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Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant will not play the rest of the season

Jerian Grant, Demetrius Jackson

Jerian Grant (AP Photo)

Jason DeCrow

On Sunday evening, Notre Dame senior guard Jerian Grant released a statement announcing that he will not be a part of the Irish basketball team for the rest of the 2013-2014 season.

“It is with regret and sorrow that I inform you that I am no longer enrolled at the University of Notre Dame due to an academic matter that I did not handle properly,” Grant wrote in a letter addressed to the Notre Dame community. “As a result, I am no longer part of the basketball program and will not be on the court competing with my teammates for the remainder of the 2013-14 season.”

“I take full responsibility for my lack of good judgment and the poor decision that I made. I have no one to blame but myself for the situation. I know and understand the expectations that go with being a student at Notre Dame and I did not live up to those standards.”

Grant, an all-ACC caliber talent, was averaging 19.0 points on the season, but Notre Dame was sputtering a bit this season. They had lost to Indiana State and North Dakota State and home and suffered a demoralizing collapse in a 64-61 loss to No. 3 Ohio State on Saturday night.

Grant is listed as a senior by Notre Dame, but the Fighting Irish are one of the only schools that list their athletes by academic year. Grant redshirted his first season in South Bend, meaning that he still has one more year of eligibility remaining.

“It is my full intention to return to Notre Dame as soon as possible following the 2014 spring semester,” Grant wrote. “I intend to do whatever it takes to earn my degree and finish out my college basketball career here. I understand that there is a process that I must go through in order to come back to school and I will be patient with that process.”

Notre Dame was expected to be a contender in the ACC this season, and despite losing on Saturday, they finally looked like they were coming together and figuring out how to play with a smaller lineup. Losing Grant is a killer blow, but it’s not a season-ender. Mike Brey is going to need freshman Demetrius Jackson to take on a larger role, and it may be beneficial to smooth things over with Cameron Biedscheid and take away his redshirt.

Notre Dame will still have a chance to make the NCAA tournament.

“I have established myself as a leader on the basketball team and this situation significantly impacts my teammates and coaches,” Grant wrote. “They have been such an integral part of my life since coming to Notre Dame. I was looking forward to being in the lineup when our team started play in the Atlantic Coast Conference. I apologize to them publicly and regret that I will not be there with and for them in the upcoming months, but I am confident that they will have great success for the remainder of the season.”