Notre Dame earn first ACC conference win 76-54 over Virginia

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind – The unexpected takes place in the final home game of 2023 for Notre Dame men’s basketball.

Nobody expected a 22-point win for the Irish in their conference game of the season but a win over Virginia was more than satisfying for the Notre Dame fanbase.

Since the loss to The Citadel, the Irish are now on a two-game winning streak.

Win number two came on 574 day in Purcell Pavilion and the hometown starters, JR Konieczny and Markus Burton showed out.

Konieczny got started 17 points in front of the home crowd. Setting the tone with nine straight points in the opening minutes. Three for three from beyond the arc, including a buzzer beater

“I was just thinking, I don’t want to get a shot clock violation,” Konieczny said.

“I thought the way JR started the game really gave us a huge boost and I thought the way Markus played the entire time was very, very encouraging,” head coach Micah Shrewsberry said.

“We came ready to go today and it starts with everybody too. Like, our managers, the coaches, all of us. Everyone has to bring it every single day and the energy that we had too was amazing the past few days,” Konieczny added.

The energy rubbed off on another 574 native. Freshman guard Markus Burton known for his scoring ability, but added 8 assists to his 15 points in today’s win.

“We worked our butts off coming into this game. We knew Virginia was a really, really good team and it wasn’t easy coming into this but we also knew it was 574 day just for us and also Raheem, so, we knew we had to come out and perform like we did,” Burton mentioned.

The overall effort included freshman Carey Booth (17 points), eventually encouraging Shrewsberry to empty his bench in route to the team’s first conference win.

“Conference games are possession games. I haven’t played against Virginia a whole lot a few times. I was prepared for my card sitting over here at the scores tables got last second six situations and last second plays and what we want to go too late. Because I thought this, I’m prepared for possession game in the mud.

Notre Dame now 6-7 this season and the conference play has just begun. Next up, NC State travels to South Bend, IN on January 3, 2024.