Notre Dame Toledo Post Game

Irish End Home Stand Against Fairleigh Dickinson

NOTRE DAME vs. FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON

The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team (5-1) caps off a six-game home stand against Fairleigh Dickinson (1-4) at Purcell Pavilion on Tuesday night (7 p.m., Regional Sports Network).

  • The Irish and Knights will be meeting for the second time. Notre Dame defeated FDU 75-57 on December 6, 2014 at Purcell Pavilion.
  • Fairleigh Dickison won the Northeast Conference Championship last season, the program’s second title in four years, and advanced to the NCAA tournament. FDU defeated Prairie View A&M 82-76 in the First Four in Dayton before falling to No. 1 seed Gonzaga.
  • The Knights are 1-4 in 2019-20, with a season-opening victory over FDU-Florham at home. The Knights are ending a five-game road trip at Notre Dame, with losses at DePaul, Fordham, Army and Lafayette.
  • Fairleigh Dickinson was founded in 1942 as a junior college and was named after an early benefactor – Colonel Fairleigh S. Dickinson. The school has four campuses; two in New Jersey (Madison/Florham Park and Teaneck/Hackensack), one in Vancouver, British Columbia and one in South East England.

Notre Dame MBB vs. Fairleigh Dickinson Notes (PDF)

NOTRE DAMEGAME DAY INFORMATION
DateTuesday, November 26, 2019
Time7:00 p.m. ET
Site: Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center
• Notre Dame, IN
• Capacity 9,149
TV:Regional Sports Network
List of affiliates carrying the game
• Tom Werme (play-by-play)
• Brian Oliver (analyst)

Radio:Notre Dame Radio Network
• Jack Nolan (play-by-play)
• Zach Hillesland (analyst)
Available locally on WSBT AM/FM, worldwide on und.com and XM and Sirius/XM Internet Channel 371
Tickets: Tickets are available at und.com/buytickets

BY THE NUMBERS: IRISH vs. KNIGHTS

1

Senior John Mooney, one of nine major conference players in the country to average a double-double, is the only Division I player averaging 14.0 points and 13.0 rebounds per game.

1.5

Seconds remaining when graduate student Rex Pflueger inbounded the ball to sophomore Nate Laszewski at the end of regulation against Toledo. Laszewski’s three-point field goal as the buzzer sounded sent the game into overtime and the Irish eventually posted a 64-62 victory.

2

Notre Dame and Fairleigh Dickinson will be meeting for the second time on Tuesday evening. The Irish defeated the Knights 75-57 on December 6, 2014 at Purcell Pavilion.   

3

John Mooney has pulled down 15 or more rebounds in three consecutive games played (he missed the game against Presbyterian with an illness). He joins Bryant’s Patrick Harding as the only Division I players to have 15 or more rebounds in three games this season.

11.8

The Irish continue their tradition of  ‘defend without fouling’ in 2019-20 – currently ranked third in the country in personal fouls per game (11.8). In the last decade, Notre Dame has finished out of the top 10 in least amount of personal fouls per game just twice (11th in 2010-11, 15th in 2013-14) and led the country in the category in 2011-12, 2015-16 and 2018-19. See page 3 for more details.

13.0

Rebounds-per-game average for John Mooney, a mark that ranks him third in the country and leads the ACC as of November 25.

16

After scoring a career-high 28 points with 16 rebounds against Marshall on Friday night, combined with his 18-point, 16-rebound effort earlier in the week against Howard, senior John Mooney becomes the first ACC player to post back-to-back games with 16 or more rebounds twice in a career since Tim Duncan in 1996-97. See page 3 for more details.

21

Notre Dame forced 21 turnovers in the overtime victory over Toledo – the most for a Mike Brey-led Irish team since November 24, 2013 when Notre Dame forced Army into 22 turnovers. It was the first time Notre Dame has forced 20 or more turnovers since a victory over Seattle in November of 2016.

23

With Notre Dame’s come-from-behind overtime victory over Toledo last Thursday, the Irish improved to 23-12 in overtime under Mike Brey. Notre Dame has claimed wins in 13 of its last 16 overtime games played.

29

The game against FDU on Tuesday evening will mark the 30th meeting between the Irish and a team from the Northeast Conference. Notre Dame is 29-0 against the NEC, with the most meetings coming against St. Peter’s (PA) (13-0).

200

Rex Pflueger and T.J. Gibbs have joined an exclusive Notre Dame men’s basketball club. They are the 12th and 13th players since 1996-97 to post 200 assists and 100 steals in a career. Pflueger has 259 assists and 115 steals, while Gibbs has posted 298 assists and 111 steals.

298

Senior T.J. Gibbs enters the game with Fairleigh Dickinson with 298 career assists. Gibbs will become the 21st Notre Dame player to reach 300 career assists in a career and the 13th player to reach the plateau during the Mike Brey era.

