Notre Dame has not enjoyed a lot of success this season, but one of the bright spots of its campaign took place last month against Syracuse.
The visiting Fighting Irish hope to sweep their season series with the Orange on Saturday when the teams square off in Atlantic Coast Conference action.
Notre Dame (8-9, 2-4) has already endured a five-game losing streak and a separate four-game skid. The team had not won since Dec. 22 before a 78-60 home triumph over Boston College on Monday.
Tae Davis led the way with 26 points and Markus Burton chipped in 20 points for the Irish, who are tied with the Orange (8-9, 2-4) in the ACC, albeit much lower in the standings than either team had hoped.
Syracuse had an opportunity to win a third straight game Tuesday but was torched 85-61 by visiting Louisville. Chris Bell had 18 points off the bench for the Orange, but their starting backcourt trio of J.J. Starling, Lucas Taylor and Elijah Moore totaled just four points — all by Starling — on 1-of-15 shooting from the floor.
“If J.J. scores four points, we’re gonna have a tough time to win,” Syracuse coach Adrian Autry said.
Of course, things were also tough for the Orange in their first matchup with the Irish, as Syracuse failed to make a 3-pointer in a game for the first time since 2014. Burton missed that Dec. 7 contest with a knee injury, but Notre Dame received a career-high-tying 25 points from Braeden Shrewsberry in a 69-64 victory.
“Credit to them for winning, but they’re a team that we definitely could’ve beat,” said Moore, whose team played without Starling that day. “We beat ourselves down with simple mistakes and just our game plan.”
The Irish’s plan on Saturday will likely consist of getting the ball to Davis, who has scored in double figures in each of the last 12 games.
“He’s a hard matchup,” said coach Micah Shrewsberry, who added after the win over BC that “Tae’s just been comfortable making the right play, reading the defense. He closed down the game for us when we needed him.”
–Field Level Media
