Nov. 20, 2014
Hall of Fame TipOff Tournament Web Site
Game 4
Massachusetts
vs.
Notre Dame
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014
Noon (ET)
Mohegan Sun Arena
Uncasville, Conn.
TV/INTERNET
ESPN3
Doug Sherman (play-by-play)
Malcolm Huckaby (analyst)
RADIO
Broadcast on WatchND (free)
Sirius 137
Check affiliates on Pg. 4 of notes packet
Jack Nolan (play-by-play)
Torrian Jones (analyst)
LIVE STATS
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Game 5
Providence
vs.
Notre Dame
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2014
2:30 p.m. (ET)
Mohegan Sun Arena
Uncasville, Conn.
TV/INTERNET
ESPN2
WatchESPN
Doug Sherman (play-by-play)
Doris Burke (analyst)
RADIO
Broadcast on WatchND (free)
Sirius 91/XM 91
Check affiliates on Pg. 4 of notes packet
Jack Nolan (play-by-play)
Torrian Jones (analyst)
LIVE STATS
NOTRE DAME MEETS MASSACHUSETTS AND PROVIDENCE IN HALL OF FAME TIPOFF TOURNAMENT
– Notre Dame continues play in the Hall of Fame Tipoff Tournament (Naismith Bracket) this weekend as the Irish face Massachusetts at noon (ET) on Saturday and Providence at 2:30 p.m. (ET) on Sunday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
– Saturday’s contest against the Minutemen will be broadcast on ESPN3, while Sunday’s matchup against the Friars is slated for ESPN2.
– The Irish opened up preliminary play in the Tipoff Tournament at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center with two convincing victories over Binghamton (82-39) and Navy (92-53).
BUSY BEGINNINGS FOR THE IRISH
– This weekend’s games will be the fourth and fifth for Notre Dame in a nine-day span.
– Notre Dame is slated to play 11 games in the first 30 days of the season. That stretch concludes with a Dec. 13 contest at Purcell Pavilion against Florida State in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both schools.
SERIES RECORDS AGAINST UMASS AND PROVIDENCE
– Saturday’s matchup with Massachusetts will mark the first meeting between the Irish and Minutemen.
– The Irish and Friars are former BIG EAST Conference rivals. Notre Dame was a member of the BIG EAST from 1995-2013. Notre Dame leads the series against Providence 16-10 and the Irish were 14-7 versus the Friars in BIG EAST play.
– Notre Dame has won nine of its last 10 meetings against Providence. The last time the two teams played, the Friars came away with a 71-54 victory at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. That result snapped Notre Dame’s nine-game win streak against the Friars.
– Irish head coach Mike Brey is 11-2 all-time against Providence.
IRISH IN THE NUTMEG STATE
– Notre Dame will be playing in the state of Connecticut for the first time since Jan. 29, 2012, when the Irish defeated former BIG EAST foe Connecticut, 50-48, at the XL Center in Hartford.
– The Irish are 3-10 all-time playing in the state of Connecticut. All 13 of the games played against the Huskies either were in Hartford or at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs.
NEW ENGLAND HOMECOMING
– Three members of the Notre Dame basketball team are from the state of Massachusetts and they will return for a New England homecoming of sorts this weekend. Senior captain Pat Connaughton is from Arlington and attended St. John’s Prep in Danvers; Zach Auguste hails from Marlborough and graduated from New Hampton School in New Hampton, New Hampshire, and Bonzie Colson is a native of New Bedford and a graduate of the St. Andrew’s School in Barrington, Rhode Island.
NOTRE DAME VERSUS THE ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE
– Notre Dame is 52-6 all-time versus teams from the Atlantic 10 Conference. The last time the Irish played a team from the Atlantic 10 was on Nov. 21, 2012, when they topped George Washington, 65-48, at Purcell Pavilion.
NOTRE DAME AGAINST THE BIG EAST
– Against the 10 teams that currently comprise the BIG EAST Conference, Notre Dame owns a 202-66 record.
