Jalen Haralson update: Star Notre Dame freshman OUT vs. Georgia Tech

Notre Dame freshman guard Jalen Haralson will miss Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech with an ankle injury, a team spokesperson told Blue & Gold.

Haralson injured his ankle during Notre Dame’s loss to SMU on Tuesday night, and he tweaked it again during practice this week. Junior guard Logan Imes will start in Haralson’s place.

It’s a particularly damaging loss for an Irish team that sits at 11-14 (2-10 ACC) and is in real danger of missing the conference tournament. Notre Dame is tied for 16th in the ACC; the Nos. 16, 17 and 18 teams go home after the conclusion of their regular season.

Georgia Tech (11-14, 2-10 ACC) is one of the teams the Irish are tied with, making Saturday’s matchup essentially a must-win game if third-year head coach Micah Shrewsberry‘s group hopes to make the league tournament. It was already a group playing without star junior point guard Markus Burton, and now it will have to make do without Haralson.

Haralson, the No. 20 player in the 2025 Rivals Industry Ranking, has been a bright spot in a disappointing season. He averages 15.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.6 points per game and has been Notre Dame’s primary offensive initiator since Burton (also ankle) underwent surgery after a grisly injury on Dec. 7 at TCU.

Like Burton, Haralson injured his ankle during one of the best games of his young career. He scored 23 points — 3 shy of his career high — on 9-of-13 shooting. In his last five matchups, Haralson is averaging 18.4 points per game over his last five, on a hyper-efficient 59.2 percent from the field.

Haralson has also improved his free-throw shooting, hitting 73.6 percent of his attempts from the line over his last five outings.

“Obviously, Jalen’s got the ball in his hands a lot,” Shrewsberry said Friday. “He’s asked to do a lot, but his two-point field-goal percentage has really gone up in the last five games. His free-throw percentage, his assists.

“His turnovers have stayed consistent. That’s an area where he’s gotta keep growing. But as everything else keeps going right now, if he gets that under control, then he’s having a really good season.”

With Haralson out, Notre Dame will rely heavily on three-point shooting — particularly from junior guard Braeden Shrewsberry and sophomore guard Cole Certa. They’ve combined for 131 three-pointers this season, just over 60 percent of the team’s total.

Expect a heavy dose of sophomore guard Sir Mohammed off the bench as well.