Oct. 31, 2011
M. Basketball vs. St. Xavier – LIVE – 7:30 p.m. ET on und.com
St. Xavier vs. Notre Dame (exhibition)
Nov. 1, 2011 – 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center (9,149)
Notre Dame, Ind.
TV:
None
Web Broadcast:
UND.com (free)
Radio:
Affiliate listings on Pg. 4
Broadcast also on UND.com
Jack Nolan (play-by-play)
LaPhonso Ellis (analyst)
Live Stats:
GameTracker on UND.com
Live Blog:
UND.com/blog
LET THE GAMES BEGIN
– Notre Dame will open its 2011-12 exhibition slate on Tuesday against St. Xavier University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (ET) at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center.
– St. Xavier is an NAIA school from Chicago, Ill. St. Xavier is a member of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC). The Cougars are ranked 24th in the NAIA preseason poll.
– A free live video broadcast of Tuesday’s game will be available on UND.com.
– Tuesday will be the first of two exhibition contests for the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame will play host to Stonehill College (Mass.) on Monday, Oct. 7. That game is slated for a 7:30 p.m. (ET) start at Purcell Pavilion.
– Notre Dame opens regular-season play on Nov. 12 with a home tilt against Mississippi Valley State.
BUSY BEGINNING
– The Irish will play eight games in 18 days during the month of November to start off the 2011-12 season.
107 YEARS AND STRONG
– The 2011-12 campaign marks the 107th season of basketball at Notre Dame and the 17th season as a member of the BIG EAST Conference. Notre Dame teams have posted a 1701-927 record for a .647 winning percentage. In 15 seasons as a member of the BIG EAST, the Irish own a 147-125 (.540) record all-time in conference regular-season play.
UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS
– Last season’s 27 wins (27-7) were the most in the modern era of Fighting Irish basketball. Notre Dame’s highest win total ever was 33 (33-7) in 1908-09.
– The 14 regular-season BIG EAST victories tied the program standard. The Fighting Irish went 14-4 in BIG EAST play in 2007-08.
– Notre Dame’s 15 BIG EAST wins (14 regular season, 1 tournament) were the most in program history (combined regular season and tournament).
IRISH TO PLAY IN CBE CLASSIC
– Missouri, Notre Dame, California and Georgia will serve as the four Regional Round hosts for the 2011 CBE Classic with play beginning on Nov. 13. Each of the four Regional Round hosts will play two games on campus before advancing to the Championship Rounds, Nov. 21-22, at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.
– Joining Missouri, Notre Dame, Cal and Georgia in the 2011 CBE Classic are Austin Peay, Bowling Green, Detroit, George Washington, Mercer, Niagara, Sam Houston State and South Dakota State. Bowling Green and Mercer will serve as Subregional Round hosts for games played Nov. 21-23.
– The Fighting Irish will play host to Detroit and Sam Houston State in regional round action on Nov. 14 and 16, respectively.
BACK TO THE BB&T
– Notre Dame will meet Maryland in the BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center. Notre Dame will be making its third appearance in the annual Washington, D.C., event. The Irish own a 10-8 advantage in the series between the two schools. Each of the last two meetings between the two schools has occurred at the BB&T Classic. Notre Dame topped Maryland 79-67 during the 2002 event and the Irish bested the Terrapins again, 81-74, in the 2006 BB&T Classic.
CROSSROADS CLASSIC
– Notre Dame will battle Big Ten rival Indiana in the inaugural Crossroads Classic at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. The game between the Irish and the Hoosiers is part of a doubleheader on Saturday, Dec. 17. Purdue and Butler meet in the first game at 2:00 p.m. (ET) followed by Notre Dame and Indiana at 4:30 p.m. (ET).
ABROMAITIS EARNS PRESEASON ACCOLADES
– Notre Dame forward Tim Abromaitis has been selected to the Preseason Top 50 List for the John R. Wooden Award. Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball media members, the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who, based on last year’s individual performance and team records, are the early frontrunners for college basketball’s most prestigious honor.
