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.

Dylan Harper dropped a career-high 36 points and Rutgers fended off Matt Allocco and Notre Dame 85-84 in overtime to conclude a wild first day of the Players Era Festival on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.

Notre Dame men's basketball and Rutgers renewed their Big East rivalry in the first round of the new Players Era Festival tournament in Las Vegas

Notre Dame men's basketball lost Markus Burton early, but that was no reason to give up or give in against Rutgers. The Irish almost figured a way out

The team fought valiantly without their best player for most of the game, but ultimately didn’t have enough firepower to hang with Dylan Harper and the Scarlet Knights