton. And then, Allocco happened. The graduate transfer guard from Princeton made a three-pointer with 41 seconds left to cut Rutgers' lead to three. After two free throws stretched it back to five, he hit another one to bring it back down to two with 30 seconds to go. Notre Dame fouled Scarlett Knights junior guard Jordan Derkack, who made 1 of 2 from the line. The game remained within one possession with 28 seconds left. And at that point, everyone in the stadium knew who would get the ball. Allocco took a handoff from Braeden Shrewsberry, and he drove to his left. Markus Burton Injury, Four-Game Losing Streak Put Season On The Brink Burton suffered a knee injury in Notre Dame's 85-84 overtime loss to Rutgers in the Players Era Festival at Las Vegas, but is expected to return in several weeks. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS MEN'S B A S K E T B A L L