– Abromaitis also was named to the preseason All-BIG EAST First Team.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION
– Notre Dame will have 17 television appearances during the 2011-12 season. The Irish will appear on ESPN’s family of networks 16 times in addition to being on CBS once.
DOUBLE-DUTY
– Freshman guard/forward Pat Connaughton also is a pitcher on the Fighting Irish baseball team. Connaughton is the 66th Notre Dame student-athlete to compete in both basketball and baseball and the first to do so since Tom Hansen during the 1973-74 academic year.
IRISH CAPTAINS
– Tim Abromaitis and Scott Martin will captain the Fighting Irish during the 2011-12 season. Abromaitis is the 19th player in program history to serve as a two-time team captain.
ABROMAITIS REPRESENTS USA AT WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES
– In August, Tim Abromaitis represented the United States at the 2011 World University Games in China. The U.S. squad posted a 7-1 record and placed fifth in the competition. Abromaitis started three of the games and averaged 6.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per contest.
HOME SWEET HOME
– The Fighting Irish bring a 19-game home win streak into the 2011-12 campaign.
– The Fighting Irish concluded their 2010-11 home slate with a perfect 17-0 mark. It’s the third undefeated season at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center in the last five years and the fifth overall for Notre Dame since the building opened at the start of the 1968-69 campaign. The other perfect home seasons occurred in: 1973-74 (15-0), 1985-86 (15-0), 2006-07 (18-0) and 2007-08 (17-0).
– Notre Dame is the only BIG EAST team that did not lose at home in 2010-11.
– Over the course of the last five seasons, Notre Dame is the only school nationally to go undefeated at home in three seasons (Duke and Kansas have done it twice), while its 84-6 record at home for a .933 winning percentage is the sixth best among NCAA Division I schools. The Irish also own the best record among all BIG EAST teams in regular-season conference home games over the same time span with a sterling 39-5 record for an .886 winning percentage.
WHAT A RUN
– Notre Dame has posted a 96-42 (.696) record over the past four seasons. The 96 wins are the most victories in program history over a four-year span. The previous standard was 93 from when the Irish went 93-43 from 2006-10. The past four seasons also has produced the most regular-season BIG EAST victories (46) in school history. The Irish have gone 46-26 in BIG EAST regular-season play over the past four seasons.
IRISH AIM FOR SIXTH STRAIGHT 20-WIN CAMPAIGN
– Notre Dame has reached the 20-win mark in each of the last five seasons and eight times in the last 11 seasons under head coach Mike Brey. The last time Irish teams reached the 20-win plateau in six straight campaigns was from 1983-89 under head coach Digger Phelps.
ELDER STATESMAN
– Mike Brey is entering his 12th season along the Irish sidelines. He is the third-longest tenured coach in the BIG EAST, behind only Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and Jim Calhoun of Connecticut. Brey stands sixth all-time in career BIG EAST victories (both regular-season and tournament) with his 119-83 (.589) mark. He is one of eight coaches in BIG EAST history to record 100 conference wins.
POSTSEASON STRETCH
– Notre Dame has earned appearances in the postseason in each of the last 12 seasons, which marks the longest stretch in school history. The Irish have been to the NCAA Tournament on seven occasions and the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) five times during this current stretch. Under head coach Mike Brey, Notre Dame has played in the NCAAs seven times and NIT four times.
408 AND COUNTING
– Notre Dame has made at least one three-pointer in 408 straight contests dating back to the 1998-99 campaign. The Fighting Irish have made at least one three pointer during every game of the Mike Brey era. The last time an Irish team failed to hit a three-pointer in a game was in a 101-70 loss to Connecticut at the Hartford Civic Center on Jan. 12, 1999. Notre Dame finished 0-7 from beyond the arc in that contest. In 2008-09, the Irish set a single-season three-point record with 319.