Notre Dame men's basketball receives first AP Poll votes under Micah Shrewsberry

Notre Dame men’s basketball beat Missouri and TCU last week, and two AP Top 25 voters noticed.

The Irish (7-3) received four voting points in Monday’s AP Poll, tying them with Miami for 39th if the rankings extended that far. Mark Berman of the Roanoke Times and Matt Young of the Houston Chronicle each gave the Irish a 24th-place vote, according to College Poll Tracker.

This is the first time in third-year head coach Micah Shrewsberry‘s tenure that Notre Dame has received votes, signaling the turning of a corner for Shrewsberry’s program.

“We don’t look like we’re that tough, but these dudes are tough, man,” Shrewsberry said after Friday’s victory over TCU. “Situation to situation, possession to possession. They’re just tough, from top to bottom. And they got a lot of belief that we’re never out of a game. We’re gonna do whatever it takes to get back in it.”

Notre Dame’s optimism does come with a catch, though. Star point guard Markus Burton left Friday’s game in the first half with a serious-looking leg injury, which Shrewsberry described as “ankle-related.” Burton went down after making a difficult layup and could not put any weight on his left leg.

Shrewsberry said after the game that the Irish do not know whether Burton’s injury will affect him long-term. An official update is not expected before Shrewsberry speaks to the media on Tuesday.

Without Burton — who was playing some of the best basketball of his college career — Notre Dame struggled at first but eventually found a way to win. Freshman guard Jalen Haralson, who took over point guard duties with Burton out, scored 20 points and dished 9 assists.

Those 20 points included a fadeaway jump shot to tie the game with 2 seconds remaining and send it to overtime.

“I told Jalen right before we went out after halftime, I said, ‘You’ve got to be the best player on the floor with no doubt of who that is,” Shrewsberry said. “And I thought he did that in the second half.”

Sophomore guard Cole Certa stepped into Burton’s spot in the closing lineup and also scored 20 points, making 6 three-pointers — all in the second half.

“I thought Cole was just so gutsy, man,” Shrewsberry said. “But that’s who he is. And that’s how he plays.”

Notre Dame has survived the difficult portion of its non-conference schedule, defeating Rutgers, Missouri and TCU and losing to Ohio State, No. 19 Kansas and No. 7 Houston. Its only remaining non-conference games are against mid-major opponents in South Bend: Idaho on Wednesday, Evansville on Saturday and Purdue-Fort Wayne on Dec. 21.

ACC play begins Dec. 30 at Stanford, and if Burton returns reasonably soon after that, the Irish could do some damage when they get there.