SOUTH BEND — Three thoughts while watching Notre Dame move to 3-0 for the second straight season under third-year coach Micah Shrewsberry following a 78-58 victory over Eastern Illinois in front of 3,618 at Purcell Pavilion … 

∎ Searching. Wondering. Waiting. 

That was how Notre Dame spent Tuesday’s first half trying to find a combination that clicked. There’s an advantage to going 11 players deep in the rotation, which the Irish did in the first seven-plus minutes. Eventually, you’re going to find a five that’s fine. 

For the start of the second half, Notre Dame landed on Markus Burton, Braeden Shrewsberry and Jalen Haralson at the guard spots. It had sophomore wing guard Sir Mohammed at a position — the four-man — that he’d never played this season. It had Carson Towt doing what Carson Towt does at center. 

A three-point game at half became a runaway as Notre Dame finally found its flow. A 10-0 run helped the Irish push to a double-digit lead less than six minutes in. It stayed there for nearly all of the final 14 minutes thanks to that five. Even after the under-16 timeout, a time the Irish usually sub guys out, they stayed with that five until Eastern Illinois could find an answer. It never did. 

“We’re deep, man,” said Towt, the leading rebounder in the Atlantic Coast Conference coming in before grabbing 11 to go with five points and three assists. “We’ve got a lot of players that can go in there and impact the game at a high level. On any given night, it can be anyone’s night.” 

This was a night for the main guys. Four starters — Burton, Mohammed, Shrewsberry and Towt — all played at least 24 minutes. Haralson came off the bench and played 25. Others who had played a lot and scored a lot in the previous two games —Cole Certa, Ryder Frost, Brady Koehler — played little. 

Sometimes, that’s just how it works. On Tuesday, that’s how it worked. The rotation was pared down in a second half that saw Notre Dame score 47 points and shoot 53.3 percent from the field, 46.7 percent from 3, after laboring to 31 points on 43.3 percent from the floor and 15.4 percent from 3 in the first half. 

“It’s special that we can mix up lineups like that and still be efficient,” Towt said. “These early games are all different. We found a groove with a couple of the guys out there and took advantage of it.” 

∎ Erase the opening week of the season for Irish wing guard Jalen Haralson. Ignore it. Pretend it never happened. 

Haralson would prefer to forget those first two games in five days. He played 12 minutes in the opener before leaving early in the second half with a cut above his eye that needed three stitches. He missed the next game while in concussion protocol. 

On Tuesday, he was healthy and it showed. Working in a reserve role, Haralson scored 17 points with five rebounds and three assists in 25 minutes. He looked — and felt — more like himself. 

“It was good playing with these guys,” Haralson said. “I hated not playing the last game, but it was good coming out there. I had a great time.” 

The game came easily for Haralson, who took six shots. He made all six. He also shot six free throws. He made five. There were times where he’d bring the ball down the floor and just back his defender into the post, make a move and score an easy two. Other times, he’d serve as the main handler, probe the lane and kick out to an Irish shooter for a 3. 

He made it look so effortless. For much of the second half, it was. He got in a flow. He hunted mismatches. He hunted shots. He looked like a former McDonald’s All-American. 

“Really, just finding a rhythm,” Haralson said. “These guys make it easy for me. I’ve got a lot of space to work. It’s fun playing with these guys.” 

∎ This one was going to be tricky for myriad reasons. Head coach Micah Shrewsberry knew it when the schedule was released in September. He knew it when the Irish took a few days around fall break. He knew it when the week arrived, and with it, a rare mid-November snowstorm that dumped about a foot of the white stuff across campus. 

He didn’t count on the weather being an issue, but it was as the Irish also had to trudge across campus through the snow and the cold for a game. They had to fight through all of that, lock in for 40 minutes, and win a winnable home game. It wasn’t easy. 

“It adds more things to it, but you’ve still got to go win,” Shrewsberry said. “I didn’t think we approached it with the right maturity. I thought the maturity we showed in the second half, this time last year, these kind of games, it’s a six-point game with two minutes left.” 

With two minutes left in this one, Notre Dame was up by 20 in a game that it led for 32:50 and by as many as 23. 

Tuesdays also are the longest class days for the Irish. That was the main reason the start of this one tipped 30 minutes later than the usual 7 p.m. start. Sir Mohammed was late to film because of class; Braeden Shrewsberry had class right up until shoot-around. 

“If we go at 7, those guys are missing shoot-around,” Coach Shrewsberry said. “I want to give us a chance to try and play well, so you try and move it to help your team, to help your guys.” 

A lot could have gone wrong Tuesday, but the head coach wasn’t having it. Long day of class, January-like weather outside, a scrappy opponent. None of it mattered. 

“I told them at shoot-around, no excuses; zero,” Shrewsberry said. “I don’t care if you had nine classes today. Come to shoot-around, be hooked up; be ready to play. I felt like a good amount of us were.” 

In the end, a tricky test really wasn’t. The Irish aced it. All of it. 

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Did Notre Dame basketball handle everything offered by Eastern Illinois?