Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541184
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 15, 2025 47 BY JACK SOBLE W hen you look at players who transfer from mid-majors to high-majors, Notre Dame head men's basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry said, you notice an interesting trend. Scoring, he explained, often doesn't translate. But something else does. "Rebounding translates at every sin- gle level," Shrewsberry said. "I'm a good rebounder in middle school, I'm gonna go to varsity and I'm gonna go rebound. Rebound in high school, I usually re- bound in college. If I rebound in college, I usually rebound in the NBA." Northern Arizona transfer Carson Towt provided proof of concept Nov. 3. Towt, the nation's leading rebounder a year ago, grabbed 19 rebounds as Notre Dame defeated Long Island 89-67 in its season opener. That tied a career high for the sixth-year senior. It's also the program record for rebounds in a Notre Dame debut, and only five Fighting Irish had more in a single game since the turn of the century. Towt scored just 2 points — on a put- back, of course — and he led the team with 3 assists. At halftime, he had more rebounds (12) than Notre Dame's leading scorer had points (11). Six of his rebounds came on the offensive end, and defen- sively, Notre Dame seemed to struggle on the glass when he was either off the floor or drawn out to guard a shooter. "It is heart, it is effort and that's what he does," Shrewsberry said. "That's what he brings to us." The Gilbert, Ariz., native has a knack for positioning himself where the bas- ketball winds up, and when he gets his hands on it, the ball does not go any- where. He has the size to body smaller players and the length to grab rebounds over them. And he plays with relentless effort when the ball is in the air. Freshman forward Ryder Frost and sophomore guard Cole Certa looked at each other and chuckled when asked about Towt's impact. "He never stops playing," Frost said. "Yeah, I mean, we've seen it in prac- tice," Certa said, laughing. "What an addition for us this year. He's gonna be really, really good." CERTA, FROST BREAK OUT IN GAME 1 Certa and Frost turned heads them- selves against LIU, scoring 22 and 15 points, respectively. The two marksmen, both off the bench, combined to shoot 10 of 14 from three-point range. Playing his first college basketball game, Frost scored all 15 of his points in the second half. "As a shooter, I always feel like I'm confident in myself, all the hours put in," Frost said. "But after the first one went in, I definitely let the nerves calm down a little bit and just kind of settled in." While you try not to overreact to big games against overmatched opponents, Frost and an improved Certa look like revelations. They will not shoot 70 percent from three-point range every night, but they absolutely make Notre Dame a more dangerous offensive team. "When you have shooting on the floor, it opens up everything for everybody else," Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry said. "That's why you recruit shooting." Certa, Frost and Shrewsberry — the three players who are in South Bend pri- marily for their ability to shoot threes — provide the Irish with shooting depth that they did not have a year ago. In No- vember 2024, Certa was a seldom-used bench player and Frost was a senior at Exeter (N.H.) Phillips Exeter Academy. "There's a beauty and an art to being an off-the-bench gunner," Shrewsberry said. "Sometimes you forget about Cole Certa … off the bench. You can only walk through five people. You can only walk through so many sets, and you usually do it with the starters. So now it's like, hey, when he comes in, some assistant coach is standing up yelling, talking about, 'Don't let [No.] 5 shoot! "He's gonna do this! He's gonna do that!' Now you're worried about a lot of different things, sometimes those guys slip your mind. Next thing you know, they got 37." Notre Dame scored 52 bench points against LIU. Eleven players checked in by the 13-minute mark of the first half, and Frost was the 11th. The Irish had their entire second unit in, not even five minutes into the game. It's too early to declare Notre Dame a deep team, but the first impression was as promising as it can get. "I think we have 11 guys that are capa- ble," Shrewsberry said. "Sometimes in practice, people separate. There hasn't been much separation in practice." "We have so many guys that can do so many good things," Certa said. "So, I think scoring-wise, the sky's the limit." ✦ Carson Towt Sets Rebounding Record In Notre Dame Debut MEN'S BASKETBALL Towt — who led the nation in rebounding last year at Northern Arizona — was as good as advertised in his first game with the Irish, grabbing 19 boards in his debut. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS 2025-26 NOTRE DAME NOVEMBER/DECEMBER SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Time (ET)/Result Nov. 3 LIU Brooklyn W, 89-67 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. + Players Era Championship in Las Vegas (other teams involved are Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Creighton, Gonzaga, Houston, Iowa State, Mary- land, Michigan, Oregon, San Diego State, St. John's, Syracuse, Tennessee and UNLV); ^ ACC/SEC Challenge; * ACC Game