– In 18 seasons as a member of the BIG EAST from 1995-2013, Irish teams compiled a 181-150 record (including both regular season and tournament play). From 1995-2000, Notre Dame teams were just 35-53 in the league, but were 146-97 all-time under Mike Brey (13 seasons).
– Brey currently ranks fourth all-time on the BIG EAST Conference career wins list (146).
– Providence is the first BIG EAST team the Irish have faced since joining the ACC in 2013-14.
IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT SUCCESS UNDER Mike Brey
– During Mike Brey’s tenure at Notre Dame, his teams have registered a 27-13 record (.675) playing in-season tournaments.
– The Irish have won three championships during his 14-plus seasons — Hawaii-Pacific Thanksgiving Classic (2001), BB&T Classic (2002) and the Old Spice Classic (2010).
NOVEMBERS TO REMEMBER
– Notre Dame is 53-1 at home in the month of November under head coach Mike Brey.
– The only loss during that stretch was last season’s 83-70 setback to Indiana State.
IRISH GET OFFENSIVE OUT OF THE GATE
– Notre Dame’s 278 points are the most for the Irish through the first three games of a season since they tallied 280 in 2000-01 (Mike Brey’s first season at Notre Dame) following wins over Sacred Heart (104-58), Loyola-Chicago (107-68) and Cincinnati (69-51).
AUGUSTE ON THE ATTACK
– Junior forward Zach Auguste has led the Irish in scoring in each of Notre Dame’s first three games and he’s posted a career-high point total in each of the those contests. He tallied 19 points in the season opener versus Binghamton and followed that up with a 20-point effort against Navy. In Wednesday night’s win over Coppin State, Auguste topped the 20-point mark for the second straight game with a personal best 21 points and he was perfect from the field, connecting on all nine of his field goal attempts and all three of his free throws.
– Through the first three games of the season, Auguste leads the Irish in scoring at 20.0 ppg., field goal percentage (.742) and free throw percentage (.824). He has connected on 23-of-31 from the field and 14-of-17 from the free-throw line. Entering this season, he was a career 53.6% (44-82) shooter from the charity stripe.
– Auguste has scored in double-figures in a personal-best four straight games dating back to the final game of the 2013-14 campaign against Wake Forest in the first round of the ACC Tournament.
A DYNAMIC DUO
– Seniors Pat Connaughton and Jerian Grant have spent a lot of time on the court together since they first stepped onto the floor during the 2011-12 campaign.
– The duo has combined for 188 games played (170 of them starts), 2,185 points, 812 rebounds, 667 assists and 187 steals.
– Even more impressive is the fact they have accounted for 6,235 minutes played on the court (33.2 mpg.).
A BIG PART OF THE IRISH OFFENSE
– Just three games into the season, Jerian Grant already has been a big part of the Notre Dame offensive, accounting for 101 of the 278 points (36.3 percent) scored by the Irish.
– Against Binghamton, Grant had a hand in 25 of Notre Dame’s 82 points, scoring 14 points and dishing off five assists that resulted in 11 Irish points.
– In the win over Navy, Grant factored into 42 of the 92 points the Irish put on the scoreboard. In registering his fifth career double-double, he scored 17 points and dished off 10 assists that produced in 25 points.
– On Wednesday night in the win over Coppin State, Grant accounted for 34 of Notre Dame’s 104 points as he tallied 15 and dished off eight assists that resulted in 19 points.
GRANT ON WOODEN AWARD TOP 50 WATCH LIST
– Jerian Grant has been named to the 2014-15 John R. Wooden Award Top 50 Watch List. It marks the second consecutive season that he has appeared on this list.
– Grant is one of eight nominees from the Atlantic Coast Conference — the most of any league.
– The seven other nominees from ACC institutions included Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia), Olivier Hanlan (Boston College), Montrezl Harrell (Louisville), Tyus Jones (Duke), Jahlil Okafor (Duke), Marcus Paige (North Carolina) and Terry Rozier (Louisville).
