Notre Dame holds off pesky Western Michigan

That was a little too close.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – While this isn’t expected to be the best season for Notre Dame, some games should be easier than others. With the Irish having not lost to Western Michigan since 1966, the Broncos’ visit to Purcell Pavilion should have been one of those games. Don’t let that 86-65 final fool you because the Irish had to earn this win.

Before halftime, the Irish (4-4) saw a late 10-point lead whittled down to three before [autotag]Julian Roper II[/autotag] made a 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer. Even when they opened their lead up to 18 during the second half, the Broncos (2-6) kept battling until they cut that lead in half. Fortunately, the Irish responded to that with a 9-2 run that essentially put the game out of reach, and they held serve from there.

[autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag] did the most damage for the Irish, achieving a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds. [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] scored 17 while dishing out six assists. Off the bench, [autotag]Braeden Shrewsberry[/autotag] contributed 16 points, most of them coming on a game-high four 3-pointers. Roper also had a solid night with 14 points and six boards.

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Notre Dame unable to hang with Miami in ACC opener

The Irish drop the first of two straight tough Saturday games.

The schedule makers did Notre Dame no favors for the first two Saturdays of December. It had to open ACC play against No. 8 Miami, which is fresh off a Final Four appearance. Another top-10 program, Marquette, will host the Irish in exactly one week. The first of these tough games ended in a 62-49 loss to the Hurricanes.

In all fairness, the Irish (3-4, 0-1) played like the better team for most of the first half, so that’s something to build on. But the Hurricanes (6-1, 1-0) soon scored 12 unanswered points to go up by double digits, and the Irish never recovered. In the second half, they couldn’t cut the deficit any closer than six and were held scoreless for the final five minutes, missing their last 10 shots.

Matt Cleveland, one of the top shooters in the ACC, showed why he has that distinction by leading the Hurricanes with 14 points while shooting five of sevem from the field. He also had four steals. Norchad Omier and Nijel Pack had 13 points apiece with Omier also grabbing 13 rebounds.

[autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag] led the Irish with 14 points, 12 of which came on a game-high four 3-pointers. [autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag] completed the first double-double of his collegiate career with 12 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] had six assists but scored only six points on three-of-11 shooting, which included missing all five of his 3-point attempts.

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Notre Dame goes cold, falls to South Carolina in ACC/SEC Challenge

You can’t win if you can’t keep scoring.

Notre Dame and South Carolina aren’t the fastest teams in the country, so it was appropriate for them to match up in the ACC/SEC Challenge. Most of the game made it seem like the visiting Irish could pull off a win over the undefeated Gamecocks. But the offense stopped coming, and the Irish lost, 65-53.

The majority of the game was competitive, and the Irish (3-3), who scored eight unanswered points at the start, had a 40-38 lead at the 6:14 mark of the second half. Then, they stopped making shots, ad the Gamecocks (6-0) went on a 13-1 run to go up by double digits and didn’t look back. The Irish never got closer than six the rest of the way.

Meechie Johnson led the Gamecocks with 29 points, including four 3-pointers, and had five rebounds. B.J. Mack had 17 points.

[autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag] was the Irish’s leader in points (15) and rebounds (eight). [autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag] contributed 11 points, and [autotag]Julian Roper II[/autotag] added 10. [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] dished out five assists but committed a game-high six turnovers, and eight points made it the first time in his young career that he failed to reach double figures in scoring.

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Notre Dame shoots poorly in loss to Auburn

Man, was that ugly.

Despite the poor prognosis for its season, Notre Dame was one of four teams invited to the Legends Classic in Brooklyn. The Irish drew Auburn as their first opponent, and their next one depended on how they did in that first game. The answer to that question is not great as the Tigers dominated the Irish, 83-59. That means the Irish will face Oklahoma State, another first-time opponent, in the consolation game.

The Irish (1-2) never led in the contest but cut a 15-point deficit down to six before halftime. But the Tigers (2-1) went for the kill out of the break and succeeded with a 15-1 run to begin the second half. The deficit never got smaller than 16 from there, and it didn’t help that the Irish shot only 33.9% from the field, including a paltry 2 of 26 from 3-point range.

Aden Holloway and Johni Broome led the Tigers with 15 points apiece. Jaylin Williams had 11 points, and 10 points apiece came from Chris Moore and Tre Donaldson.

[autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag] reached double figures in both scoring and rebounds for the first time in his career with 18 points and 11 boards, leading the Irish in both categories. [autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag] scored a career-high 13 points, [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] scored 12 despite 4-of-20 shooting, and [autotag]Braeden Shrewsberry[/autotag] added 10 points to go with three steals.

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Panthers’ updated roster following Tuesday’s moves

The Panthers added LB Tae Davis and OT David Sharpe to their active roster on Tuesday. Leaving the group will be G Calvin Throckmorton.

The Carolina Panthers parted ways with their starting left guard on Tuesday, releasing Calvin Throckmorton after eight games. But they also made a couple of additions to the active roster as well.

Joining in will be linebacker Tae Davis and offensive tackle David Sharpe, who was promoted from the practice squad a day after his return.

So, let’s take an updated look at the current roster for the Panthers:

Panthers sign LB Tae Davis, OT David Sharpe to active roster

The Panthers have added LB Tae Davis and OT David Sharpe to their active roster.

The Carolina Panthers opened up a spot on their active roster on Tuesday, as they announced the release of starting left guard Calvin Throckmorton. They’ve also announced who will be filling that spot.

Joining the locker room will be linebacker Tae Davis. The 27-year-old defender was released by the Atlanta Falcons last week.

Davis, who played his college ball for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, broke into the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the New York Giants in 2018. He recorded five starts over 18 games in New York between 2018 and 2019—amassing 33 combined tackles, 2.0 sacks, five quarterback hits and a forced fumble.

He’d then sign on with the Cleveland Browns after being waived in the middle of the 2019 campaign. Davis ultimately chalked up a pair of stints for Cleveland, where he notched 12 tackles over 27 contests.

The six-foot, 222-pounder played in eight games for Atlanta this season, with 174 of his 175 total snaps coming on special teams.

Carolina also promoted offensive tackle David Sharpe, who was signed to the practice squad on Monday, back to the active roster.

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Falcons LB Tae Davis questionable to return vs. Bucs

Falcons LB Tae Davis is being evaluated for a head injury and is questionable to return vs. the Buccaneers

The Atlanta Falcons entered Week 7 with a clean injury report but they’re already down a man in Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Falcons linebacker Tae Davis is being evaluated for a concussion and is questionable to return, per ESPN’s Michael Rothstein.

The Falcons are already thin at inside linebacker with Troy Andersen on the injured reserve. Sunday’s game is currently tied 7-7 at the end of the first quarter.

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Indianapolis native Tae Davis transfers to Notre Dame

Add another forward to the roster.

Consistent with his goal of tapping into the state of Indiana’s talent pool, [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] has struck again.

Although the news was made known June 1, Notre Dame finally announced the addition of Indianapolis native and former Seton Hall forward [autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag]. This marks the fourth player with Indiana roots on the Irish’s roster, joining [autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag], [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] and [autotag]Logan Imes[/autotag]. The program hasn’t had this many players from the Hoosier State on their roster since the 2015-16 season.

In Davis’ lone season with the Pirates, he averaged 2.8 points and 2.8 rebounds over 32 games. He started twice and achieved his season scoring high of 11 points during his first collegiate game against Monmouth. He also had 10 points and seven rebounds in a win over Division II Lincoln.

Davis becomes the 11th player on the 2023-24 roster and the fourth forward for a program that continues to be guard-heavy. Here’s hoping Shrewsberry and his staff can add one more big before the season tips off.

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Look at Notre Dame’s current 2023-24 roster

Do you have confidence in this group as it stands?

There still is time for Notre Dame to add to its 2023-24 roster, but don’t count on a game-changer suddenly emerging onto campus. Barring an unforeseen circumstance, the players the Irish have now figure to make up the core. That’s not a strong vote of confidence for Irish fans, but remember that first-year coach [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] practically has to start from scratch after the program lost all of its rotation players to graduation and the transfer portal.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this is going to be a very bad season for the Irish. The few holdovers from [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag]’s tenure have played very little. While Shrewsberry was able to bring his 2023 Penn State recruiting class and one of his Nittany Lions starters from the 2022-23 season, that’s not a lot of college basketball experience coming in. He must be in one of, if not the least envious position in the country.

Hopefully, the day will come when Shrewsberry has built the Irish back into a winner. Until then, try and get behind these players who are just there to do their jobs and play basketball: