Markus Burton is the one player that the Notre Dame men's basketball team can ill afford to lose, for however long. Less than four minutes into Tuesday's game against Rutgers, there was the 6-foot, 190-pound Burton, driving and twisting and falling to the ...

The team fought valiantly without their best player for most of the game, but ultimately didn’t have enough firepower to hang with Dylan Harper and the Scarlet Knights

In a game that featured 12 ties and 17 lead changes, Irish power forward Paul Atkinson’s rebound basket with 1.2 seconds left gave Notre Dame an 89-87 victory and sent the Irish on to face Alabama in the first round in San Diego. Atkinson scored a game-high 26 points with six rebounds.

The Notre Dame men’s basketball team will remember its first game of the Players Era Festival for a lot of reasons. Unfortunately, it won’t be for a victory it lost an 85-84 overtime thriller to Rutgers in Las Vegas.

Notre Dame headed into the half shooting a mere 39% from the floor, but shot 41% from behind the arc which helped them head into half time with a one point lead 35-34. They also out rebounded Rutgers in the first half 24-13 resulting in 11 second chance points. However, the Irish only scored 8 points in the paint compared to Rutgers' 14.

The Fighting Irish are set to showcase their talents in Las Vegas at the Players Era Festival. Here's what to expect.

Notre Dame men's basketball lost Markus Burton early, but that was no reason to give up or give in against Rutgers. The Irish almost figured a way out

First, let’s give Notre Dame extra credit: the Irish lost Markus Burton early in the game - he scored just two points - and still took Rutgers to the wire. Matt Alloco scored 24