Virginia hopes to continue domination of Notre Dame

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia reopens ACC play on Saturday (noon, ACC Network) at Notre Dame with the struggling Fighting Irish under new leadership.

Notre Dame, 5-7 overall and 0-1 in conference play, is coached by Micah Shrewsberry and former UVA assistant coach Kyle Getter, who spent the last five seasons on Tony Bennett’s staff and is Shrewsberry’s associate head coach.

The Irish, picked last in the 15-team league in the ACC preseason poll, have unfortunately lived up to those predictions, having lost at home to Western Carolina, Georgetown and The Citadel (by an embarrassing 65-45 score) before finally eeking out a win over Marist last week.

Virginia (10-2, 1-0) is hoping to build some early momentum in ACC play, taking on the Irish before hosting struggling Louisville (also 5-7, 0-1) next Wednesday night. The Cavaliers are coming off an easy win over Morgan State, which completed UVA’s nonconference schedule for this season.

Things haven’t been easy for Shrewsberry, Mike Brey’s successor, who coached the Irish for 20 seasons and is now an assistant coach for the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.

Notre Dame hasn’t exactly embraced the transfer portal (the Irish have only three transfers on this squad) or the NIL, which has handicapped Shrewsberry’s efforts. Still, he marches on.

“I’m the head coach at the University of Notre Dame and that’s really cool for me,” Shrewsberry told The Athletic. “Yeah, it’s tough. Right now, it’s really tough. There’s days it’s like, why am I doing this? Why did I take on this kind of challenge and rebuild? It’s probably because I’m destined to be here, is why I’m doin’ it. I know this is telling me I don’t want to do it again. Not anytime soon.”

Shrewsberry has embraced the challenge and has built his program around defense, something Bennett must admire. The young Irish team has allowed 65 points or less in eight of their last nine games, and ranks fifth in the ACC in scoring defense.

Offensively, Notre Dame is led by point guard Markus Burton, the only freshman in the country averaging more than 15 points, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Burton is scoring at a 16-points-per-outing clip, fifth-best by a freshman nationally. He has scored 20 or more points four times this season, most recently against Marist.

After the string of aforementioned losses, Shrewsberry made it plain to his team that his aim is to turn the program around and do things his way.

“If you don’t play hard, then you sit and rot on the bench,” Shrewsberry said after the Citadel loss. “I’ll go and talk to people in compliance. I’ll help you transfer. This culture is getting built the right way. If you ain’t a part of it, you’re out.”

Meanwhile, Bennett is trying to slowly bring his team around. Virginia is one of the top defenses in the nation — No. 2 in scoring defense and No. 3 in defensive efficiency. The Cavaliers are trying to find combinations that can put up points.

Virginia, which leads the series 17-3, is a 10-point favorite according to Odds Shark.