SOUTH BEND – Apologies ran in every direction afterward.
To the fans who returned to Purcell Pavilion three nights after the Notre Dame head coach questioned whether anyone should watch another game, another half of basketball there this season.
Noie: Why did Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry storm out of his post-game press conference?
To Irish assistant coach Mike Farrelly, who spent too many hours breaking down film of SMU, Wednesday’s opponent, complete with tendencies and trends and suggestions on how to slow the high-scoring Mustangs. After this one, the head coach doubted whether he would watch this film again. There was no point.
Noie: How would Notre Dame women’s basketball handle its first game as the nation’s No. 1 team?
To all the former players who passed through this program, back when it was still the Joyce Center, back when it was still in the Big East, back when wins in this building – their building – were so common they were taken for granted.
All that winning has been replaced by all this losing. Three straight seasons now when Purcell Pavilion is just another gym for just another program.
“That ain’t Notre Dame basketball,” head coach Micah Shrewsberry said after a 97-73 loss to SMU dropped his team to 11-15 overall, 5-10 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. “What we’re doing now and what we have now, it all comes from what they did. For us to not compete is a slap in their face.
“I apologize to those guys who put in blood, sweat and tears for this program.”
All of that was then. For now, there’s no blood. No sweat. Only tears. A once-proud program playing out the string while playing for pride.
Shooting guard Braeden Shrewsberry, the coach’s son, seconded his dad’s/coach’s emotions after labeling that first half effort “lazy.”
“This (stuff) will never happen,” Braeden said. “I’m sorry about that. That’s on us.”
We don’t know where all of this is headed under Shrewsberry, especially after a lackluster, lethargic loss in a league game that Notre Dame was never in after the opening tip. We don’t know where it’s all headed, but the head coach, as calm and quiet in this postgame as he was boisterous and bombastic Sunday after the loss to Louisville, knows this.
That game, that effort, was not acceptable. Not now. Not ever. Not for a program that was built by all of those who came before this current collection that continues to scramble to find a way out of a slump that would knock back even the most talented of Irish teams. Now, just give him five guys who want to fight for 40 minutes. That, Shrewsberry said, will be who plays.
Instead of flipping it around three days after the head coach flipped out, these Irish went the opposite direction. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it got worse. How worse? Not even nine minutes into a game that Notre Dame needed to play at optimum level, it had trailed 25-5 in its own gym after allowing a 19-2 run.
It didn’t get any better the rest of a first half that saw Notre Dame down by 25 at intermission. The deficit ballooned to as many as 34 points. It never dipped below 20 for the final 25:59. That’s a lot of time. That was a lot of points.
For two days leading into this one, one word was on the Irish whiteboard – Urgency. Play with it. Own it. Carry it around campus before this game.
“We just didn’t have it,” Coach Shrewsberry said. “We just didn’t bring it.”
On Wednesday, another U word dominated.
Ugly.
This one bottomed out in the first half when SMU’s B.J. Edwards grabbed a defensive rebound and raced in a straight line nearly the length of the court for a layup and a 39-14 score. No Irish ever tried to stop the ball. No Irish seemingly cared enough to stop the ball. Basketball 101 fail.
Wednesday was the most lopsided home loss under Shrewsberry, which followed the previous home game, which had been the most lopsided league home loss under Shrewsberry. There’s a pattern of poor play developing with this team as they limp toward the end of the regular season.
A year ago, Notre Dame was brimming with confidence and was full of swagger and confidence and playing its best basketball. A year later, with only five more games guaranteed, and likely a sixth, Notre Dame is playing its worst basketball. It seems frozen in a constant state of panic or shock or disbelief, something that you just cannot have if you want to step on a court in this conference and sustain success.
That Notre Dame drifted through the first 20 minutes was the toughest part for anyone Irish to take. It couldn’t start the way it started. When it did, no one seemingly knew what to do next. Nobody to lead the Irish out of the darkness. Nobody to offer words that would light a fire in a snowstorm of doubt. Nobody to look to when times got tough.
“We’re in new territory,” Coach Shrewsberry said. “We haven’t done this.”
Sophomore guard Markus Burton, the leading scorer in ACC league games (22.9 ppg.) coming in, started the second half on the bench. He finished with only two points and four turnovers in 23 invisible minutes.
“You’re just throwing stuff at the wall and see what sticks,” Coach Shrewsberry said of his lineups. “You’re just hoping for some kind of juice and some kind of energy.”
It was halftime before any desire kicked in. By then, it was too late, even after a 48-point second half. The Irish finally showed some fight, but even all of that was empty.
“We didn’t play with any sense of urgency,” Coach Shrewsberry said. “That’s on me (again) for not getting them ready. We can get beat. People can out-execute us and out-talent us. They can do a lot of things, but they should never out-effort us.”
On Wednesday, Notre Dame was outefforted. By a lot.
No one knows where this program goes from here, but the head coach knows this. What you saw from his team, or maybe didn’t see from his team in the opening 20 minutes, you’re not going to see again.
“This is rock bottom,” Shrewsberry said, “because it ain’t going to be like this anymore.”
Another date to remember. To circle and circle back to down the road. Maybe in a year or two we’ll remember when it all changed. As for the rest of this year, it’s about time to step away from this horse.
It’s not getting up.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame basketball still searching for a way out of this ACC abyss
