Notre Dame’s Brutal Basketball Season in Years Ends With ACC Tournament Snub

Notre Dame will be spending the ACC Tournament at home as the program enters an interesting off-season

Feb 21, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry reacts on the sidelines against the Pittsburgh Panthers during the first half at the Petersen Events Center. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

A season to forget came to a forgettable end on Saturday for the Notre Dame men's basketball team as the regular season finale wound up being the season finale.

Notre Dame fell 77-69 at Boston College and with that, guaranteed itself that it won't qualify for the ACC Tournament next week. It's the first time since the ACC's most recent expansion that Notre Dame has failed to make the conference tournament.

Notre Dame lead by as many as nine points just over three minutes into the second half on Saturday, but as has been the story for seemingly years now, couldn't figure out a way to finish things off.

Fred Payne gave Boston College the lead on a three-pointer with 8:08 to play and the Irish never got it back, allowing 47 points in the second half.

final.#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/EfEqxrEduT

— Notre Dame Men's Basketball (@NDmbb) March 7, 2026

Jalen Haralson finished his freshman campaign with 21 points, leading the Irish. Braeden Shrewsberry added 14 while Cole Certa and Brady Koehler both scored 10.

Notre Dame couldn't find an answer for Payne throughout the afternoon, as he led all scorers with 24 points for Boston College.

Both Notre Dame and Boston College (both 4-14 in ACC play) saw their seasons end on Saturday, as only the top-15 teams in the ACC standings make the conference tournament. Georgia Tech finished the year just 3-15 in conference play and is the third and final team to not be headed to Charlotte.

What Now for Notre Dame Basketball?

Notre Dame basketball has fallen on hard times. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out but for the fourth-straight season and seventh time in the last eight years (that an NCAA Tournament was held), Notre Dame will spend it at home.

This off-season is a big one for Notre Dame. It'll put up or shut up time in 2026-27 for the Micah Shrewsberry regime, and that will start immediately.

Notre Dame will have work to do to retain the talent it does currently have, but it's crystal clear that alone won't be enough. In the transfer portal era, Notre Dame needs to add more than just a little bit of it this time around.

I don't look at Notre Dame and think that the back-to-back Elite Eight trips the team made a decade ago are a fair expectation. However, being competitive in a good, but far from great ACC shouldn't be so hard.

Injuries didn't help this season, but 13-18 overall and going just 3-14 down the stretch is beyond embarrassing.

Here's to hoping the work can be done with roster construction in the coming weeks that will make Notre Dame basketball at least compelling again next year.