Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1540994
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 8, 2025 53 coach — we've always played with two point guards," Shrewsberry said. "Not necessarily two true point guards, but you play with two guys that are capable of pushing the pace in transition, play- ing in pick-and-rolls, handling the ball. Two facilitating guards at one time. "This is the first year we've had it. We've never had it in that way. We haven't had the depth to do it." Of the four players Shrewsberry sees as facilitators — Haralson, Burton, soph- omore guard Sir Mohammed and junior guard Logan Imes — the La Porte (Ind.) La Lumiere product is the only freshman. But he doesn't play like a freshman, nor does he talk like one to reporters. There is maturity in the way Haralson operates on and off the court, and with that comes the confidence the Irish have needed in their starting lineup. Haralson plays and acts like a veteran in every sense of the word, despite being 18 years old. Shrewsberry plans to treat him as such. "Wait until after we play two exhibi- tion games so nobody sees it," Shrews- berry said. "Nobody knows what's com- ing. There's other ways we're gonna unlock him as a player." 'WE GOT EVERYTHING WE NEED' Shrewsberry lingered on the court for some time after Notre Dame's 77-76 exhibition win over Butler. The third- year head coach talked with several of his old players from the 2010-11 Butler teams that made back-to-back national championship games, and he wanted to know what they thought of his team. "None of them mentioned anything about the game," Shrewsberry said. Instead, what stuck with the former Bulldogs most was a play from Moham- med late in the second half. Mohammed fought for and chased down an offensive rebound, corralled it while falling out of bounds and threw it off a nearby Butler player to retain possession. Better yet, most of Notre Dame's bench ran toward the baseline and cheered for Mohammed. This was an exhibition game. The fi- nal score didn't matter. But Moham- med's effort and his teammates' reac- tion stuck with Shrewsberry's former players, who know what it takes to win. "They were like, 'Your culture's strong,'" Shrewsberry said. "They know it, because they lived it." S h re ws b e r r y p re a c h e d c u l t u re throughout his first two seasons in South Bend. This time around, he be- lieves he has the roster to match. Notre Dame thinks its continuity — the Irish brought back seven scholarship play- ers from last season, including two of their top three scorers — and talent influx, high- lighted by Northern Arizona transfer Car- son Towt and the nation's No. 10 recruiting class, will be enough to take a massive step forward. Expectations are high for Year 3 under Shrewsberry, despite finishing un- der .500 in each of the first two. "Our goal is NCAA Tournament," Towt said. "Make a run there. Win as many games as possible. I know everyone in this building is committed to doing that." "We got size, we got shooting, we got athleticism," Burton said. "We got ev- erything we need." 'WE'VE GOT TO BE TOUGHER' Notre Dame fans have a right to be skeptical at the premise of this piece. The Irish said many of the same things at this time last season, and that did not go well. Notre Dame went 15-18 in Shrews- berry's second season, including an 8-12 mark in ACC play. Injuries to Burton, Braeden Shrewsberry and since-grad- uated guard Matt Allocco did not help, but the result of the season was not ac- ceptable for anyone involved. "Last year was one of the more stress- ful seasons I've ever been in," Micah Shrewsberry said. "And we had so much stuff going on off the court and then injuries, everything else. It affected me. It really affected me." That is not a shock to those who cov- ered or followed Notre Dame last season, as Shrewsberry grew increasingly frus- trated on the bench and even during a postgame press conference after a blow- out loss to Louisville at home. He admit- ted that he wasn't at his best as a coach during the 2024-25 season, and that his team had a fatal flaw from the jump. "We've talked about our mentality as a team," Shrewsberry said. "We've got to be tougher. We've got to win games down the stretch." Notre Dame lost six games in which it held double-digit leads last season, which Shrewsberry said is an indict- ment on mental and physical toughness. The Irish brought in renowned strength coach Jon Sanderson to help develop their players physically. On the mental side, Shrewsberry brought out a Mar- cus Freeman-ism to describe where his team needs to improve. "You've got to be able to handle suc- cess better," Shrewsberry said. "We were the same team that got those leads. Now when we get those leads, let's han- dle it the right way. When we get those leads and it starts to go the other way, let's handle it the right way." During the offseason, Shrewsberry has been encouraged with what he's seen. Talk is cheap in a "prove it" year for his pro- gram, but confidence is high in Rolfs Ath- letics Hall entering the 2025-26 season. "There's a lot more smiles during practice for me, and a lot more smiles in the game that's coming," Shrewsberry said. "Because I'm really, really enjoying this right now." ✦ 2025-26 NOTRE DAME MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Time (ET) Nov. 3 LIU Brooklyn (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Nov. 7 Detroit Mercy (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Nov. 11 Eastern Illinois (ACCNX) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 at Ohio State (FS1) 12:30 p.m. Nov. 19 Bellarmine (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Nov. 24 vs. Kansas+ (TNT) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 25 vs. Rutgers+ (TNT) 1 p.m. Nov. 26/27 vs. TBD+ TBA Dec. 2 Missouri^ (ESPNU) 9 p.m. Dec. 5 at TCU (ESPN+) 8 p.m. Dec. 10 Idaho (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Dec. 13 Evansville (ACCNX) 2 p.m. Dec. 21 Purdue Fort Wayne (ACCNX) 12 p.m. Dec. 30 at Stanford* (ESPN2) 9 p.m. Jan. 2 at California* (ESPN2) 11 p.m. Jan. 10 Clemson* (ESPN2/U) 6 p.m. Jan. 13 Miami* (ESPN2/U) 7 p.m. Jan. 17 at Virginia Tech* (ACCN) 12 p.m. Jan. 21 at North Carolina* (ESPN2) 7 p.m. Jan. 24 Boston College* (ACCN) 6 p.m. Jan. 27 Virginia* (ESPN/2/U) 7 p.m. Jan. 31 at Syracuse* (The CW) 6 p.m. Feb. 4 at Louisville* (ESPN2/U) 7 p.m. Feb. 7 Florida State* (ACCN) 4 p.m. Feb. 10 at SMU* (ACCN) 7 p.m. Feb. 14 Georgia Tech* (The CW) 12 p.m. Feb. 21 at Pittsburgh* (ACCN) 2 p.m. Feb. 24 Duke* (ESPN/2/U) 7 p.m. Feb. 28 NC State* (The CW) 12 p.m. Mar. 4 Stanford* (ESPNU) 9 p.m. Mar. 7 at Boston College* (ESPNU) 12 p.m. + Players Era Championship in Las Vegas (other teams involved are Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Creighton, Gonzaga, Houston, Iowa State, Mary- land, Michigan, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State, St. John's, Syracuse, Tennessee and UNLV); ^ ACC/SEC Challenge; * ACC Game