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.

Notre Dame basketball fans received some good news and some bad news regarding the injury status of Markus Burton.

Notre Dame basketball is aiming to snap out of a two-game slide, but learned some devastating news involving star guard Markus Burton.

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.

Rutgers held off Notre Dame for an 85-84 overtime victory after an Allocco 3-point attempt from deep rimmed out at the buzzer.

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.”

Notre Dame's Markus Burton, a preseason all-ACC pick who entered the week averaging 21.4 points per game, will miss several weeks due to a knee injury, sources told ESPN.

The Notre Dame men's basketball team will remember its first game of the Players Era Festival for a lot of reasons. Unfortunately, it won't be for a victory it lost an 85-84 overtime thriller to Rutgers in Las Vegas.