CONNAUGHTON JOINS 1,000-POINT CLUB
– With his 17-point performance against Binghamton in the season opener, Pat Connaughton eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career to become the 56th member of Notre Dame’s 1,000-point club. He has netted 1,028 points in 104 career games (9.9 ppg.).
– Connaughton became the second current Fighting Irish player with at least 1,000 career points. Senior Jerian Grant has tallied 1,157 points in an Irish uniform.
BREY NOTCHES 400TH CAREER WIN
– Notre Dame’s season opener against Binghamton signaled the beginning of head coach Mike Brey’s 20th season as a head coach. The 82-39 win over the Bearcats marked his 400th career win as a college head coach. He has registered a 402-211 (.656) record in 19-plus seasons at Delaware and Notre Dame.
– Brey earned his 300th win at Notre Dame last season against Georgia Tech (Feb. 26, 2014). He has compiled a 303-159 (.656) record in his 14-plus seasons in South Bend. He is one of 17 active head coaches to have 300 or more Division I victories at their current institution.
– Only two other Notre Dame head coaches have reached the 300-win milestone. Digger Phelps led the Fighting Irish to a 393-197 record from 1971-91. George Keogan notched a 327-97 mark from 1923-43.
COPPIN TIDBITS
– The 104 points scored by the Irish were the most in a regulation contest since a 106-65 victory over Sacred Heart on Dec. 19, 2011. It marked the first time Notre Dame eclipsed the 100-point mark since a 101-67 win over Cornell on Dec. 1, 2013, and the 17th time that an Irish team under Mike Brey scored 100 or more points.
– Five Irish players scored in double figures — Zach Auguste 21, V.J. Beachem 19, Jerian Grant 15, Martinas Geben 12 and Demetrius Jackson 10 — for the first time since a 93-60 victory over Army on Nov. 24, 2013.
– Auguste, Beachem and Geben each recorded career highs in points in the game.
– Auguste was a perfect nine-for-nine from the field (tying a Notre Dame record for most field goals without a miss in a single game) and three-for-three from the free-throw line.
NOTABLES FROM NAVY
– Notre Dame led Navy 36-28 at halftime and the Irish outscored the Midshipmen 56-25 in the second half. The Fighting Irish shot 62.5% percent (20-32) from the floor in the second half, while limiting Navy to 23.3% (7-30).
– Junior forward Zach Auguste netted a (then) career-high 20 points, while sophomore forward V.J. Beachem matched a (then) career-high total with 10 points.
– Jerian Grant notched the fifth double-double of his career with 17 points and 10 assists. The assist total tied a career-high mark that he’s achieved four other times and most recently last season at Iowa.
– The Fighting Irish turned 20 Navy turnovers into 25 points. Notre Dame had 11 steals in the contest.
BINGHAMTON BITES
– The 39 points scored by Binghamton marked the third time that a Notre Dame team under Mike Brey has held an opponent to under 40 points and the first time since 2007. The two other occurrences were in a 54-38 victory over Charleston Southern on Nov. 26, 2004 at Purcell Pavilion and against Monmouth (76-33) on Nov. 16, 2007, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
– The 43-point margin of victory was the most lopsided Irish win since Notre Dame defeated Northern Illinois by 46 points (108-62), on Dec. 8, 2007 at Purcell Pavilion. It also was the 12th time under Brey that the Irish registered a 40-plus point victory.
– Notre Dame turned the ball over just seven times in the game, but the Bearcats did not have a steal. That’s the only time in the Brey era (461 games) that an Irish opponent did not have a steal in a game.
IRONMAN
– Pat Connaughton has never missed a game during his Fighting Irish career. He has played in all 104 contests, including 88 starts. Connaughton has started 85 consecutive games.
– Connaughton never left the court in eight games in 2013-14 (six times in ACC play).
DOUBLE THE PLEASURE FOR PAT
– Senior guard Pat Connaughton is averaging 12.7 points and a team-best 10.0 rebounds per game this season.
– He registered a double-double in the season opener against Binghamton as he finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. It marked the eighth double-double of his career.