795

Glenn and Stacey Murphy Head Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Brey is approaching another milestone in his career. When the Irish face traditional rival UCLA on December 14, Coach Brey will take the sidelines for his 800th career game. Santa Clara’s Herb Sendek is scheduled to reach the 800 game mark on the same day as Brey and they will become the 24th and 25th active coaches to reach 800 career games.

IRISH CLAIM MABC HONORS

The University of Notre Dame capped off a clean run through the 2019 Men Against Breast Cancer Invitational with a 64-62 overtime victory against Toledo on Thursday, November 21. Combined with a victory in the 2018 Gotham Classic Showcase Game, Notre Dame has won 15 of its last 16 in-season tournament contests – a run that includes the 2016 Legends Classic Championship and the 2017 Maui Inviational title.

John Mooney added to his personal trophy case by garnering MABC MVP honors (as voted on by media members attending each contest). Mooney follows up on his MVP honors in the Gotham Classic Showcase game from last season. Graduate student Rex Pfleuger and sophomore Dane Goodwin were named to the MABC All-Tournament Team as well.

A look at Mooney, Pfleuger and Goodwin’s statistics during the four game MABC Invitational:

Player

MP

FG

FGA

FG%

3FG

3FGA

3FG%

FT

FTA

FT%

REB

REB/G

AST

BLK

STL

PTS

PTS/G

Mooney

118

25

60

.417

5

19

.263

8

17

.471

57

14.3

11

3

5

63

15.8

Pflueger

104

8

27

.296

3

14

.214

8

9

.889

18

4.5

12

1

8

27

6.8

Goodwin

96

20

37

.541

6

13

.462

10

11

.909

17

4.3

4

1

3

56

14.0

MOONEY REBOUNDING AT AN HISTORIC RATE

Senior John Mooney enters the game with Fairleigh Dickinson on a run of 15 or more rebounds in the last three games in which he as played (Mooney missed the Presbyterian game with an illness).

  • Mooney is the first Notre Dame player to collect 15 or more rebounds in three straight games since Luke Harangody in 2008-09.
  • He joins Bryant’s Patrick Harding as the only Division I player to have three games with 15 or more rebounds.
  • Mooney is the only Division I player averaging 14+ points and 13+ rebounds a game this season.

DURHAM POSTS NOTEWORTHY DOUBLE-DOUBLE

Senior Juwan Durham responded to the loss of John Mooney (illness) on the front line against Presbyterian with 11 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots to record his second career double-double. It was just the seventh time a Mike Brey era player has recorded 10+ points, 15+ rebounds and 4+ blocks – and the first time since John Mooney did it at North Carolina last season.

Others who have accomplished such a double-double include current Irish assistant coach Ryan Humphrey (2001), Torin Francis twice (2003, 2004), Luke Harangody (2008) and Bonzie Colson (2017).

PFLUEGER MAKES WINNING PLAYS

Graduate student Rex Pflueger, who missed the final 23 games of the 2018-19 season with a torn ACL in his left leg, returned to the lineup in the season opener this season and has quickly returned to form. Dating back to his freshman season when his last-second tip in in the second round of the NCAA tournament against Stephen F. Austin pushed Notre Dame to the Sweet 16, Pflueger has been making winning plays for the Irish – with the come-from-behind victory over Toledo the latest example.

A breakdown of Pflueger’s big plays over the final three minutes and overtime of the win over the Rockets:

Time Remaining

Play

Led To

Notes

2:51

Steal

Hubb Lay Up

Cut Toledo lead to three

0:29

Steal

Pflueger FT

Cut Toledo lead back to two

1.5 seconds

Assist

Laszewski 3FG

Executed baseline out of bounds play to send game to overtime

4:21 OT

Rebound

Goodwin FG

Rebound first miss in OT

0:25 OT

Lay Up

Pflueger FG

Back door cut to open lay up, give ND lead in overtime

0:01 OT

Free Throws

Pflueger 2 FT

Two free throws provide the winning points

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 the game boxscore for the 1985-86 season. With that in mind, it is still noteworthy that senior Juwan Durham (who still retains a year of eligiblity after 2019-20) has already established himself as one of the top shot blockers in Notre Dame history.

In his first full season at Notre Dame in 2018-19, Durham swatted 63 shots which ranks fifth on the Notre Dame single-season blocked shots list.

With three more blocks against Presbyterian on Monday night, Durham pushed his career blocked-shot percentage to 2.30 and is one of just three Notre Dame players to average over 2.0 blocks per game:

Player

Seasons

Blocks Per Game

Ryan Humphrey

2000-02

2.8

JUWAN DURHAM

2018-current

2.3

LaPhonso Ellis

1988-92

2.1

Durham’s 76 total blocks at Notre Dame currently rank him 16th all-time. Jordan Cornette is the Notre Dame blocked shots record holder with 201 from 2001-05.