Notre Dame trounces the Detroit Mercy Titans, 102-70

Notre Dame explodes for a 102-70 victory over Detroit Mercy

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame Men’s Basketball debuted The Bend jerseys in high fashion Friday night, popping off for a 102-70 victory over Detroit Mercy in front of a great Purcell Pavilion crowd. Six Irish finished in double figures, once again showcasing the depth of this year’s squad. Braeden Shrewsberry led the group with 19 points, going 5-8 from three-point range. He was +30 in +/- tonight.

A noteworthy stat on tonight’s win: the last time Notre Dame had recorded consecutive 20+ point wins was the 2020-21 season, when they defeated Pitt (1/30/21) and Wake Forest (2/2/21) in large fashion.

Notre Dame recorded 19 assists on 36 made field goals, shooting 52.2 percent from the floor. The Irish went 14-32 from beyond the arc and have now drained 28 triples over the first two games.

Carson Towt’s recorded his first double-double in an Irish uniform with 11 points and 10 rebounds. It was the 29th of his career. He also supplied five assists.

Sir Mohammed got the start tonight in place of a recovering Jalen Haralson. The sophomore guard responded in kind with 10 points, six rebounds and a career high six assists.

Freshman Brady Koehler netted his first game in double figures with 10 points on 4-6 shooting. Then there was the floor general Markus Burton, who scored 12 of his 13 points in the second half.

HOW IT HAPPENED

At the 11:41 media timeout, it was 10-7 in Notre Dame’s favor as the home squad got off to a little bit of a cold start, shooting 4-14 from the floor. However, soon after, Shrewsberry and Cole Certa drained back-to-back three-pointers and just like that, it was 16-7 as Detroit Mercy called a timeout.

Later on, Koehler recorded five straight points to keep the Irish rolling up 22-12. Then Logan Imes got in on the action with a great drive down the middle of the paint for the layup. The score made it 24-16 Irish as Imes capped a stretch in which ND converted 5-of-7 from the field.

The hottest shooter of the half was Shrewsberry, who went 4-of-6 from beyond the arc to lead all Irish at the break with 16 points. In fact, there was one stretch in which Shrewsberry, Certa and Ryder Frost each recorded a triple within a 70-second span, keeping the Irish up at 41-29 and eventually the halftime lead of 44-31.

The Irish finished the half 8-16 (.500) from three. Even better, only three first-half turnovers. Burton was limited to 7.5 minutes in the first half due to accumulating two fouls just three minutes into the game.

The Irish maintained the momentum to jumpstart the second half, firing off a 7-0 run that was capped by Shrewsberry’s fifth triple, resulting in a Titans timeout up 51-31 at 18:16.

Notre Dame didn’t let up. By the 15:35 media timeout, they had outscored Detroit Mercy 20-5 in the half to garner a 64-36 advantage. The Irish were 8-11 from the floor (2-2 from deep), as Burton got the crowd to its feet with back-to-back three-point plays in the middle of the run.

Fast forward to another great hustle play by Imes, who dove to the ground for the steal, which led to a breakaway dunk from Koehler, pushing the Irish lead to 30 at 70-40. The Irish were 11-15 from the field in the half at this point.

The Irish ultimately shot 56.4 percent in the second half and the icing on the cake was that the 100th point was scored by Brady Stevens, marking his first official collegiate points.

UP NEXT

The Fighting Irish will look to make it a perfect 3-0 and cap off the season-opening homestand when they host Eastern Illinois on Tuesday, Nov. 11. That contest will tip off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ACCNX.