The Notre Dame men's basketball team faced significant adversity early in the Players Era Festival against Rutgers. Reigning ACC Rookie of the Year and First Team Preseason All-ACC pick, Markus Burton, exited the game in the opening minutes due to a lower-body injury.
Despite this setback, the Fighting Irish fought valiantly and kept pace with the Scarlet Knights.
Graduate guard Matt Allocco delivered an outstanding performance in Las Vegas, posting a 24-point, 10-rebound double-double. He forced overtime with a dramatic three-pointer and then carried the team in extra time, hitting three more three-pointers in a 30-second span.
At the buzzer, Allocco had a chance to win it, but his shot rimmed out, and Notre Dame fell 84-85.
Allocco’s effort marked his first career double-double and the first 20-point, 10-rebound performance by an Irish player since Nate Laszewski’s showing against Radford on Nov. 10, 2022.
With the loss, Notre Dame falls to 4-2 on the season and faces a major challenge on Thursday (12:30 a.m. ET) against No. 6/7 Houston (3-2).
Check out Len Clark's full breakdown of the game as well as a look at what's coming up!