Notre Dame Hoops fall to Houston in Vegas

Micah Shrewsberry should be thankful for the fight his Irish have shown so far in Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival.

The effort has yet to result in any wins, but facing legitimately talented teams, including a Final Four contender in Houston late Wednesday night, the Notre Dame men’s basketball team showed little sign of intimidation.

Both teams were coming off overtime losses the night before, with Houston falling to Alabama and the Irish losing to Rutgers.

The sixth-ranked Cougars (4-2) came out on top 65-54 as the Irish dropped their third straight to drop to 4-3 on the season.

But as disappointing as last week’s home loss to Elon was, there have been some positives to take from the two games so far in Vegas, especially since the Irish have been undermanned from the start.

Notre Dame will play Creighton in the seventh-place game on Saturday.

With leading scorer Markus Burton out “several weeks” after suffering a knee injury against Rutgers on Tuesday night, finding offense would be a matter of concern, especially against Houston’s aggressive, suffocating defense.

After Matt Allocco’s offensive outburst against Rutgers on Tuesday, it was Tae Davis’ turn to step up, at least in the first half.

Davis finished with 22 points and Braeden Shrewsberry scored 16, but Allocco added just eight and no other Irish player scored more than five.

The Irish did a good job of limiting Houston star guard LJ Cryer, who scored just six points, but three other Cougars finished in double figures, led by Emanuel Sharp, who had 17.

Houston’s eight-point halftime lead was quickly stretched to 10 early in the second half before a 13-4 Irish run — featuring eight Shrewsberry points — cut it to a one-point game, 45-44, with 13: 41 left.

But then the Irish went on a four-minute scoring drought, and when the Cougars stretched the lead back to nine, Notre Dame couldn’t get within seven.

Neither team shot well in the second half after an impressive first half.

The Cougars got off to a hot start, scoring the game’s first six points, but the Irish didn’t fold and trailed just 10-8 at the first media timeout thanks to a pair of strong layups by Davis and a three by Shrewsberry.

Houston led by as many as nine twice, but Davis kept the Irish close for most of the first half. But a pair of jumpers from Terrance Arceneaux in the final minute allowed the Cougars to stretch that lead back to eight at halftime, 39-31.

Notre Dame shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, including 44 percent on threes (4-9).

But Houston matched that three-point output, hitting 58.6 percent of their shots from the field in the first half.

Davis led the Irish in the first half with 15 points and three assists. Cryer was held to just two points in the first 20 minutes, but Arceneaux poured in 13 without missing a shot to pace the Cougars.

Houston will play San Diego State in the tournament’s third-place game on Saturday.

After their game against Creighton, the Irish will play at Georgia next Tuesday before opening ACC play when they host Syracuse a week from Saturday.