Juwan Durham UCLA

Irish To Face Detroit Mercy In 2020-21 Home Opener

NOTRE DAMEGAME DAY INFORMATION
DateSunday December 6, 2020
Time7:00 p.m. ET
Site: Purcell Pavilion
• Notre Dame, IN
TV:ACC Network
• Tony Simeone (play-by-play)
• Mike Lightfoot (analyst)


Radio:Notre Dame Basketball Radio Network
• Jack Nolan (play-by-play)
Available locally on WSBT AM/FM and worldwide on und.com.

Notre Dame vs. Detroit Mercy Game Notes

BY THE NUMBERS: IRISH vs. TITANS

1

Notre Dame led the country in three statistical categories last season: assist/turnover ratio (1.68), least amount of personal fouls committed per game (12.4) and fewest total fouls committed (397).

2

Notre Dame finished second in the country in turnovers per game in 2019-20 (9.8) behind Liberty’s 9.4 average. That marks the sixth consecutive the Irish have ranked in the NCAA top 10 in least amount of turnovers per game. 

3

The Irish have already seen three scheduled games canceled over the first full week of the season due to COVID-19 complications on the opposing teams. No. 13/14 Tennessee was set to visit Purcell Pavilion Dec. 4 before their program was put on pause due to testing numbers. They were replaced by Purdue Fort Wayne set for Dec. 5, but their program was also put on pause on Wednesday, Dec. 2. The original 2020-21 home opener against Western Michigan was also canceled due to members of the Broncos roster being unavailable for the game – which was scheduled for December 2.

20

Notre Dame is 20-0 in home openers during the Mike Brey era. Historically, the Irish are 106-11 in home openers on campus. 

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. The opponent on Saturday night, Michigan State, was selected 14th.

33

In addition to a program-record-tying 20 three point field goals against Detroit Mercy last season, the Irish also tied a school record with 33 assists in the game – matching the number against Manhattan set in 1986. Prentiss Hubb led the Irish with 11 assists while record his first career double-double against the Titans (13 points).

55

Notre Dame and Detroit Mercy will be meeting for the 55th time on Sunday evening, with the series dating back to 1912. The Irish lead the all-time series 42-12, including 20-4 at home and 2-0 in the Mike Brey era.

110

The Notre Dame offense was operating at its peak level against Detroit Mercy last season, as the Irish scored 110 points and tied the school record for three point field goals in a single game with 20. Seven players scored in double figures Notre Dame, including a career-high 27 points from junior Dane Goodwin. The 110 points were the second-most scored by a Mike Brey team at Notre Dame and the most in regulation time.

178

Career assists in ACC regular-season games for junior Prentiss Hubb, the most among any returning ACC player and 10th all-time on the career conference-game charts at Notre Dame.

200

Only two Notre Dame players have blocked 200 shots during their time in an Irish uniform. Jordan Cornette (2001-05, 201) and LaPhonso Ellis (1988-92). While the truncated 2020-21 season doesn’t help graduate student Juwan Durham, he could become the third player to reach 200 blocks. With a 2.2 bpg average in his career, Durham is on pace to add 60 blocks to his career total – putting him above 180. An increase in his average per game (he swatted three shots at Michigan State) could put the school blocked shot record in reach.

437

With 437 wins at Notre Dame, Mike Brey is 10th in the country for the most coaching wins of all active coaches at their current school. He is 22nd of all active coaches in career wins with 536.

1904

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.

HOME OPENERS

  • Under Mike Brey, the Irish are 20-0 in home openers.
  • Historically, the Irish are 106-11 (.906) in home openers.
  • Notre Dame once won 26 consecutive home openers from 1922-23 through 1947-48.
  • Most common home opener opponents in Notre Dame history – Lewis Institute/Armour Institute (which combined to be the Illinois Institute of Technology, 15), Kalamazoo (12), St. Joseph’s (IN) (six) and Valparaiso (five).

A NOTEWORTHY VICTORY

Notre Dame’s 110-71 victory over Detroit Mercy last season on Tuesday, December 10, saw the Irish post several program-bests and individual career highs. Here is a glimpse at some of the superlatives Notre Dame logged against the Titans:

TEAM SUPERLATIVES

Assists – 33 – tied school record set at Manhattan in 1986, best of Brey era

Three Point Field Goals – 20 – tied school record set vs. Villanova in 2008

Field Goals Made – 41 – tied for second-most of Brey era

Points In Regulation – 110 – most in Brey era (Irish scored 116 points in 4OT vs. Georgetown in 2002)

INDIVIDUAL SUPERALTIVES

Points – 27 – Dane Goodwin – also second-most off the bench in the Brey era (Bonzie Colson had 31 vs. Duke in 2016)

Points – 16 – (then-career-high matching) Senior Juwan Durham

Three-Point Field Goals – 6 – (career-high matching) Senior T.J. Gibbs

Three-Point Field Goals – 5 – Dane Goodwin

Assists – 11 – Prentiss Hubb

Assists – 8 – T.J. Gibbs

Rebounds – 7 – (then-career-high matching) Sophomore Dane Goodwin

HUBB POSTS NINE CAREER 20-POINT GAMES AGAINST POWER CONFERENCE TEAMS

Junior Prentiss Hubb has logged a team-high nine 20-point games in his career, all of which have come against ‘Power Conference’ opponents. 

