Notre Dame men's basketball fall short to Duke 67-59

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind – The Irish gave it their all against #14 Duke but suffered their third loss in the ACC conference.

Notre Dame came into Saturday night's game after a last-second (0.1 seconds) loss to NC State on Wednesday night.

Looking to turn things around, the Irish came out punching, leading 24-15 in the first half on the back of freshman guard Markus Burton. The recent ACC rookie of the week finished with 18 points and 4 assists in 40 minutes.

Duke would take a 29-27 lead into the half and came out strong in the second half on a 4-0 run. 

Although Duke shot terribly (35% fg, 31% 3pt), Mark Mitchell gave them life in the second half. 

Mitchell was the standout in Purcell Pavilion in front of more than 8,000 fans, with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

Ultimately leading the Blue Devils to a 67-59 win on the road.

That loss may be impressive to Notre Dame fans, considering how well the young, inexperienced team competed, but head coach Micah Shrewsberry isn't taking any consolation wins.

" I want to win the game. I don't care. Being close on it don't help you nothing. Like you know, get point in cornhole, it aint getting no points and ACC standards, it ain't helping us man. Like, I'm mad because we'd like to get away that we should have got right we start second half better. We should have got this one. And we're at least in the better position to get this woman she got this one the other night on Wednesday. Right? Like that's what I'm disappointed. But I don't care who they are. I told our guys for the game. Dukes a great program. Don't take this as any kind of sleight. Right? Great program been a great program for a long time. But I ain't scared of nobody tell you that right now and our team is starting to take on that same mentality," Shrewsberry said.

Notre Dame's 6-game homestand is over and next on the schedule is Georgia Tech on the road Tuesday, Jan. 9.