The Notre Dame men’s basketball team is off to a solid 3-0 start after taking down Eastern Illinois on Tuesday night, 78-58.
From the ND press release:
Strong Second Half Seals 78-58 Victory over Eastern Illinois
Shrewsberry and Haralson combine for 28 points in the second half
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame Men’s Basketball ended the season-opening homestand on a good note, as a strong second half performance earned them the 78-58 victory over Eastern Illinois. This marks the first time since the 2016-17 season in which the Fighting Irish have opened the season with
three straight 20+ point victories.
Braeden Shrewsberry and Jalen Haralson shone bright in the second half, combining for 28 points. The junior was 5-6 from three-point range in the half and finished the game 6-8 for 18 total points. Haralson scored 13 of his 17 in the second and finished the night a perfect 6-6 from the field.
Shrewsberry is now 11-16 from three over the last two games. He’s compiled 37 points in that span.
Markus Burton registered his 30th career game with 20+ points with 21 tonight. The junior guard was 8-19 from the floor. Carson Towt earned his third straight game with double-digit rebounds grabbing 11 boards. He now has 40 over the first three games.
A strong second half on both sides of the ball surged the Irish forward in the second 20 minutes of play. While shooting just 2-13 from behind the arc in the first half, Notre Dame shot an impressive 46.7% from deep in the second half, knocking down 7-of-15.
Defensively, the Irish held the Panthers to just 8 field goals in the half, which included a nine-minute stretch where the Irish didn’t allow a single field goal from EIU. The Irish also forced 8 Panther turnovers in the half.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Back-to-back three-point plays from Shrewsberry and Burton got the Irish off to an 8-2 start. Though, the momentum was short lived as Eastern Illinois later countered with a 7-0 run to garner their first lead of the game at 18-19.
Jalen Haralson then helped ignite a 5-6 shooting stretch from the floor. It first started with the freshman doing a fantastic spin move in the pain then dish to Kebba Njie for the score. Next, he was awarded with a great pass as he cut to the basket for the dunk. Sir Mohammed then capped the stretch with a pair of layups.
The one counter point was that the Panthers were matching the Irish shot for shot for the home squad only led by one (26-25) after the above mentioned stretch. Enter Burton, who scored five straight points before the half to give the Irish a lead at the midway point, 31-28.
Burton led all players at the half with 12 points on 5-9 shooting. Notre Dame shot 43.3 percent from the floor but a cold 2-13 from beyond the arc. EIU shot 38.2 percent in the first half and were 2-12 from three. ND owned the boards, up 21-15, in that department.
Shrewsberry opened the second half with his third trey of the night and was only getting started. Four of Notre Dame’s first five field goals in the half were three-pointers with Shrewsberry cashing in on three of those in the first five minutes of play.
Notre Dame’s 17 points to start the half were all thanks to hot hands of Shrewsberry, Burton, and Towt as the Irish forced the EIU timeout with a 48-36 lead.
Five of ND’s next seven were scored from Haralson at the free-throw line to keep the Irish up double digits at 55-42 with 8:30 remaining. Soon after, Shrewsberry’s fourth three-pointer (4-5 from beyond the arc in the second half at this point) of the half gave ND a 58-44 advantage at the 7:35 media timeout.
The defensive intensity picked up during this stretch as well. The Panthers made a field goal at 11:18 and didn’t register another until 2:07 Meanwhile, Burton, Haralson and Sundra fired off a 9-0 to go up 23 with 4:30 remaining, 69-46.
EIU chipped away at the deficit with four straight free throws to make it a 20 point ballgame with 3:09 left, but a finish at the rim from Imes followed by the drive from Haralson gave the Irish the 24 point lead yet again.
A Panther three was matched by none other than Shrewsberry, who knocked down his sixth triple of the night. The two squads would trade baskets to close it out as the Irish secured the 78-58 victory to remain undefeated on the season.
UP NEXT
The Fighting Irish will get their first road test of the young 2025-26 season when they travel to Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday, November 16. It’ll be a matchup of two early undefeateds with Notre Dame vs. Ohio State inside the Value City Arena at 12:30 ET, airing live on FS1.