Hubb’s career 20-point game:

Date

Opponent

FG

3FG

FT

TR

AST

TO

STL

PTS

11/6/19

at North Carolina

8-17

5-9

1-2

2

6

1

1

22

12/14/19

UCLA

6-12

5-10

3-5

0

6

1

0

20

1/4/20

at Syracuse

7-16

6-12

2-2

2

9

4

1

22

1/8/20

at NC State

9-14

4-7

2-2

3

2

3

2

24

1/15/20

at Georgia Tech

8-16

3-8

6-8

4

3

2

2

25

1/25/20

at Florida State

7-16

5-11

5-5

4

1

3

2

24

2/17/20

North Carolina

7-17

2-9

4-5

1

8

3

0

20

3/4/20

Florida State

8-13

5-9

3-3

1

6

4

1

24

11/28/20

at Michigan State

7-22

4-11

5-7

6

2

5

0

23

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

2.2

LaPhonso Ellis

1988-92

2.1

Durham’s 132 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 READY TO MAKE THEIR MARK

Notre Dame’s four member junior class is ready to show their mettle this season after two years of development. Robby Carmody, Dane Goodwin, Prentiss Hubb and Nate Laszewski are all poised to make the ‘Junior Year Leap’ at Notre Dame (see page xx for more).

As freshman, members of the group (Goodwin, Hubb, Laszewski) were the first true freshman trio to start a game in the Mike Brey era in the victory over Boston College (1/12/19) and the first such trio to post a victory since January 19, 1989.

Even as Robby Carmody was lost just nine games into the 2018-19 season with a shoulder injury, the group set the school record for most minutes played by a freshman class with 2,634, besting the 1999-2000 rookie class of Matt Carroll, Jere Macura, Ivan Kartelo and Mike Monserez.

The group combined to set Brey-era freshman class records for minutes played (2,634), FG (250), FGA (702), 3FG (112), 3FGA (375), rebounds (351) and points (740).

IRISH TRADITIONALLY AMONG BEST IN THE COUNTRY AT TAKING CARE OF THE BALL

Notre Dame finished second in the NCAA last season in turnovers per game – posting the sixth consecutive season of ranking in the nation’s top-10 for least amount of turnovers in a game. The Irish are also perennially one of the top teams in the country in assist to turnover ratio.

The Irish have not averaged over 10.0 turnovers per game since a 10.3 mark in 2013-14 (which was still good enough for 26th nationally).

NOTRE DAME TURNOVERS PER GAME, LAST FIVE SEASONS

Season

Turnovers/Game

National Rank

Conf. Rank

Ast/Turnover

National Rank

Conf. Rank

2014-15

9.4

5

2

1.61

4

2

2015-16

10

10

3

1.34

43

5

2016-17

9.5

2

1

1.66

2

1

2017-18

9.9

7

2

1.46

14

3

2018-19

9.3

3

2

1.38

18

3

2019-20

9.8

2

1

1.68

1

1

RYAN HOPES TO BUILD OFF NOTRE DAME TRADITION OF TRANSFER IMPROVEMENT

Transfers have become a normal part of college basketball over the past couple of decades and the Notre Dame basketball program, under Mike Brey, has brought in seven student-athletes prior to Cormac Ryan (eligible this year) and Trey Wertz (eligible in 2021-22).

Those seven players ended up improving across the board in their first season in an Irish uniform, compared to their final season at their previous school.

Name

Prev School

Year

MP

Pts

Year

MP

Pts

MP+

Pts+

Ryan Humphrey

Oklahoma

1998-99

831

343

Notre Dame

2000-01

863

410

3.8%

19.5%

Dan Miller

Maryland

2000-01

676

174

Notre Dame

2002-03

1195

473

76.6%

171.8%

Dennis Latimore

Arizona

2002-03

277

74

Notre Dame

2004-05

596

203

115.1%

174.3%

Ben Hansbrough

Miss. State

2006-07

1005

314

Notre Dame

2009-10

1241

419

23.4%

33.4%

Scott Martin

Purdue

2007-08

700

272

Notre Dame

2010-11

1008

319

44.0%

17.2%

Garrick Sherman

Mich. State

2010-11

410

107

Notre Dame

2012-13

467

211

13.9%

97.2%

Juwan Durham

UConn

2016-17

232

45

Notre Dame

2018-19

413

154

78.2%

242.2%

Average Improvement

50.7%

107.9%

Among these previous transfers are the 2011 BIG EAST Player of the Year (Hansbrough), three team MVPs (Humphrey, 2002, Hansbrough, 2011, Martin, 2012).

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 are on pace to make it five 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

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

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.