Notre Dame takes one win, two losses in Players Era Festival
The Notre Dame men’s basketball team traveled to Las Vegas last week to participate in the Players Era Festival, which had a field of loaded talent. The tournament was created in 2024, and in its second year, the festival had 18 quality teams playing across three days. Notre Dame went 1-2 in their three games, but all were hard fought as the Irish showed they can compete with some of the best teams in the country.
Kansas
Notre Dame’s first game of the tournament was played against Kansas, where the Irish lost 71-61. Although they lost by 10 points, the game seemed much closer. The first half consisted of runs by both teams, with Kansas jumping out to a 39-26 lead before the Irish cut the lead to seven as the half came to a close. The story throughout the game was Kansas’ domination in the paint, with sophomore forward Flory Bidunga having 18 points and nine rebounds and freshman forward Bryson Tiller adding 17 points and nine rebounds.
The second half of the game was similar to the first, with the Irish constantly getting close to Kansas through numerous runs but not being quite able to get over the hump. Junior guard Markus Burton was a bright spot for the Irish as usual, putting up 24 points on an efficient nine-for-18 shooting. Freshman forward Jalen Haralson had another solid outing with 13 points for the Irish. Notre Dame cut it to 55-51 with around eight minutes left in the game, but Kansas quickly answered and did not look back.
The game’s main takeaways are that the Irish can definitely rely on Burton and Haralson to put up good numbers no matter who the competition is, but they are still looking for other scorers to rely on, especially in bigger games. Another area of concern that was exploited in this game was interior defense and interior scoring, because the majority of Kansas’ work was done in the paint, for Kansas gave themselves various second chances with offensive rebounds. Kansas is a perennial blue blood in college basketball, so for this young Notre Dame team, it was positive to see them go toe-to-toe with Kansas throughout the game and show they can compete on a big stage.
Rutgers
Notre Dame’s second game of the tournament was played against Rutgers, where they got a strong 68-63 win over the Scarlet Knights. The Irish started off slow before heating up quickly and taking on a 19-point lead. After Notre Dame had built that lead, and the first half began to wind down, Rutgers ended the half on a mini run to make the score 36-24 at the end of the half, providing themselves with a chance to come back in the second.
Once again, Burton led the Irish in scoring with 21 points, and, again, he was extremely efficient going nine for 13 on shooting. Burton also did some damage behind the arc, going two for four from the 3-point line, as he had not shot as well from deep to start the season. Seemingly routinely, Haralson again was Notre Dame’s second leading scorer with 15 points. What seemed to be a difference in this game for the Irish was they had the third scorer that they’ve been needing: junior guard Braeden Shrewsberry with 13 points, going three for six from the 3-point line and five for 11 overall.
The second half of the game was worrisome for Irish fans because Notre Dame seemed to not be able to shut the door and simply run away from Rutgers. Every time the Irish went on a run and looked to be making the game out of distance, Rutgers would respond and keep themselves in it. Notre Dame hovered around a 10-point lead for much of the second half, but Rutgers did a good job staying in it.
This was a strong showing for Notre Dame, getting their best win of the season up to this point, but the win seemed to lack in satisfaction for the team because of the fact that they couldn’t shut the door and get a blowout opponent over another competitive team.
Houston
Notre Dame’s third and final game of the Players Era tournament was against Houston, a top-10 team in the country. This was certainly an interesting matchup for the Irish considering Houston’s experienced and talented roster behind one of the best coaches in the country, Kelvin Sampson.
The Irish definitely came out of the gates nervous, going down 26-4 rather quickly in the first half. The Houston defense was seemingly overwhelming Notre Dame’s offense and dominating physically throughout the first half. However, the fight the Irish showed the rest of the game after getting off to a terrible start is probably their biggest accomplishment of the season. Notre Dame fought back in the first half to make it a 39-25-point game going into halftime, a much more reasonable deficit compared to 22 points.
Houston made Burton work for his points all day, but he still tallied 19 points going six for 14 as he played every single minute of the game. Haralson added 14 points going four for eight in only 22 minutes. In another big game, the Irish couldn’t find that strong third scorer, which hurt them in the late second half when they were making a strong push to get back in the game.
With 11 minutes left in the game, Notre Dame cut the lead to four and seemed to have all the momentum, but around that time, they started to lose steam, and Houston took the momentum back. Houston was led by senior guard Emanuel Sharp with 17 points and senior guard Milos Uzan who added 15 points. The game ended in a 66-56 loss for the Irish.
Even with the result being a loss, this seemed to be a confidence booster for Notre Dame’s team. When most teams go down 22 points in the first half, they are deflated and give up, but the Irish never stopped fighting and even had a chance to take the lead in the second half of the game.
Although Notre Dame went 1-2 in this event, their two losses were close against two of the top programs in college basketball and two teams that will definitely be dancing in March. If the Irish can learn from these results and get more comfortable playing in close games against top teams, there is a lot to look forward to this season.
Notre Dame’s next matchup will be against Missouri at home on Tuesday, Dec. 2 for the ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge, where the Irish will have another opportunity to get a quality win and boost their resume.
