| NOTRE DAME | GAME DAY INFORMATION |
|---|---|
| Date | Saturday, January 2, 2021 |
| Time | 4:00 p.m. ET |
| Site: | Dean Smith Center • Chapel Hill, NC |
| TV: | ACC Network • Doug Sherman (play-by-play) • Cory Alexander (analyst) |
| Radio: | Notre Dame Basketball Radio Network • Jack Nolan (play-by-play) Available worldwide on und.com. |
BY THE NUMBERS: IRISH AT TAR HEELS
|
1 |
Junior forward Nate Laszewski leads all major conference players in field goal percentage (min 5 FGM per game) at .662 – ahead of Iowa’s Luka Garza (.611), LSU Darius Days (.576) and Colorado’s McKinley Wright IV (.566). |
|
2 |
Nate Laszewski is second in the country in effective field goal percentage (.785), shooting 43-for-65 from two-point range (.662) and 16-for-28 (.571) from three-point range. |
|
4 |
The 2020-21 Irish offense, currently ranked 34th in adjusted offensive efficiency by kenpom.com, has shown multiple weapons capable of putting up over 20 points in a game this season. Four Irish players have combined to score over 20 points in seven of Notre Dame’s eight games (Nate Laszewski, Dane Goodwin, Prentiss Hubb have all hit 20 points twice this season, while Trey Wertz has a 27-point this year as well). |
|
5 |
The Irish are up to five games lost this season to COVID-19 safety protocols that affected the opposing team’s ability to play the scheduled game. The program has been able to adapt to the games missed, adding Detroit Mercy (to replace three different scheduled home openers), Bellarmine (to replace a planned trip to Syracuse) and North Carolina (to replace at planned trip to Pittsburgh). |
|
7 |
The Irish are seventh in the country in free throw percentage at .813. Trim that national list to teams that have played at least eight games and Notre Dame is fourth in the country. The Irish are ahead of Virginia (.784) for the ACC lead in free throw percentage. |
|
12.6 |
Notre Dame’s NCAA-leading fouls per game number, as the Irish continue their tradition of not fouling the opponent to allow easy points late in a contest. Notre Dame’s 12.6 leads the country for teams who have played multiple games (CS Fullerton has played one game and committed 11 fouls) and puts the Irish on pace to lead the country in least amount of fouls committed for the fifth consecutive season. |
|
14 |
Nate Laszewski is 14th in the country in three-point field goal percentage at .565 and 13th in overall field goal percentage at .662. |
|
19 |
Season-high points scored off the bench by graduate student forward Juwan Durham against Virginia. The Irish forward tandem of Durham and Nate Laszewski (28) combined for 47 of Notre Dame’s 57 points vs. the Cavaliers. Durham is expected to shift back into the starting lineup due to the loss of junior Trey Wertz to a sprained ankle in the first half of the Virginia game. |
|
23 |
A recent project by CBSSports.com ranked the ‘Greatest College Basketball Programs Ever’ with Notre Dame placing 23rd on the list and sixth in the ACC. Notre Dame will face eight of the teams ranked above them this year a total of nine times: No. 19 NC State, No. 14 Michigan State (0-1), No. 12 Ohio State (0-1), No. 11 Syracuse, No. 6 Louisville, No. 3 Duke (0-1, twice), No. 2 North Carolina, No. 1 Kentucky (1-0). |
|
34 |
Notre Dame and North Carolina will be meeting for the 34th time on Saturday afternoon, with the Tar Heels leading the all-time series 25-8. The Irish are looking to win two consecutive games against UNC for the second time in program history and the Mike Brey era (Notre Dame won three straight over UNC spanning the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons). |
|
37 |
Junior guards Prentiss Hubb (37.6) and Dane Goodwin (36.9) both lead all ACC players in minutes played per game in 2020-21. |
|
1907 |
Total victories in the history of Notre Dame men’s basketball, as the Irish became the eighth program to reach 1,900 victories in 2019-20 (Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, Temple, Syracuse and UCLA have all reached that plateau). The Irish were 12th all-time in college basketball victories when Mike Brey took over the program in 2000-01 – they have since passed Oregon State, Pennsylvania, St. John’s and Indiana on the all-time wins list into eighth place. |
CHARTING LASZEWSKI’S HOT SHOOTING START
Junior Nate Laszewski has started out the 2020-21 season as one of the nation’s best shooters.
