Preview: What Virginia Basketball fans need to know about Notre Dame

To say that Notre Dame, under first-year head coach Micah Shrewsberry, is struggling would be understating the concept of struggling.

The Irish (5-7, 0-1 ACC) scored 45 points in a 20-point home loss to The Citadel two weeks ago, and had to rally to defeat Marist by four in its next game out.

That one was Notre Dame’s second KenPom Top 300 win, for those keeping score at home.

For Shrewsberry, who led Penn State to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011 last season before taking the job in South Bend, it’s been, to say the least, a rough go.

“I think we’ve become closer as a team,” Shrewsberry said. “I tell them, like, sometimes I’ll give you something to become closer with, a reason. I’ll be the common enemy if I need to be, if that rallies you guys together. But we have gotten a great response. I think they’ve gotten closer as a team. I think our staff has gotten closer. I think we understand what we need to do and how we need to play at all times.”

Shrewsberry does have an advantage going into Saturday’s game with Virginia (10-2, 1-0 ACC), in the form of Kyle Getter, a former assistant at UVA under Tony Bennett, who Shrewsberry lured to Notre Dame after he got the job to be his top assistant.

“I’m talking with Coach Getter last night, and you play Miami, and Miami has spurtability, where they go on these runs, and it might be 8-0 in a minute, and you’re just like, you feel it, everybody knows it. Virginia has the same ability to go 8-0, but it will be longer, right?” Shrewsberry said.

“You might not recognize you’re in the midst of an 8-0 run. It can be a game-changing run, but it could be three to four minutes. Obviously, they’re one of the best defensive teams in the country, and they’ve been like that for a while. They have the ability to just tighten the screws on you.”

Rotation breakdown

Freshman point guard Markus Burton (16.0 ppg, 3.6 assists/g, 40.3% FG, 22.4% 3FG) is the leading scorer, and a high-volume shooter (14.7 FGA/g).

The 5’11” Burton is also a turnover machine (3.9 turnovers/g).

The rest of the starting lineup has size.

In the post, the starters are a pair of 6’10” guys – Carey Booth (6.4 ppg, 3.9 rebs/g, 38.8% FG, 33.3% 3FG) and Kebba Njie (3.8 ppg, 4.3 rebs/g, 26.5% FG, 20.0% 3FG).

The big off the bench is 6’9” senior Matt Zona (2.3 ppg, 2.4 rebs/g, 45.5% FG, 27.3% 3FG).

JR Konieczny, at 6’7”, is a big two guard (9.8 ppg, 5.8 rebs/g, 41.5% FG, 26.7% 3FG).

He splits time at the two and three spots with (coach’s son alert) 6’3” freshman Braeden Shrewsberry (7.3 ppg, 32.0% FG, 26.0% 3FG) and 6’4” Northwestern transfer Julian Roper (8.9 ppg, 5.2 rebs/g, 43.0% FG, 35.9% 3FG).

6’9” Seton Hall transfer Tae Davis (8.7 ppg, 5.8 rebs/g, 49.4% FG, 10.5% 3FG) splits his time between the three and four spots.

Metrics

Stats: KenPom

Offense: Notre Dame 0.969 PPP (314), Virginia 1.060 PPP (139)

Defense: Notre Dame 1.011 PPP (115), Virginia 0.896 PPP (3)

Tempo: Notre Dame 65.3 poss/g (330), Virginia 61.8 poss/g (361)

Projected Final: 60-51 Virginia (80% win probability)