Markus Burton and Notre Dame are looking to extend their hot streak when they face Miami on Saturday in Coral Gables, Fla.
The Fighting Irish (10-10, 4-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) are coming off a 71-68 home win against Georgia Tech on Tuesday, where Burton scored a game-high 26 points. He made 9 of 17 shots from the field, including 4 of 5 from beyond the arc.
Burton has been playing well after missing all of December due to a right knee injury. He is averaging 20.4 points per game this season, but in the past three games, he has been scoring 25 points per game.
“He’s fun to coach, because he has great energy and he gives off great energy to his teammates,” Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “He’s learning how people are guarding him, what the situation is, what it calls for, and you can see him start to read the game, start to read defenses, set himself up, setting his teammates up, and he’s doing it all efficiently right now.”
Notre Dame has won three of its last four games and is starting a stretch of five games against ACC teams with losing records.
Miami (4-17, 0-10) lost 82-71 to Virginia at home on Wednesday, keeping them winless in the conference. Matthew Cleveland led the Hurricanes with 27 points, making 10 of 17 shots from the field, but he missed all four of his 3-point attempts.
“Obviously, a very disappointing loss for us,” Miami interim coach Bill Courtney said. “Same problem for us on the defensive end we’ve had several times, couldn’t get key stops. We scored enough to win the game against a very good defensive team.”
While the Fighting Irish may be eyeing their next games, Shrewsberry is focused on keeping his players grounded.
“I told our guys after we won (Tuesday), our next game on Saturday is our Super Bowl,” he said. “Every single game is for us, whatever is right in front of us, I think we have to focus on that. I think we can be a good team, but we’re still a young team.”
