On Friday at 7 p.m., Notre Dame basketball will return to action against the Butler Bulldogs in an exhibition game. This is the first of two exhibition contests for the Irish, with the second coming a week later in South Bend against another Big East opponent, DePaul.
Notre Dame
Entering the critical third year of the Micah Shrewsberry era, there is a lot of optimism in South Bend about this year’s squad. Junior guard Markus Burton will return for the Irish in what could be a career-defining year for the Mishawaka native. His individual accolades through his first two seasons are undeniable. In addition to eclipsing over 1,000 points scored, he has also averaged more than 17 points per game in each of his first two seasons. Burton was recently named to the 2025-26 Preseason All-ACC First Team, adding to his already impressive resume.
Burton is joined in the backcourt by his junior running mate, Braeden Shrewsberry, who has averaged double-digit points in each of his first two seasons for the Irish. The experienced duo is complemented by one of the highest-ranked recruits Notre Dame has signed, five-star Jalen Haralson. The 19th-ranked player in the class of 2025, according to ESPN, headlines a loaded class for the Irish. Brady Koehler, Ryder Frost and Tommy Ahneman, a trio of four-star recruits, round out ESPN’s ninth-ranked recruiting class in the country.
In addition to the star-studded class of freshmen, Northern Arizona transfer Carson Towt gives the Irish some much-needed front-court physicality for the upcoming season. The fifth-year senior led the nation in rebounding (12.4 per game) last year for the Lumberjacks. Towt will work alongside 6-foot-10 forward Kebba Njie, who is entering his senior season after following coach Shrewsberry to South Bend from Penn State. There is also confidence in sophomores Sir Mohammed, Garrett Sundra and Cole Certa. The trio all saw time as freshmen and are looking to make a bigger impact this coming season. It will be interesting to see who the starting five is for the Irish, but also who can make an impact on Friday night. Despite the optimism hovering over South Bend, there are quite a few question marks that will only be answered with time.
Butler
The Butler Bulldogs head into year four of the second Thad Matta era, and an important one at that. Butler is hoping to build on their College Basketball Crown appearance last April. Despite Matta and his staff failing to make the NCAA Tournament in their first three seasons in Indianapolis, there is hope for Bulldogs fans who last watched their team play in an NCAA Tournament game close to eight years ago.
The roster has been completely reloaded with ESPN’s 25th-ranked recruiting class and five transfers. The 2025 class includes a pair of four-star recruits in Jack McCaffery, son of longtime Iowa basketball coach Fran McCaffery, and Indianapolis product Azavier “Stink” Robinson. Gonzaga transfer Michael Ajayi headlines Butler’s 2025 transfer class, along with journeyman Yohan Traore, who is making his fourth stop in the same number of years, most recently from SMU. Other transfers include Drayton Jones (South Carolina State), Jalen Jackson (Purdue Fort Wayne) and Yame Butler (Drexel).
The newcomers will join 6-foot-4 junior Finley Bizjack, who averaged 10.3 points per game as a Bulldog last year. They will also team up with 6-foot-6 sophomore Jamie Kaiser Jr., who burst onto the scene with Maryland in his freshman season before transferring to Butler and redshirting last year due to an ankle injury. In a year where the Big East may not produce as many NCAA Tournament bids as usual, the field is wide open for a surprise candidate like the Bulldogs.
The exhibition will not be streamed or broadcast, but WSBT radio will be live with Conor Clingen on air. Tickets to the event are also being sold online.