After holding on for a victory against Georgia Tech on Tuesday, Notre Dame men's basketball (13-19) returns to action on Wednesday afternoon in the second round of the ACC Tournament in Washington D.C.
The No. 12 seed Irish will take the floor against No. 5 seed Wake Forest (19-12), who ended its regular season with three losses in its last four games, including a 70-65 loss in South Bend on Feb. 27.
Freshman guard Braeden Shrewsberry, Micah’s son, is coming off a 23-point performance, which broke a program record for most points by an Irish freshman in their ACC Tournament debut. Meanwhile, Shrewsberry’s backcourt mate and fellow freshman guard Markus Burton poured in 21 points and eight assists.
Tae Davis and Kebba Njie also played crucial roles in stretches of yesterday’s win, and are expected to round out the starting lineup alongside forward Carey Booth.
In the first meeting, Burton exploded for a career-high 31 points. After trailing by five at halftime, the Irish outscored the Demon Deacons by 10 in the second half and held Wake Forest's leading scorer, Hunter Sallis, to seven points on 2-of-11 shooting.
Sallis, a 41% shooter from the 3-point line, finished the year averaging 18.3 points per game. Sallis was named to first-team All-ACC earlier this week. Kevin Miller, Cameron Hildreth and Andrew Carr are other talented scorers for Wake Forest capable of scoring 15-20 points.
Wake Forest committed 12 turnovers against ND in the first matchup while the Irish only had six. Georgia Tech ramped up its full-court pressure in yesterday’s second half and the Demon Deacons could elect to show similar defensive pressure, either in the full or half-court, and force Notre Dame’s other ball-handlers beside Burton (Davis, Shrewsberry, Logan Imes) to beat pressure consistently.
The winner advances to Thursday’s quarterfinal round, where No. 4 Pittsburgh awaits.
Tip: 2:30 p.m. EST
Watch: ESPN
Listen: Notre Dame Radio Network
Follow live stats here.
The No. 12 seed Irish will take the floor against No. 5 seed Wake Forest (19-12), who ended its regular season with three losses in its last four games, including a 70-65 loss in South Bend on Feb. 27.
Freshman guard Braeden Shrewsberry, Micah’s son, is coming off a 23-point performance, which broke a program record for most points by an Irish freshman in their ACC Tournament debut. Meanwhile, Shrewsberry’s backcourt mate and fellow freshman guard Markus Burton poured in 21 points and eight assists.
Tae Davis and Kebba Njie also played crucial roles in stretches of yesterday’s win, and are expected to round out the starting lineup alongside forward Carey Booth.
In the first meeting, Burton exploded for a career-high 31 points. After trailing by five at halftime, the Irish outscored the Demon Deacons by 10 in the second half and held Wake Forest's leading scorer, Hunter Sallis, to seven points on 2-of-11 shooting.
Sallis, a 41% shooter from the 3-point line, finished the year averaging 18.3 points per game. Sallis was named to first-team All-ACC earlier this week. Kevin Miller, Cameron Hildreth and Andrew Carr are other talented scorers for Wake Forest capable of scoring 15-20 points.
Wake Forest committed 12 turnovers against ND in the first matchup while the Irish only had six. Georgia Tech ramped up its full-court pressure in yesterday’s second half and the Demon Deacons could elect to show similar defensive pressure, either in the full or half-court, and force Notre Dame’s other ball-handlers beside Burton (Davis, Shrewsberry, Logan Imes) to beat pressure consistently.
The winner advances to Thursday’s quarterfinal round, where No. 4 Pittsburgh awaits.
Tip: 2:30 p.m. EST
Watch: ESPN
Listen: Notre Dame Radio Network
Follow live stats here.
