las vegas – The Players Era and Feast Week kicked off in the entertainment capital of the world as Notre Dame men’s basketball took on Kansas on Monday inside MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The Fighting Irish (4-2) jumped out to an early lead over the Jayhawks (4-2), but a 1-12 shooting stretch put them in a seven-point halftime deficit. The Irish had a chance to get a chance and gain momentum, but a few more missed chances late proved costly in a 61–71 defeat.
Marcus Burton scored a game high 24 points on 9-18 shooting, also 6-6 from the FT line. Jalen Harrelson finished with 13 points and five rebounds, followed by Braden Shrewsberry with nine points.
Carson Tout led all players with 10 rebounds. He has recorded double-digit rebounds in every game this season and is now averaging 12.2 boards per game.
A statistic that doomed the Irish on Monday: 4-24 from three-point range.
How did this happened?
It was a battle from the moment the ball was hit, but Notre Dame was aggressive early on. The Irish led 9–5 at the first media timeout with scores from Burton, Tout, Harrelson and Sundra.
Tied at 13-all, Ng knocked down a pair of free throws to put the Irish back in front, but the momentum soon shifted in the Jayhawks’ favor.
A Kansas run was initially started on an advanced flagrant, resulting in a 9–0 run by the Jayhawks to take a 22–15 lead in just 1:30 of the game.
The run continued and they extended their lead to 11, with Notre Dame shooting only 1-12 from the floor.
Six straight points from Burton brought the Irish within eight at 34–26 with 1:53 remaining, but Kansas’ Bryson Tiller led the Jayhawks to their largest lead of the day (13) at 39–26.
Back-to-back treys from Shrewsbury and Serta, coupled with huge defensive stops, pulled the Irish back to single digits at the half, trailing 32–39.
Seven different Irish players had half points, but Burton was the only one in double figures with 10 points. Notre Dame shot 9-28 (.321) in the first half compared to Kansas’ 15-31 (.484). The Jayhawks recorded 22 of their 39 points in the paint, with Flory Bidunga recording 14 points on 6-9 shooting.
Notre Dame’s defense recorded a kill early to keep the momentum going and cut the deficit from 40–45 to five by the 14:29 media timeout.
Shortly thereafter, Kansas’ Melvin Council Jr., who entered the game 1-13 from beyond the arc, converted back-to-back triples to put the Jayhawks up 11. Then, Haralson and Burton attacked the rim to pull within six at 47-53.
The Irish were pushing and had some pace. Sir Mohammed’s jumper in the paint made it a four-point ballgame. One stop later, and the Irish had a look from three to make it a one-point game, but it didn’t fall. Then, KU’s Tiller converted back-to-back buckets to push the lead to eight.
A Shrewsberry triple at 3:57 cut the margin to seven, but Kansas’ Jamari McDowell answered with a shot of his own to make it 57–67.
A Harrelson finish at the rim brought the Irish within eight at 2:16, but back-to-back Kansas buckets pushed the Jayhawk lead to 12 at 71–59.
Burton would have one last layup in the final seconds to cut the deficit to 10 as Kansas made it 71–61.
answer next
Notre Dame begins the Players Era Tuesday with Rutgers at 1pm ET/10pm PT. That match will be on TNT.
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