A look at where Laszewski ranks among the NCAA, major conference and ACC leaders:
|
Statistic |
Number |
National Ranking |
Major Conference Ranking |
ACC Ranking |
Notes |
|
FG% |
.662 |
13th |
4th |
1st |
min 5 FGM per game, 5 GP |
|
3FG% |
.571 |
14th |
5th |
2nd |
min 1.5 3FGM per game, 5 GP |
|
EFG% |
.785 |
2nd |
1st |
1st |
min 5 FGM per game, 5 GP |
DURHAM ALREADY AMONG TOP SHOT BLOCKERS IN NOTRE DAME HISTORY
Blocked shots are one of the youngest official NCAA official statistics, only becoming a part of a game boxscore for the 1985-86 season. With that in mind, it is still noteworthy that graduate student Juwan Durham has already established himself as one of the top shot blockers in Notre Dame history.
In 2018-19, Durham swatted 63 shots which ranks fifth on the Notre Dame single-season blocked shots list, he followed up with 66 as a senior last season.
Durham has pushed his career blocked-shot average to 2.2 and is one of just three Notre Dame players to average over 2.0 blocks per game in their career:
|
Player |
Seasons |
Blocks Per Game |
|
Ryan Humphrey |
2000-02 |
2.8 |
|
JUWAN DURHAM |
2018-current |
2.1 |
|
LaPhonso Ellis |
1988-92 |
2.1 |
Durham’s 145 total blocks at Notre Dame currently rank him sixth all-time (see sidebar, page 4). Jordan Cornette is the Notre Dame blocked shots record holder with 201 from 2001-05.
JUNIOR CLASS MAKING THEIR MARK
Notre Dame’s junior class (Dane Goodwin, Prentiss Hubb, Nate Laszewski) is poised to build upon the program’s tradition of a sharp increase in productivity during a student-athlete’s third year in the program. Goodwin, Hubb and Laszewski have seen an increase in points per game, rebounds per game and minutes played through Notre Dame’s first seven games of the season:
|
Player |
19-20 ppg |
20-21 ppg |
+ |
19-20 rpg |
20-21 rpg |
+ |
19-20 mpg |
20-21 mpg |
+ |
|
Dane Goodwin |
10.8 |
14.8 |
4.0 |
3.8 |
5.6 |
1.8 |
26.2 |
37.0 |
10.8 |
|
Prentiss Hubb |
12.1 |
14.9 |
2.8 |
2.4 |
3.4 |
1.0 |
35.2 |
37.7 |
2.5 |
|
Nate Laszewski |
7.4 |
16.3 |
8.9 |
4.7 |
8.1 |
3.4 |
21.0 |
33.8 |
12.8 |
IRISH BOAST SOLID RECORD FOR ANNUAL HOME-AND-HOME ACC SERIES
Since joining the ACC for the 2013-14 season, Boston College and Georgia Tech have been designated as the ‘traditional’ yearly rivals for Notre Dame in the league. Each season, the Irish have met the Eagles and Yellow Jackets for home-and-home series. Notre Dame boasts the best record in the league against its designated repeat opponents since 2013-14 (records below are regular-season meetings only):
RECORD VS. ACC ANNUAL HOME-AND-HOME OPPONENTS SINCE 2013-14
|
Team |
Opponent |
Opponent |
Record |
|
NOTRE DAME |
Boston College |
Georgia Tech |
22-6 |
|
Duke |
North Carolina |
Wake Forest |
20-8 |
|
Florida State |
Miami |
Clemson |
18-10 |
|
Syracuse |
Boston College |
Pittsburgh |
20-8 |
|
North Carolina |
Duke |
NC State |
18-10 |
|
Virginia |
Virginia Tech |
Louisville |
19-9* |
* – Virginia repeated with Maryland in 2013-14
PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTED BY 1,000 POINT SCORERS
Notre Dame has produced 64 1,000 point scorers throughout the history of the program with 23 of those players reaching that statistical milestone during the Mike Brey era (2000-01 – current). Of the 85 players who have suited up for Notre Dame under Mike Brey, 36 of them were recruited by the staff and exhausted their eligibility with the Irish – 20 of those players have scored more than 1,000 points in a career.
