When Detroit Mercy coach Mark Montgomery scouted the video of Notre Dame’s season-opening win over Long Island, he must’ve gotten a bad case of shooter envy.
That’s because Montgomery’s squad shot a collective 8 of 40 from 3-point range during their season-opening 91-71 loss at University of Illinois Chicago, while Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry had the luxury of bringing sophomore Cole Certa and freshman Ryder Frost off the bench against Long Island.
Certa drilled 6 of 9 3-point attempts for a career-high 22 points and Frost hit 4 of 5 threes in his college debut to help the Irish roll to an 89-67 triumph.
Now it’s on Montgomery and Detroit Mercy (0-1) to figure out how to improve their shooting in short order while also determining how to slow down Notre Dame (1-0) in Friday night’s non-conference clash in South Bend, Ind.
“There’s a beauty and an art to being an off-the-bench gunner,” Shrewsberry said. “Sometimes you forget about Cole Certa coming off the bench. You can only walk through five people (in pregame preparation). You can only walk through so many sets – and you usually do it with the starters.”
Even if an opposing coach like Montgomery opts to focus on Certa or Frost when they’re on the floor, then they’re taking help away from Notre Dame’s main guys: point guard Markus Burton, the reigning ACC scoring champ who produced a team-high 24 points against Long Island.
Detroit, meanwhile, got off to a good start Monday at UIC. The Titans held a 23-13 lead after eight minutes before their poor 3-point marksmanship and iffy defense turned it into a 91-71 loss.
“We struggled behind the line, but I liked the shots we took,” Montgomery said. “We’ve just got to knock them down… I think this loss is going to teach us a lot. You want to challenge yourself in the non-conference to get you ready for conference play.”
Notre Dame marks the first of three “buy games” for Detroit Mercy. The Titans also travel to Michigan State (Nov. 21) and DePaul (Nov. 23).
If Detroit’s shooters struggle again, then Ayden Carter will have to pick up the slack again. The junior-college transfer delivered 18 points in 24 minutes in his Div. I debut.
“He’s the sixth starter,” Montgomery said. “He could be in there as the starter. He brings great energy off the bench. He’s fearless. He got to his spots, made some plays.”
