15. The Irish make their first trip to Cal this Friday night – Notre Dame Fighting Irish – Official Athletic Site
BERKELEY, California. – Notre Dame men’s basketball is California dreaming of a 2-0 road swing to start ACC play. If the Fighting Irish are successful Friday against Cal, it would mark their first 2-0 start in the ACC since the 2017-18 season (they started 3-0).
Notre Dame improved to 10-4 overall after a 47-40 win at Stanford, while Cal fell to 12-2 overall after a 70-90 loss to Louisville. Friday’s game will mark Notre Dame’s first trip to Berkeley and first game at Haas Pavilion. The Irish lead the series 2-1.
Notre Dame finished its regular season last March with a 112-110 victory in four overtimes against Cal. Markus Burton was one of many heroes that night, dropping a career-high 43 points.
This year’s version of Cal found success converting three-ball turnovers and forcing turnovers. They rank 2nd in the ACC in three-point field goal making percentage (.385) and third in the league in forced turnovers (9.9). Four Golden Bears are averaging double figures, led by Dai Dai Ames’ 17.2 points per game.
Finally, California represents another great opportunity for a potential victory in Quad 1.
1-0 START
Coach Shrewsberry improved to 2-1 overall in early ACC play after Notre Dame’s defensive intensity led to a 47-40 win at Stanford.
“That’s the defensive effort we’ve made since we came back from Christmas,” Irish coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “That’s how we have to play. If we shoot well (they didn’t), if we don’t shoot well, if we defend that way, we have a chance to win every night. We are a complete team defense.”
With the Quad 2 win, the Irish moved up eight spots in the NET, going from 76 to 68.
The Irish held the Cardinal to their third-lowest score since 1996. They also kept Stanford’s leading scorer, Ebuka Okorie, who was averaging 22.8 points before the game, in check, only to be held to a season-low seven points.
Jalen Haralson recorded his 12th straight game in double figures, but it was two young forwards who stepped up in the second half. First, Brady Koehler had a streak where he scored seven goals in a row. Then Garrett Sundra played the role of hero in the final six minutes. When the Cardinal got within four points late, the sophomore hit consecutive three-pointers.
And Maples Pavilion hasn’t been an easy place to get a win — Stanford was 24-5 at home since the start of the 2024-25 season, with just one ACC home loss before that night.
WHO’S HOT?
With Markus Burton on the mend, the ball was put in the hands of freshman Jalen Haralson, and he delivered. The Indiana native has dropped 20 or more points in three of the last five games. He leads the Irish in scoring (16.8 points per game) and assists. (3.6 apg) during this five-game span, in which he is 31-71 from the field (.437).
One of those standout performances was TCU’s overtime win and it was Jalen himself who hit the buzzer in regulation. Down two with three seconds left, Haralson hit a step-back jumper to tie it at 76-all. Haralson finished the night with 20 points and a career-high 9 assists.
MORE THAN BOUNCING
Carson Towt is 23-33 (.697) from the field over the last five games. He averaged a near-double-double during that span with 9.6 points and 10.0 rebounds.
During that stretch, the grad recorded a game-high 19 points against Idaho, in what was his third double-double of the season (15 rebounds). He also scored 13 points in the big road win at TCU, in which he was a perfect 6-6 from the floor, to go along with his 9 rebounds and 4 assists.
Towt is coming off an 8-point, 10-rebound performance at Stanford in which he was 4-7 from the floor.
SHREWSBERRY COMPOUND
Braeden Shrewsberry also fills Burton’s scoring hole and has produced five double-digit games in the last six.
Braeden shot 51.2 percent in three of five games in December — that figure was the fifth-best three-point field goal percentage that month for anyone with at least 20 threes.
Over the last five games specifically: 13.6 points per game (2nd best on the team) on 46.0% shooting from the floor and 18-37 (.486) from three. During that stretch, there was a career-high 26-point performance on a career-high 8 three-pointers. His 8 made triples tied for 7th most in a game all-time in program history.
Overall on the season, Braeden is converting triples at a rate of 46.2 percent, which ranks him second in the ACC and 24th in the country. He converts 3.0 threes per game, which ranks third in the league.
BOUNCING TRANSLATIONS
Towt’s current rebound rankings:
- 10.1 RPG ranks 17th nationally, 2nd in ACC
- Offensive RPG 3.6 – 2nd in the ACC
- Defensive RPG 6.5 – 5th in the ACC
- 142 total tips – 6th nationally, 2nd in the ACC
- 1,220 career rebounds – leads all active players
OUR NOTABLES
- The Irish are 12 wins short of 2,000 all-time. They would become the eighth program to achieve this feat.
- Haralson currently ranks 7th among ACC freshmen in scoring at 14.5 points per game.
- Notre Dame is 7-2 this season in which Braeden scores 10 or more points.
- Logan Imes had a career-high 12 points against Purdue Fort Wayne (12/21). He shot 5-10 from the floor, including 2 triples. He also had a career-best 4 interceptions. He followed that with his first start of the season, with the primary task of stopping a top 5 scorer in the country in Ebuka Okorie.
- Certa is a perfect 27-27 from the FT line. It was the most free throws made by a Division I player without a miss this season.
- In the last two wins at Notre Dame, Njie had 19 rebounds, including a best-of-10 against Evansville.
- Mark Zackery IV made his debut against Stanford on December 30 and immediately put himself in a rare position, beating the same school in football and basketball in the same season.
- Sir Mohammed is shooting 50.0% in the paint this season.
- Kenpom rating: attack 112.6 (101st) and defense 99.3 (38th).
—ND—
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