Since 2000-01, Notre Dame leads all ACC teams in 1,000 point scorers (23) and is second in the country over that time frame to Villanova.
|
School |
All-Time 1,000 Point Scorers |
1,000 Point Scorers since 2000-01 |
|
North Carolina |
77 |
20 |
|
Louisville |
69 |
18 |
|
Duke |
67 |
20 |
|
NOTRE DAME |
64 |
23 |
|
Villanova |
64 |
24 |
|
Syracuse |
62 |
19 |
|
Kansas |
61 |
19 |
A DECADE OF ‘NO FOUL’ CONTINUES
One of the mantras of Notre Dame basketball under Mike Brey has been to keep the amount of opponent foul shots down. Defend without fouling is a way of life for Irish basketball and the statistics bear out that trend.
In the last 11 years, Notre Dame has failed to finish among the top 10 in least amount of personal fouls committed just twice. They have also led the country in least amount of personal fouls three times.
The NCAA has been tracking the least amount of fouls committed in a season since 1993. Notre Dame is the only team since 1993 to lead the country in least amount of fouls more than twice (four times) and could be on pace to make it six times this season.
NOTRE DAME FOULS PER GAME NATIONAL/CONFERENCE FINAL RANKING
|
Year |
Fouls Per Game |
NCAA Raking |
Conference Ranking |
|
2009-10 |
15.1 |
10 |
2 |
|
2010-11 |
15.2 |
11 |
1 |
|
2011-12 |
13.8 |
1 |
1 |
|
2012-13 |
14.1 |
8 |
1 |
|
2013-14 |
16.2 |
15 |
5 |
|
2014-15 |
15.1 |
6 |
1 |
|
2015-16 |
15.1 |
1 |
1 |
|
2016-17 |
14.9 |
4 |
1 |
|
2017-18 |
13.1 |
1 |
1 |
|
2018-19 |
13.8 |
1 |
1 |
|
2019-20 |
12.4 |
1 |
1 |
|
2020-21 |
12.6 |
1 |
1 |
FOUR VETERANS NAMED TEAM CAPTAINS FOR 2020-21
Glenn and Stacey Head Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Brey has announced four student-athletes to serve as team captains for the University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team.
Graduate students Nikola Djogo and Juwan Durham, along with juniors Prentiss Hubb and Cormac Ryan, will make up a four-player group of captains in 2020-21.
All four Irish players will be serving as team captains for the first time in their careers.
IRISH RECEIVE COMMITMENTS FROM TWO AREA PROSPECTS
Rising high school seniors J.R. Konieczny (Ko-nez-nee) and Blake Wesley, both from South Bend, Indiana, have signed National Letters of Intent to play basketball at the University of Notre Dame.
Rated among the top 150 high school players in the 2020-21 class, Konieczy (Kah-nez-nee) is a four-star recruit according to ESPN.com and earned third-team all-state honors as a junior in 2019-20. He averaged over 24 points a game last season, including a 42-point outburst in the 2020 sectional semifinal – a performance that earned him the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Week honors.
A consensus four-star recruit, Wesley is ranked 96th nationally by Rivals and 113th by 247Sports. An honorable mention all-state selection as a junior in 2019-20, Wesley led all local area players with a 26.0 points-per-game average last season.