SOUTH BEND — Selection Sunday, the sport’s biggest/best day, will mark eight days since the curtain closed on the 2025-26 Notre Dame basketball season.
Without a trip to the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament to put a period on everything, it still doesn’t seem real. For the first time in 31 seasons ― 18 in the Big East, the last 13 in the ACC ― there was no conference tournament trip for Notre Dame (13-18; 4-14). No closing chapter to write. Just the end.
Advertisement
Noie: This how this season ends for Notre Dame basketball
Noie: How did Notre Dame basketball respond to historic league loss?
The following is a look back at the 2025-26 Notre Dame basketball season from a different perspective, one that doesn’t wonder what it means or why it happened, just that it did. There was some good worth remembering. Also, the not so good for a Notre Dame program that has staggered through four straight losing seasons overall with a combined ACC record of 22-56 since a program best 15-5 in 2021-22.
That’s the last time Selection Sunday mattered. When will it again?
Advertisement
What was the best moment?
Optimism oozed out of the visitor’s locker room at Schollmaier Arena in early December in Fort Worth, Texas. It helped ease concern for leading scorer Markus Burton, who suffered a broken left ankle early in the first half against TCU that sidelined him for the final 21 games.
Without Burton on this night, Notre Dame went next level when many figured next level wasn’t possible. The Irish roared back from a nine-point halftime deficit for an 87-85 overtime win in a game that featured 10 ties and 13 lead changes. They got 20 points each from sophomore Cole Certa (on six 3s) and freshman Jalen Haralson, who added five rebounds and nine assists. Graduate student Carson Towt added 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists. He also embraced his inner road villain, playing to the crowd while playing at a won’t-lose level.
Notre Dame moved and passed like never before and finished with a season-high 27 assists. This, everyone insisted afterward, was what this team and this season could be.
Advertisement
We never saw it again.
Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry watched his Irish bounce back from a 44-point loss to Duke with an overtime win four days later against North Carolina State.
Biggest win?
Four days after having its ACC soul stomped in an historic 44-point loss to top-ranked Duke, Notre Dame showed it still had a pulse with a 96-90 overtime victory over North Carolina State.
Notre Dame trailed by six at halftime and spent most of the day ― 38:38 in all ― playing catchup. The Irish were down nine with 4:46 remaining and down seven with 3:23 left, but got it to overtime and won it in overtime. Certa scored 32 points. Haralson returned from a three-game injury absence with 25 points, 23 after halftime. Notre Dame celebrated as if it had just won the league tournament. It was part joy, part frustration release.
Advertisement
It was also the final win of the season.
Notre Dame led Virginia by 19 points in the first half and seemed destined to beat a ranked team for the first time under Micah Shrewsberry, only to lose in double overtime.
Toughest loss?
On Jan. 27 at home, Notre Dame was 20 minutes away from its first win over a ranked team under Micah Shrewsberry after shredding Virginia while shooting 57.7% from the field and 61.5% from 3 to lead by as many as 19. That first half was fun.
The real Virginia team then appeared. Notre Dame disappeared. It shot 28 percent from the field, 10 percent from 3 in the second half. That half wasn’t fun. Still, it got a game that featured nine ties and 14 lead changes to double overtime. Virginia won 100-97. A night of what should have been was another of what might have been. It kickstarted a slide of five straight and seven of eight league losses. The Irish were never the same.
Notre Dame was thisclose from opening league play 2-0 only to see Cal steal the early-January game, from which Notre Dame never really recovered.
How about a do-over moment?
That late night in early January in the Bay Area when Notre Dame was 4.4 seconds from beating California and going 2-0 in ACC play for the first time since 2017.
Advertisement
The Irish were up four with 29 and 16 seconds left. They were up three with nine seconds. Notre Dame lost its poise before Shrewsberry lost his mind. The Irish allowed a four-point play from guard Dai Dai Ames with 4.4 seconds left in a 72-71 loss. Shrewsberry then chased official Adam Flore off the floor. It was an awful look all around, one that Irish needed three weeks to recover. They ― players and head coach — lost their edge that night, then lost their next four.
One final non-conference game before Christmas break may have marked an early beginning to the end for Notre Dame with the loss to Purdue Fort Wayne.
Was there a doomed-to-lose game?
Purdue Fort Wayne, which Notre Dame did, 72-69, on Dec. 21, the last non-league game and last before Christmas break. Shrewsberry said it ruined Christmas. Blame the ACC.
Advertisement
The league went from a 20-game league schedule to 18 this season. Teams were forced to scramble late to fill their schedules with two non-league games. One of the last added to Notre Dame’s schedule? Purdue Fort Wayne, which Notre Dame beat by 37 points in an exhibition in October 2024.
Lesson learned.
In the season of freshmen, Notre Dame had a good one in swingman Jalen Haralson.
Which Irish deserved more flowers this season?
In the year of the freshmen in college basketball, the 6-foot-7 Haralson deserved more love for his effort. In any other year, in any other conference, he might have been favored to win rookie of the year. This season, he was just another talented first-year guy.
Advertisement
Haralson averaged a team-high 17.4 points with 4.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 27.8 minutes over 15 league games. Over the last eight, he scored 20, 26, eight, 15, 23, 25, 19 and 21 points. Over the final five, he went 39-for-49 (.795) from the foul line, including two games of a combined 22-of-25. What was a liability in his game became a strength.
The highest-rated recruit in program history, Haralson promised Shrewsberry that he would sign a “nine-month lease” in South Bend before possibly becoming the second one-and-done in program history. Every sign is that Haralson, an honorable mention all-league, will sign a second nine-month lease and return for his sophomore season. He’s just scratched the surface.
Few Irish could say they played harder every night than graduate student power forward Carson Towt.
