The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have been playing some great basketball lately and have entered the top 25 for the first time all season this week. Notre Dame has won four games in a row since starting off ACC play 1-2 and they are now tied for third in the league with their 5-2 in conference record. The Fighting Irish are set to take on Syracuse on Thursday in a tough road test but they may be without their best player, Demetrius Jackson, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.
Jackson is currently dealing with an injury to his right hamstring that he suffered in the first few minutes against Boston College on Saturday. Jackson only ended up playing two minutes in the game against BC but the team was still able to win very convincingly. Moving forward head coach Mike Brey plans to take a cautious approach with his star player as he doesn't want to bring him back too early.
The current plan is for Jackson to sit out on Thursday but there is also a very realistic possibility that he misses Sunday's game against Wake Forest as well, according to ESPN. The good news for the Fighting Irish is the fact that Jackson underwent an MRI on Monday and it revealed that he did not do any significant damage to the hamstring so any time he misses will likely be a precaution to ensure the injury doesn't get worse.
The junior point guard was a member of the preseason All-ACC team and he has not disappointed so far this season as the go-to-guy. Through 19 games Jackson is averaging 16.6 points, which is first on the team and 10th in the ACC, and 5 assists per game, which is tied for second in the ACC. Jackson has taken a massive step forward for Notre Dame this season and will be missed if he has to miss the next two games but this decision will likely work out better in the long run.
For as long as Jackson is sidelined expect freshman guard Rex Pflueger to see more time as he was the player who benefited the most, minutes wise, against Boston College. Pflueger has mostly been out of the rotation this season but recently he has gotten more time and he is coming off a game where he played a season high 32 minutes and scored a season high 11 points. Pflueger will likely get a chance to show what he can do over the next couple of games and earn a full-time role with the team.
