After a tough and frankly humbling loss to Purdue Fort Wayne, Notre Dame men’s basketball head coach Micah Shrewsberry didn’t sugarcoat anything when he met with the media. This wasn’t just a bad night-it was a wake-up call.
Shrewsberry pinpointed the first red flag well before tip-off. According to the head coach, the warning signs started showing right after finals week.
In their first practice back, the starting unit got run off the floor by the scout team-referred to as the “white” team-falling behind 19-0 in a scrimmage. That kind of flat energy, Shrewsberry admitted, set the tone for what unfolded on game night.
He didn’t dodge accountability either. In fact, he leaned into it.
Shrewsberry took the loss personally, pointing to a lack of leadership-starting with himself. He made it clear that if this team wants to rebuild the momentum and goodwill it had been building earlier in the season, it’s going to have to start with a return to fundamentals and effort.
In his words, they’ve got to “start playing the right way again.”
There weren’t many silver linings to pull from a performance like that, but if there was one, Shrewsberry said it’s the motivation the team should now carry heading into their next matchup on December 26. The message is simple: they need to go out and earn one. Wherever and however they can, they’ve got to find a way to respond.
Losses like this can do one of two things: fracture a team or forge one. The Irish have a choice to make-and the next game will say a lot about which direction they’re headed.