Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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38 JANUARY 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY JACK SOBLE A fter the final horn sounded on Notre Dame's 87-85 overtime win over TCU Dec. 5, a fired-up freshman guard Jalen Haralson exchanged words with an equally fired-up general manager Pat Garrity. "Come on!" Haralson yelled. Haralson might not have noticed amid the elation that followed his first signa- ture moment in a Notre Dame uniform, but to his left, junior guard Markus Bur- ton was grinning from ear to ear. Burton would have loved to be on the court alongside Haralson. Instead, he had to watch in crutches and a large boot in- stead. Burton could only tap Haralson on the back to congratulate him, but he was just as thrilled as the rest of his team- mates at what the Irish had just done. With 9.9 seconds left in regulation and Notre Dame down by two points, Haralson raced up the court following a missed TCU free throw. He backed down a defender on the right wing, got to his spot, stepped back and hoisted a do-or-die fadeaway jump shot. The force required to get the shot off jettisoned Haralson to his behind, so he had a great seat to watch it fly. And it hit nothing but bottom. Haralson then scored the first four points of overtime before dishing to sophomore guard Cole Certa in the left corner. Certa had a defender in his grill, but it's hard to overstate how little he cared about that. He drained his sixth three-pointer of the night, on Haral- son's ninth assist. Four free throws and a last-second stop at the other end gave the Irish just enough to pull off a Quad 1 road win without their best player. Burton suffered a serious-looking lower-leg injury during the first half while he made a difficult layup. When he tried to get up, he couldn't put any weight on his left leg. It was devastating for Notre Dame's point guard, who had been play- ing the best basketball of his career with 24 points and 15 assists in a game and change against Missouri and TCU. All eyes now turn to Burton's status. Head coach Micah Shrewsberry said after the game that he did not know whether the Mishawaka native and Penn High gradu- ate would be out long-term, although he did confirm that his injury was "ankle- related." The Irish can survive without him for a month, with nothing but buy games against mid-major teams until their ACC slate begins Dec. 30. They cannot survive without him for the rest of the year. But if Notre Dame's worst fears are not confirmed, this week signaled the turning of a corner. The Irish beat two good teams in Missouri and TCU, de- feating the latter without their best player. And the best part? Nothing about either win was easy. They had to earn it, and they did. "We don't look like we're that tough, but these dudes are tough, man," Shrewsberry said. "Situation to situation, possession to possession. They're just tough, from top to bottom. And they got a lot of belief that we're never out of a game. We're gonna do whatever it takes to get back in it." DIFFERENT TEAM After his dagger three-pointer — his third in the final five minutes — with 18 seconds left to beat Missouri, Cole Certa was riding high. But he had mo- ments like that in the past, and he had come back down to earth in the games that followed. Certa needed an encore. How did that go? Well, Notre Dame trailed 45-38 early in the second half at TCU. Four possessions — yes, pos- sessions — later, the Irish led 50-47. All their points came on Certa-fied threes. "I thought Cole was just so gutsy, man," Shrewsberry said. "But that's who he is. And that's how he plays." Haralson was also gutsy down the stretch, tying Certa for the team lead with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting and, just as significantly, 9 assists. He took over point guard duties with Burton sidelined, and after some early struggles (Shrewsberry said the Irish were "shell shocked" after Burton's injury), he delivered. "I told Jalen right before we went out after halftime, I said, 'You've got to be the best player on the floor with no doubt of who that is,'" Shrewsberry said. "And I thought he did that in the second half." The Irish might have gone 0-2 this week without Haralson (13 points before fouling out against Missouri) and Certa. You can put seventh-year forward Carson Towt in that group, too. Towt was such a menace at TCU that he eventually got booed ev- ery time he touched the ball, fouling out in overtime with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Haralson and Towt have been phenom- enal additions. Certa, if he can keep this going for longer stretches, might as well be in that group (he played sparingly as a freshman last year). They give this team confidence that it can find a way to win. All of it might be for naught, though, if Burton can't return. ✦ Monumental Week, But A (Potentially) Heavy Cost MEN'S B A S K E T B A L L 2025-26 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE AND RESULTS Date Opponent (TV) Time (ET)/Result Nov. 3 LIU Brooklyn W, 89-67 Nov. 7 Detroit Mercy W, 102-70 Nov. 11 Eastern Illinois W, 78-58 Nov. 16 at Ohio State L, 64-63 Nov. 19 Bellarmine W, 86-79 Nov. 24 vs. Kansas+ L, 71-61 Nov. 25 vs. Rutgers+ W, 68-63 Nov. 26 vs. Houston+ L, 66-56 Dec. 2 Missouri^ W, 76-71 Dec. 5 at TCU W, 87-85 (OT) 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. + Players Era Championship in Las Vegas; ^ ACC/ SEC Challenge; * ACC Game Freshman guard Jalen Haralson notched 13 points in a 76-71 win over Missouri Dec. 2, and then tallied 20 points (including the game-tying shot to force overtime with just 2.3 seconds to go),› 9 assists and 5 rebounds in an 87-85 victory at TCU Dec. 5. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER