Is sophomore guard Markus Burton finally back for the Notre Dame men’s basketball?

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SOUTH BEND − He’s back.

With it, the extended regular-season nightmare that has been for the Notre Dame men’s basketball team is also over.

Sophomore point guard Markus Burton was back in an Irish uniform on Saturday for a sold-out, nationally-televised game against North Carolina as Atlantic Coast Conference play revs up. Burton worked through warmups with his teammates and is expected to come off the bench for the first time in his career for the noon tip.

Burton worked through warmups 20 minutes before tip with no brace or sleeve on his knee. He was the last on the floor shooting 3s, then sprinted back to the locker room. There would be no minutes restrictions on him Saturday.

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The 6-foot, 190-pound Burton, who had started all 39 games of his collegiate career, has been sidelined since Nov. 26 after suffering a medial collateral ligament injury to his right knee. On that night in Las Vegas, Burton drove to the basket, made a circus shot and fell to the floor in the opening four minutes of a Players Era Festival game against Rutgers.

As Burton lay on the floor, Rutgers center Emmanuel Ogbole, who is 6-10 and 270 pounds, fell on Burton’s right leg. That’s the last time Burton played basketball. Until Saturday. Even when Burton fell to the floor, and it was announced the next day that he would be evaluated on a “week-to-week” basis, Saturday always seemed the proper target date for his return.

Despite missing seven games, Burton leads the Irish in scoring (18.2 points per game) and assists (4.3). He’s also averaging 4.5 rebounds in 28.3 minutes. He’s shooting .477 percent from the field, .346 from 3 and .842 from the foul line.

In the season’s second game against Buffalo, Burton quietly flirted with the second triple-double in program history. He had 19 points, a career-high…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/sophomore-guard-markus-burton-finally-164203135.html

Author : South Bend Tribune

Publish date : 2025-01-04 16:42:00

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