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Adrian Autry asked his team who wanted to guard Notre Dame’s Markus Burton at halftime. In the first half, nobody could. With just under five minutes left in the half, Burton was out-scoring Syracuse 22-21.

This propelled the Fighting Irish to lead by 17 before their lead shrunk to nine at halftime. To answer Autry’s halftime question, guard Kyle Cuffe Jr. said the Orange collectively wanted to lock in and guard Burton.

They did, holding the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year to just six points while forcing him to miss 10 of his final 12 shots. It allowed Syracuse (9-9, 3-4 ACC) to overcome its 17-point first-half deficit and defeat Notre Dame (8-10, 2-5 ACC) 77-69. Still, Burton finished with a game-high 28 points, the most a player has scored versus SU this season.

“Give him credit in the first half, but also gotta give us credit in the second half for stopping him for only (six) points in the second half,” Cuffe said.

While Burton typically does most of his damage from beyond the arc, he excelled getting downhill in the first half. So, in the second, guard Jaquan Carlos said the Orange emphasized touching him on the catch. Meanwhile, J.J. Starling added they adjusted their ball-screen defense to stop the Indiana native from driving inside.

This was apparent on Burton’s first shot attempt in the second half. As Starling switched on the guard on the perimeter, Notre Dame’s leading scorer received a screen from forward Kebba Njie on the left wing beyond the 3-point line. Instead of immediately following Njie down low upon his roll, Eddie Lampkin Jr. provided Starling with help on the perimeter before dropping into the paint.

Though this created a one-on-one afterward, it prevented Burton from immediately getting downhill for a layup — like he did countless times in the first half. While he still tried doing so, Starling used aggressive hands to prevent a blowby before forcing Burton to chuck a wild fadeaway that missed the mark.

“We just made the change of our ball-screen defense, putting two to the ball so that we kind of corralled him so that he couldn’t get downhill,” Starling said.

With Syracuse trailing 42-35 three minutes into the half, ND tried getting Burton going. However, after Lucas Taylor closed out on a pump-fake 3 and recovered to prevent a mid-range attempt, the shot clock began winding down on the Fighting Irish.

With five seconds remaining, they got the ball to Burton on the right wing, where he was instantly met by Taylor’s aggressive hands. Though the 5-foot-11 guard maneuvered his way into the paint, he was met by 6-foot-11 Lampkin swatting his shot away.

As Burton remained quiet, Syracuse saw its once 17-point deficit dwindle to two just four minutes into the second half.

“Those starters who came in just really pushed through the first four minutes, which was big for us,” Cuffe said of setting the tone defensively against Burton in the second half.

Burton registered his first points of the half from the charity stripe a minute-and-a-half later, pushing ND’s advantage to 48-42. His next shot attempt didn’t come until the 12:19 mark, missing a layup surrounded by three SU defenders.

From there, Cuffe re-entered the game and was primarily tasked with containing Burton — which was mostly Taylor’s assignment for the first eight minutes — once he checked back in after a brief stint on the bench. First, Cuffe forced a turnover. Then, tight defense led to a missed layup and a 3-pointer on consecutive shots.

“We just was tough with him. We stayed physical with him,” Carlos said of SU’s defense against Burton in the second half.

Cuffe then capitalized on his defensive work on the other end by making two free throws. This trimmed Notre Dame’s lead to 54-50 with nine minutes remaining. For the next two minutes, Burton was held to just one shot attempt, which he cashed in.

But Burton couldn’t string anything together as the Orange’s offense, led by Starling scoring 16 of his 21 points in the second half, percolated. After a Lampkin dunk got SU within five, Burton shook free from Cuffe before missing an open mid-range shot. Starling answered by getting to the rim and cutting SU’s deficit to three.

For the next three minutes, during which Syracuse took its first lead of the game, Burton was held shotless. Though coming out of a timeout with Notre Dame down 67-65 and three-and-a-half minutes left, it got the ball to its star.

Despite having a mismatch against Lampkin after Cuffe was screened away, Burton settled for a mid-range shot and missed the mark. On the other end, Starling extended Syracuse’s lead to four.

As the Fighting Irish continued struggling offensively, shots weren’t coming from Burton. Though he rattled home a layup with 11 seconds remaining to cut Syracuse’s lead to one, Notre Dame saw its deficit increase to three after made free throws from Cuffe.

Still, Burton had an opportunity to tie the game with three seconds left on a 3-pointer. Instead, his shot clanged off the rim, sealing the Orange’s come-from-behind win.

Following his dominant first half, it seemed Burton would become the first player to score 35-plus points against Syracuse since Duke’s Zion Williamson scored 35 on Jan. 14, 2019. As a result, it also seemed SU was on its way toward another crushing defeat amid a disappointing second season under Autry.

But, with a renewed game plan and significantly better execution against Burton, the Orange shut down the star guard en route to their best win this season.

“We made a little tweak. We started giving him some extra attention, putting some extra help on him,” Autry said.

Published on January 18, 2025 at 9:49 pm

Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon