The Notre Dame basketball week is already under way with its 15-point loss to Clemson Wednesday night. The Irish were without two of their top four scorers, as sophomore guard Braeden Shrewsberry is out for the season and senior guard Matt Allocco was also injured.
Photo via Notre Dame Athletics
Despite the lopsided scoreboard, the Irish fought hard against the Tigers and never went away until the buzzer sounded. Sophomore guard Markus Burton finished with 30 points, five assists and four rebounds, while also knocking down two of his four attempted threes.
While the expectations were already high for Burton, they rise even more with the loss of Shrewsberry for the season as Notre Dame travels to Wake Forest for its final road game of the season. They enter riding a two-game losing streak, with the most recent coming at home against Virginia. Now with just three games remaining, the Demon Deacons are sitting at 19-9 and hungry for a tournament appearance.
Wake Forest is led by senior guard Hunter Sallis, who has scored 20 or more points in four of his last five games. He’s now averaging 18.6 points per game on 47.3% shooting, 5.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists.
Sallis’ right-hand man, senior guard Cam Hildreth from Worthing, England, is experiencing one of the hottest stretches of his career. He’s scored 20 or more points in five of Wake Forest’s last six games and is shooting 52.6% from three during that same span.
In the post, it will be senior forward Tre’Von Spillers who stands at 6’7” and is averaging 10.1 PPG with 7.7 RPG. The Deacons haven’t gotten the production out of Spillers during this two-game skid, as he’s shooting just 7-18 from the field while shooting 53.4% on the season. Should Wake Forest play through the month of March, Spillers is going to need to have big performances as the season concludes, starting against Notre Dame.
It was heartbreak for the Notre Dame women’s team this past Sunday, as the Irish traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina for their first loss since Nov. 30 to the hands of the North Carolina State Wolfpack.
Photo via Notre Dame Athletics
They had won 19 straight games and were off to the best start in ACC play in nearly 10 years. Notre Dame is now ranked third in the country and will play its final two games in Purcell Pavilion against No. 24 Florida State and No. 25 Louisville, who has already suffered a loss to the Irish this season back on Feb. 2.
Following back-to-back losses, Florida State has won three straight games including a ranked road win over Georgia Tech on Sunday. This was good enough to catapult the Seminoles into the top 25 as they stand at 22-6 and tied with Duke and Louisville for the fourth spot in the ACC.
The Seminoles have the highest scoring offense in the ACC averaging 89.4 PPG, but give up the second most points in the conference at 71.2 per game. That high-scoring offense is led by Ta’Niya Latson, a junior guard averaging the most points in the country with 26.2 PPG on 47.6% shooting, along with 4.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists. Latson has seven games this season where she’s scored 30 or more points, including a 40-point performance against Virginia Tech on Jan. 2. She has also scored 20 or more points in her last eight games, and 11 of her last 12.
Latson has missed the last three games for Florida State but is expected to go on Thursday against the Irish, giving us a matchup between the top two scorers in the nation.
With Latson out, senior forward Makayla Timpson has stepped up for the Seminoles, averaging 20.3 PPG over her last three games. Standing at 6’2”, Timpson is averaging 10.6 RPG on the season and has 14 games with 10 or more rebounds, including 16 against Georgia Tech on Sunday.
The combo of Latson and Timpson is going to give the Irish headaches, but ensuring you get out on shooters like O’Mariah Gordon is just as important. While Gordon has missed the last two games and is not confirmed to be playing, she did score 34 points in her most recent action against Miami on Feb. 16. Gordon is shooting 39.6% from three-point land and is averaging 3.7 attempts per game.
To win the ACC outright, the Irish are going to have to take care of business first against Florida State and then Louisville on Sunday in the regular season finale.
The Irish already knocked off Louisville earlier in February as the Cardinals responded with four straight wins including two against ranked opponents on the road, and one ranked opponent at home. Following a home loss to No. 9 North Carolina, the Cardinals will take on Clemson on Thursday before traveling to South Bend for a date with the Irish on Sunday.
Louisville prides itself on defense, giving up an average of 67.9 PPG, however, that was not the case as Notre Dame scored 89 points and won by 18 in the first meeting. Tajianna Roberts, the 5’10” freshman phenom, had 17 points against the Irish and is averaging 15 PPG in her last seven games.
Senior forward Olivia Cochran, who is averaging 10.1 PPG on the season, was the second leading scorer for the Cardinals in their first matchup, finishing with 14 points on 6-11 shooting. Despite the solid performance against Notre Dame, Cochran is shooting just 9-28 in her last three games, averaging 9 PPG in that same timeframe.
The Cardinals will also look to senior Jayda Curry who has been in double figures in four straight games, averaging 19.5 PPG during that stretch. Against the Irish, she was scrappy on defense collecting a season-high five steals in her 26 minutes of action. She will put up plenty of shots, as the 5’6” guard is averaging 10.3 shots per game in her last three games.
While Notre Dame still sits atop of the ACC after the loss to North Carolina State, the Irish do not have an easy path to a conference championship. A high-power offense on Thursday followed by a scrappy defense on Sunday to close out the season is a daunting task. It will be a matter of grit and toughness for Notre Dame, especially on their home court.
The game against Florida State will tip off at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast on the ACC Network.
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