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LAS VEGAS – The Players Era and Feast Week got underway in the Entertainment Capital of the World as Notre Dame men’s basketball battled Kansas inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Monday.
The Fighting Irish (4-2) grabbed an early lead on the Jayhawks (4-2), but a 1-12 shooting stretch dropped them into a seven-point halftime deficit. The Irish had a chance to pull within one and seize the momentum, but a few more missed opportunities late proved costly in a 61-71 defeat.
Markus Burton scored a game-high 24 points on 9-18 shooting, plus a 6-6 day from the FT line. Jalen Haralson finished with 13 points and five rebounds, followed by Braeden Shrewsberry with nine points.
Carson Towt 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 stat that doomed the Irish on Monday: 4-24 from three-point range.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a battle from the minute the ball tipped, but Notre Dame was the aggressor to start. The Irish posted a 9-5 lead heading into the first media timeout with scoring from Burton, Towt, Haralson, and Sundra.
Tied at 13-all, Njie would knock down a pair of free throws to put the Irish back in front, but the momentum soon shifted in favor of the Jayhawks.
A Kansas run was initially started on an upgraded flagrant one, which resulted in the Jayhawks going on a 9-0 run to take a 22-15 lead over just 1:30 of play.
The run continued as they extended their lead to 11 with Notre Dame shooting just 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 would surge the Jayhawks to their largest lead of the day (13) at 39-26.
Back-to-back treys from Shrewsberry and Certa, coupled with huge defensive stops, pulled the Irish back to single digits at the half, trailing 32-39.
Seven different Irish players had points at the half, but Burton was the lone 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 registering 14 points on 6-9 shooting.
Notre Dame’s defense registered a ‘kill’ early to keep pace and cut the deficit to five by the 14:29 media timeout, down 40-45.
Soon after, Kansas’ Melvin Council Jr., who entered the game 1-13 from beyond the arc, converted back-to-back triples to extend the Jayhawks back to 11. Next, Haralson and Burton kept attacking the rim to pull within six at 47-53.
The Irish were pushing and had some momentum. A Sir Mohammed jumper in the paint made it a four-point ballgame. A stop later, and the Irish had a look from three to make it a one-point game, but it didn’t fall. Then, Tiller for KU converted back-to-back buckets to balloon the lead to eight.
A Shrewsberry triple at 3:57 cut the gap to seven, but Kansas’ Jamari McDowell answered with one of his own to make it 57-67.
A Haralson 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 would take it home 71-61.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame will kick off Tuesday Players Era play with Rutgers at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. That match will be on TNT.
– ND –
