March 13, 2016
The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team earned the sixth seed in the Philadelphia Regional of the 2016 NCAA Championship and will play the winner of the Michigan – Tulsa `First Four’ play-in game on Friday, March 18, at approximately 9:30 p.m. ET in Brooklyn, N.Y. The game will be played in the Barclays Center and broadcast live nationally on CBS.
It is the 35th overall appearance by Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament and 17th since the field expanded to 64 in 1985. The spot is also the 11th earned in the Mike Brey era (start of the 2000-01 season) and eighth in the last 10 years. The Irish are coming off a historic run to the Elite Eight in last season’s tournament, knocking off #14 Northeastern, #6 Butler and #7 Wichita State before falling to #1 seed Kentucky by two points just one game away from the Final Four.
Historically, the Irish are 34-38 in NCAA Competition since participating in the tournament for the first time in 1953 and are 9-10 under Mike Brey. As a sixth-seeded team, the Irish are 1-3 in the tournament, with a victory over Xavier in 2001, and losses to #3 Mississippi in 2001, #11 Winthrop in 2007 and #11 Old Dominion in 2010.
Quick Hits: This will be Notre Dame’s first NCAA appearance in the state of New York, home state of freshmen Matt Ryan (Cortland Manor, N.Y.) and Elijah Burns (Troy, N.Y.) … the Irish do have postseason tournament history in the Big Apple, however, going 9-6 in Postseason NIT competition … the Irish are 3-13 against Big Ten teams and 2-4 against AAC teams in the NCAA tournament … Notre Dame has faced Michigan twice in the NCAA tournament, a 77-68 loss in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (1974) and a 80-76 loss in Louisville, Ky. (1976).