Syracuse opened up ACC play by visiting a wounded Notre Dame team, as they entered the game having lost both five straight outings and their best player, Markus Burton, to injury. The Orange (4-4) could not take advantage, however, making no 3-point shots in a game for the first time in ten years in falling to the Fighting Irish (5-5), 69-64.
SU shot a respectable 47 percent from the field, as they only attempted nine 3’s in the game. The Irish, meanwhile, made 8-of-22 shots from behind the arc, making up more than the margin of victory in a game that was fairly close on the stat sheet.
SU fell behind early and spent most of the first half in chase mode. Notre Dame could not truly run away and their lead never got bigger than five points in the early minutes. When the Irish pulled in front by five points for the second time, Jyare Davis erased the gap with a personal 7-2 run to tie the game at 16 a side on a 3-point play just past the midpoint of the first half.
The hosts answered with a run of their own, scoring seven of the game’s next eight points to take their largest lead to that point at 23-17. The Irish then answered an Eddie Lampkin basket with a 3-pointer to stretch their lead to seven and force a timeout with 3:28 left in the half, then pushed it to 30-22 less than two minutes later.
A Lucas Taylor basket and two Donnie Freeman free throws (a rare commodity in the first half, as Syracuse made 8-of-16 foul shots in the half) pulled the Orange within 30-26 at intermission. SU did that even better a couple minutes out of the break, getting layups from Jaquan Carlos and Freeman to take their first lead of the day at 34-33.
Notre Dame replied with a pair of Braeden Shrewsbury triples to go back on top by five, but Syracuse cashed in on three straight trips to take a one-point lead once more at 40-39. Three minutes later, the Orange went up by a two on a pair of Freeman foul shots and a Davis jumper.
The Fighting Irish did just that, taking another three-point lead. SU bounced right back with a Davis 3-point-play and two more Freeman free throws for a 56-54 lead with under seven minutes to go. The back-and-forth continued with five more Notre Dame points, but Syracuse responded to tie the game at 60 apiece with under four minutes to play
The Irish owned those last four minutes, as Shrewsbury immediately hit his fifth 3 to go back in front, then added another under 90 seconds later to stretch their lead to 67-62. The Orange got a layup, but could get no closer and a couple foul shots salted the game away for the hosts.
Freeman and Davis were the two consistent sources of offense in the game for SU, each scoring 20 points. Freeman also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds on the day for his fourth double-double of the season. Carlos added eight points and handed out a game-high seven assists.
Shrewsbury topped Notre Dame with 25 points, knocking down six 3-pointers in the contest. Tae Davis and J.R. Konieczny each added 15 points, while Kebba Njie had nine points and a team-best nine boards. Those four were the only players to make a field goal in the game for the Irish.
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