Irish come up short in home game vs North Carolina

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind -- Markus Burton returned to the floor for the first time since injured his MCL on November 26, leading the team in scoring.

In his first game back, Burton came off the bench and gave Notre Dame the spark they've been missing for the last five weeks.

Entering the game with just under six minutes remaining in the first half, Burton scored back-to-back, cutting the Tar Heels lead to 24-29.

When it came down to the final 90 seconds, Burton earned the lucky bounce, giving the Irish a 71-68 lead. Graduate transfer Matt Allocco would eventually nail two free throws and Notre Dame led 73-70 with 13 seconds on the clock.

Following Allocco's clutch free throws, Tar Heels' guard Elliot Cadeau tied the game at 73 and was fouled by Allocco with four seconds left. Cadeau made his free throw, before Burton came up short at the buzzer.

"I told them, I let them down at the end and apologize to them. Apologize to all the Notre Dame fans that came and stuck with us," Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry said.

"We're winning by three. We can't give up a three. I knew we had a foul to give. I didn't foul. Been in a lot of games. I've been in that situation, and I let us down right there. That's how I process it," Allocco mentioned.

"You get in that situation, you foul every single time up three and 14, almost 15 seconds left. We were going to wait a little bit, but then they got away from us. Like they run the pistol. They lost the ball, they swung it back. By that time, you can't go and foul. We should've did it earlier," Shrewsberry added.