Irish Lose 63-59 to Boston College

The Irish went on the road and took another L just two days after their Saturday loss to Florida State

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s basketball team lost again tonight, defeated by the Boston College Eagles at Conte Forum by a final score of 63-59.

The Irish were led on the evening by star freshman guard Markus Burton, who had 19 points while shooting 8-of-16 from the field. Braeden Shrewsberry (12 points), J.R. Konieczny (8 points, 2 rebounds), and Tae Davis (6 points) also chipped in with the scoring, and great rebounding efforts were turned in by Carey Booth (13 rebounds), Kebba Njie (10 rebounds), and Julian Roper II (10 rebounds).

ND shot 41% from the field and 40% from long range, while also making just 9 of their 15 free throw attempts and turning the ball over 14 times. They DID manage to dominate the boards in this one, though, out-rebounding BC 44-28.

The Eagles were paced on the evening by Jaeden Zackery, who finished the game with 20 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. Quinten Post (17 points, 4 rebounds) and Mason Madsen (8 points, 2 rebounds) also added nice games for BC, and head coach Earl Grant’s team shot 38% overall and hit 39% from three-point range.

The first half saw both teams starting hot from long range, with the two teams combining to hit 7 of their 12 three-point attempts. The Irish then turned it on a bit on defense while continuing their hot-shooting ways, though, going on an 8-0 run and then ultimately a 15-2 run over a 5+ minute span.

This was fueled by Burton, who had 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting in the half and seemed unstoppable at times, hitting shots from all over the court. Shrewsberry dropped in 8 points of his own in the first half, driven by a couple threes he knocked down during that big Notre Dame scoring run.

ND led 31-19 heading into the under-4 media timeout and maintained a double-digit lead until just before the buzzer, when Mason Madsen knocked down a three from the top of the key to cut the Irish lead to 7 at the intermission.

In the second half, it was a wild rollercoaster ride of runs back and forth. Boston College kicked things off by continuing what Madsen started just before halftime, scoring 8 straight points to make it an 11-0 run overall and taking a 37-36 lead less than 4 minutes into the 2nd half. Shrewsberry knocked down a jumper to stop the bleeding, but BC responded in kind with a dunk. The two teams then spent a few minutes trading leads, with neither team shooting particularly well. The Irish started the half 3-for-10 from the field over the first 9 minutes.

A 3:35 scoring drought for ND that allowed BC to take a 5-point lead was finally broken by J.R. Konieczny hitting a couple threes to retake the lead for the Irish, and then Notre Dame went on a little run of their own to secure a 55-49 lead, with Tae Davis making multiple nice plays and hitting multiple free throws, and then Markus Burton finally getting his first points of the half on a couple free ones of his own after going scoreless for the first 12 minutes in the period.

Unfortunately for the Irish, their 6-point lead evaporated in just a few possessions, as BC’s Quinten Post caught fire from the field to steer an 8-0 run by the Eagles to make it 57-55 BC with 3:10 to go, heading into the final media timeout of the game. Post scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half.

Konieczny then hit a couple free throws to tie it at 57, which led to both teams going scoreless for about two minutes. Then Irish had the ball with a chance to take the lead, but Burton turned it over by tossing an errant pass out of bounds. On the other end, Boston College managed to get Post wide open with the ball at the top of the key, and he buried a three that would end up being the game-winner.

The Irish fought to stay in it, with Burton getting an and-one bucket to make it 61-59 with 14 seconds remaining. He missed his free throw and the Irish managed to grab the offensive rebound and call a timeout, looking to tie or win it. They got a great look from the corner, but Booth’s three rimmed-out and the Eagles escaped with the 4-point victory.

With the loss, Notre Dame falls to 7-11 on the season and 2-5 in ACC play. They now will have over a week off, picking back up on Wednesday, 1/24 when they play host to the 12-4 Miami Hurricanes, a team who defeated the Irish 62-49 in Coral Gables back in early December.