The Players Era Festival in Las Vegas was always going to be a tough challenge for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish were slated to face Rutgers and Houston, with a third game against an opponent to be determined after Wednesday's matchups.

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.

With a rare back-to-back game, Notre Dame is scheduled to face off against a ranked Houston tonight, and will be without their star. The official Irish men’s basketball social media account announced that Burton “suffered a non-season-ending knee injury that will hold him out of competition on a week-to-week basis.”