Anyone go all effort all the time?
Undersized at 6-foot-8, 250 pounds and overmatched by all the athletic bigs of other ACC teams, nobody played harder than graduate student Carson Towt. That didn’t always translate to success, but you could rarely fault the effort of Towt, one of two Irish to start every game, who averaged 5.9 points and 9.0 rebounds (fourth in the ACC) in 26.0 minutes.
Advertisement
Other one-year transfers (Paul Atkinson, Dan Miller) had bigger impacts, but on a team that lacked a leader, Towt ran with the role. He maxed out his only season at the college game’s highest level. Every day he played college basketball was a good day.
You have to be more than just the son of the head coach to do what Notre Dame junior Braeden Shrewsberry has done in his college career.
What’s the most tired narrative?
That a certain shooting guard played a lot of minutes and took a lot of shots and scored a lot of points based solely on the fact that his mother is married to the head coach.
Enough already about junior Braeden Shrewsberry, the other Irish to start all 31 games. He averaged 11.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists in a team-high (yeah, we know) 32.7 minutes. He became the 69th player in program history to score at least 1,000 points. He finished third in the league in 3-point percentage (.402) and in 3s made (88). He’s one of 10 in program history to make at least 238 threes. He’s on track to be one of four Irish to make at least 300 3s in his college career.
Advertisement
You don’t do any of that because you share a last name with the head coach. You do that because you’re a good college basketball player. Accept it.
Feb 28, 2026; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Cole Certa (5) celebrates making a 3-point shot during overtime at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center. Mandatory Credit: Michael Caterina-Imagn Images
What Irish was most self-aware?
Certa offered after his third 30-plus point game (32 against North Carolina State) that he must do a better job when it comes to reacting to calls ― or non-calls ― by officials.
Had Notre Dame won more, Certa (12.8 ppg., 26.8 mpg., .367 from 3, a league-best .892 FT %) would’ve made a serious run at the league’s most improved player. To earn respect in this league, you just play. Don’t worry about whistles. Don’t react. Yes, you get fouled. Yes, you fouled. Sometimes it doesn’t get called. Sometimes it does.
Advertisement
It’s become a distraction, and not just for Certa. For a lot of the Irish, including the head coach, who needs to worry more about what his team does ― or doesn’t do ― in a getable league game and less about the officials.
Sophomore Sir Mohammed struggled to find his place this season, even when Notre Dame needed his skills as a point guard.
Who didn’t make good on a great chance?
One reason many were intrigued by what Notre Dame might be the final 21 games without Burton was sophomore guard Sir Mohammed, a Top 50 recruit who was as natural a pure point guard as it gets. Or so we thought
We should have known better when Mohammed opened the season as … the backup power forward. Without Burton, this was Mohammed’s time. Instead, the spotlight was too bright. It bottomed out for Mohammed when he tried to press break against first team all-defense swingman Dame Sarr in the Duke game. Sarr stripped Mohammed of the ball, and his pride, and did what a lot of opponents did against Mohammed. He ran the other way for an easy score.
Advertisement
Twenty-eight games into a season for someone touted by the head coach for his lead guard skills, that cannot happen. That it did said a lot. Mohammed (48 assists to 46 turnovers) may feel it best for a restart elsewhere.
Notre Dame’s victory over Missouri in front of plenty of empty seats in the ACC/SEC Challenge did not go unnoticed by at least one outside/interested observer.
Best observation from an outsider?
Unprompted, Missouri coach Dennis Gates opened his post-game presser following Notre Dame’s 76-71 victory Dec. 2 by commenting on seeing so many empty seats in Purcell Pavilion (attendance that night was 4,980).
“This building, I’m shocked,” Gates said. “I’m shocked because it didn’t look like it did 10 years ago when (Mike) Brey had his program rolling. The crowd was the difference in his tenure. The Notre Dame crowd (then) was unbelievable.”
Advertisement
In 2015-16, Notre Dame went 17-2 and averaged 7,715 fans in 9,149-seat Purcell Pavilion. In 2021-22, Notre Dame went 24-11 overall, 15-5 in the ACC and 14-1 at home. It hosted two home sellouts. Stop with the “win and we’ll show up” nonsense. No, you won’t.
Notre Dame basketball fans prefer to shout from the shadows instead from the arena seats. It’s OK to admit it.
Biggest oversight?
Someone on staff not noticing that graduate transfer power forward Matthew MacLellan’s name was not in the official scorebook for the Feb. 4 game at Louisville was junior high school stuff. Notre Dame was assessed a technical foul (and one Louisville free throw) when MacLellan checked in late in the first half.
Advertisement
By season’s end, Notre Dame had two assistant coaches checking the book at the scorer’s table. Too late.
What one number says a lot about Notre Dame basketball?
Notre Dame had 38 dunks. In 31 games. A few, like Haralson’s drive in transition and tomahawk throwdown at Syracuse, were memorable. In comparison, North Carolina freshman Caleb Wilson played in 24 games because of injury and had 66 dunks.
In an era where the game is played above the rim, athletically challenged Notre Dame spends too much time below it. That makes everything it wants to do more difficult because …
Advertisement
What one number must change?
Start with assist/turnover ratio. Notre Dame continues to so devalue the basketball as we do a penny today. Notre Dame ranked last in the league (18th) and 268th nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.07).
Notre Dame once finished top four nationally in assist/turnover four straight seasons (2007-11), including 2008-09 when it led the nation. That A/T trophy once sat prominently displayed on a shelf in the locker room lounge. Today, it might as well be in a back closet. In three seasons under Shrewsberry, Notre Dame is 337th, 240th and 268th in assist/turnover.
If that number isn’t far better next season, don’t expect much else to be either.
Advertisement
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 looking back at 2025-26 season
