Notre Dame point guard Markus Burton leaves TCU game with serious-looking leg injury

Markus Burton was playing the best basketball of his career. He led Notre Dame to a massive victory with 18 points and 10 assists against Missouri on Tuesday night, and he had 6 points and 5 assists in the early minutes of Friday night’s game at TCU.

But after an awkward fall with 9:48 to go in the first half, his 2025-26 season might be in jeopardy.

Burton went up for a layup as the shot clock wound down with the Irish trailing 25-21. He went high off the glass and scored, but he came down hard on his left leg. The Mishawaka native and Penn High School graduate tried to get up and run back on defense, but he quickly realized that would be impossible.

Burton went down, grabbing his left leg. He appeared to be in considerable pain. Trainers helped him off the court and directly to the locker room, and while they did, he could not put any weight on that left leg.

No official word on Burton’s status has been given, but it did not look good for Notre Dame’s star point guard. He will not return to Friday’s game, and he was seen on the bench with crutches and a large boot on his lower left leg.

After leading the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring as a sophomore with 21.3 points per game, Burton has scored 19.9 points per game as a junior for the 6-3 Irish. He also leads the team in assists with 3.6 and steals with 1.7 and, despite his 6-foot stature, is second in rebounds with 3.1.

Burton notched his first career double-double on Tuesday night during a much-needed 76-71 win over Missouri. He created sophomore guard Cole Certa‘s game-winning shot with 18 seconds left, passing out of a trap and watching Certa’s three go through the basket.

“He creates so much havoc when he drives,” Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “Just making the right play every time. Ten assists, 2 turnovers is big-time for him. … I thought he was really aggressive, driving to score. But I thought when people came over to help, he made the right play each time.”

If Burton is out for extended time, freshman guard Jalen Haralson and junior guard Braeden Shrewsberry will have to pick up the slack on offense. Haralson entered TCU averaging 13.1 points and 1.9 assists per game, while Shrewsberry was third on the team with 10.0 PPG — mostly from beyond the arc, where he shoots 44.4 percent.

Junior guard Logan Imes and sophomore guard Sir Mohammed will likely also see their minutes increase as secondary ball handlers with Burton out. The Irish could also choose to run parts of their offense through seventh-year forward Carson Towt, who averages 1.8 assists per game.

Update: Burton suffered an “ankle-related” injury, according to Micah Shrewsberry. The third-year Irish head coach does not know at this time whether Burton will be out long-term.