Notre Dame will attempt to sweep the regular-season series against Boston College when the teams meet Wednesday in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Tae Davis tossed in 26 points and Markus Burton finished with 20 to lead Notre Dame (10-13, 4-8 ACC) to a 78-60 victory over Boston College (10-13, 2-10) on Jan. 13.
Burton, a sophomore, has scored at least 20 points in 10 games this season and averages 20.6 ppg. He would be the ACC’s official leading scorer had he not missed seven games due to injury.
Notre Dame enters Wednesday’s matchup on a three-game losing streak and held a double-digit lead in each of those three losses. The Fighting Irish shot 28.6 percent from the field in the second half of Saturday’s 65-63 home loss to Virginia Tech.
“It’s my group,” Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “I gotta figure out how we can score better down the stretch, how we can get stops down the stretch. Gotta get back on the horse. Gotta play again.”
BC has lost eight of its last nine games but is 7-6 at home this season. BC’s Donald Hand Jr. has scored 104 points over his last four games, including 28 in Saturday’s 95-86 triple-overtime loss against Syracuse.
Hand, who is averaging a team-high 16.2 points per game, made five 3-pointers and scored 17 points in BC’s loss to Notre Dame earlier this season.
Fifteen of the ACC’s 18 teams will qualify for the conference tournament, and BC is currently tied with NC State for 16th place. BC coach Earl Grant said qualifying for the ACC tournament isn’t his primary concern.
“It’s still about pursuing the best version of ourself,” Grant said. “Trying to become the best offensive team we can be, and staying connected on defense, and build our defense to where we can get the stops that we need. So really that will be our focus, is to control what we can control, and right now that’s all we can control. Just showing up every day and trying to get better.”
Notre Dame has a 2-7 road record.
–Field Level Media
