Notre Dame will enter ACC play on Saturday riding a five-game losing streak against the Syracuse Orange. The Irish, who have been without star player sophomore Markus Burton, have struggled on both sides of the ball, putting up just 48 points against the Georgia Bulldogs this past Tuesday during the ACC/SEC Challenge.
Photo via Notre Dame Athletics
Since starting the season 4-0, the Irish have not been able to find a way to win including a home loss to Elon back on Nov. 22, going 0-3 in the inaugural Players Era Festival, and now a 21-point loss this past Tuesday.
One of the biggest issues for the Irish thus far is the inconsistent guard play. This is understandable due to the injury Burton sustained in the opening minutes against Rutgers on Nov. 26. However, Notre Dame has played in four games since, being outscored by a combined 37 points and averaging just 65.5 points per game over that span.
Senior point guard Matt Allocco was set to take the reigns as the leader for the Irish in Burton’s absence, but the production has not yet been there. After scoring 24 points against Rutgers, Allocco is averaging just 8.3 points per game on 33% shooting. On Tuesday against the Bulldogs, Allocco scored just five points and shot 2-8 from the field. For Notre Dame to compete, especially in the first ACC game of the season, Allocco is going to have to be more efficient from the field.
As far as guard play goes, sophomore Braden Shrewsberry is seemingly the only one that is willing to put up shots. He has put up a total of 72 shots in the last four games, shooting 34.7% in that timeframe. The shots will start falling for the Granger, Indiana native as he progresses through his second season in South Bend, but his confidence has not faltered.
On the other side of the ball, the Orange are led by a familiar face in J.J. Starling, who was a former member of the Notre Dame basketball squad for one season before Micah Shrewsberry took over as the Fighting Irish head coach. Now, in different colors, Starling is off to a tremendous start averaging 19.8 PPG on 46.8% shooting. Starling, a former five-star recruit from Baldwinsville, New York, had a 38-point performance earlier on in the year, and just recently put up 27 points against Texas Tech on Nov. 22.
The one spot the Irish can get Starling is his perimeter shooting which has lacked dating back to his days in South Bend. He’s a career 31.1% shooter from three-point land as he is putting up the lowest percentage of his collegiate career this season, shooting just 29% from distance. While he continues to give teams fits on offense, keeping Starling away from the basket is going to be the number one priority for Notre Dame.
Freshman Elijah Moore, who is shooting 40% from three, could be the biggest issue for the Irish. Against Georgia, senior guard Dakota Leffew was a massive problem from deep as he knocked down four threes in 25 minutes of play. Notre Dame needs to prove they can defend the three-point line, a department that has been rocky for the Irish thus far. Moore put up his best performances in his last two games, including a 24-point performance against the number three ranked Tennessee Volunteers on Tuesday. While Starling will be able to get downhill at a high rate, Moore is going to be the biggest problem for the Irish to deal with.
Notre Dame has also been up-and-down defending opposing team’s front courts through the first nine games of the season. Against Georgia, freshman forward Asa Newell was a massive part of the Bulldogs run to a massive lead in the first half, as he finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Eddie Lampkin Jr. of Syracuse is going to be the big man down low to stop. Standing at 6’11”, Lampkin Jr. will make the Irish’s lives complicated if they let him get hot, which is why senior forward Nikita Konstantynovskyi could see a larger chunk of playing time on Saturday. Averaging just 8.3 minutes per game, Konstantynovskyi is the second tallest player on the roster at 6’10”. He, along with junior forward Kebba Njie and freshman forward Garrett Sundra, will be rotating heavily in the lineup to try and combat the paint.
Sundra has seen a significant jump in playing time in his last two games, playing 33 minutes combined. Against Georgia, he played 22 minutes, scoring five points and grabbing just two rebounds. As the Orange come to South Bend, Sundra’s production on the glass is going to have to take a step forward as he is the tallest member of the Irish standing at 6’11”.
It's the ACC opener and Notre Dame is pushing for fans to wear green for the noon tipoff. A team on a five-game losing streak needing a win in the worst way should not struggle to find motivation to play this game. Start early and keep Syracuse’s runs to a minimum. Thus far, allowing opposing teams to go on large runs has been the Achilles heel for the Irish. Despite the slow start, Notre Dame has a huge opportunity to start conference play undefeated.
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