– Connaughton pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds on Wednesday versus Coppin State. It was the 12th time of his career that he’s recorded 10 or more rebounds in a game.
– Connaughton has been Notre Dame’s leading rebounder in each of the first three games this season.
V.J. FINDS THE RANGE
– Sophomore forward V.J. Beachem had his best outing in a Notre Dame uniform on Wednesday night in the win over Coppin State as he tallied a career-high 19 points. Beachem finished with 19 points in 18 minutes, hitting on seven-of-nine field goals and five-of-six three pointers.
– It marked his second straight game in double figures and the fourth double-figure scoring effort of this career.
GEBEN GETS IN THE ACT
– Freshman forward Martinas Geben finished with the best game in his young Irish career Wednesday night against Coppin State. He netted 12 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished off two assists and blocked two shots (all personal bests) in 20 minutes of action off the bench.
CAPTAIN CONNAUGHTON
– Senior guard/forward Pat Connaughton has been named captain for the 2014-15 season. Connaughton served as one of four captains for the Irish a year ago and becomes the 22nd different Notre Dame men’s basketball player to serve as a captain in multiple seasons.
– Since the 1985-86 campaign, only four other players have served as lone captains for their Irish teams– Ken Barlow (1985-86), Tim Singleton (1990-91), Ryan Hoover (1995-96) and Rob Kurz (2007-08).
ACC HONORS
– The Fighting Irish were picked to finish seventh in the ACC for the 2014-15 season, according to a vote of media in attendance at the league’s annual “Operation Basketball.” Notre Dame senior guard Jerian Grant was selected to the Preseason All-ACC Team for the second consecutive year.
110 YEARS OF FIGHTING IRISH BASKETBALL
– The 2014-15 campaign marks the 110th season of basketball at the University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame teams have posted an all-time record of 1766-966 for a .646 winning percentage.
TOM HAWKINS TO BE INDUCTED INTO NOTRE DAME RING OF HONOR
– Nearly 56 years have passed since Tom Hawkins played his final collegiate men’s basketball game for the University of Notre Dame, yet the indelible mark he left on the program remains intact today. While dozens of players have donned an Irish uniform since Hawkins last took the court, none have been able to duplicate his rebounding as he remains the career leader in that category.
– Hawkins, whose 1,318 career rebounds rank currently as the oldest record in the 109-year annals of Fighting Irish men’s basketball, will become the seventh inductee into the Notre Dame Basketball Ring of Honor on Jan. 17, 2015, at halftime of the Notre Dame-Miami men’s basketball game. He will follow six former players–Austin Carr (2011), Adrian Dantley (2012), Skylar Diggins (2013), Luke Harangody (2010) and Ruth Riley (2010)–and former men’s head coach Richard “Digger” Phelps (2014) into the school’s Ring of Honor.
A BUSY INGELSBY HOUSEHOLD
– Notre Dame assistant coach Martin Ingelsby and his wife Colleen welcomed the third addition to their family on Monday, Nov. 10 with the arrival of a son, Jack Fitzgerald Ingelsby. He joins four-year-old twins Will and Kate.
FIGHTING IRISH IN ITALY
– In early August, the Fighting Irish squad traveled to Italy for a 10-day, four-game foreign tour. Notre Dame posted a 4-0 record. The Irish visited Rome, Perugia, Pesaro, Venice and Como during the trip.
– It was the program’s first foreign tour since 2008 when the Irish ventured to Ireland for 13 days.
CONNAUGHTON DRAFTED BY ORIOLES
– The Baltimore Orioles selected Irish swingman Pat Connaughton in the fourth round of June’s Major League Baseball Draft. He was the 121st pick overall.
– Connaughton spent part of June and July pitching for the Aberdeen IronBirds, the Class A Orioles’ affiliate.
– Connaughton finished his Fighting Irish baseball career last spring. He posted a 3.03 ERA and had an 11-11 record on the mound during his three seasons. He fanned 105 batters in 154.2 innings pitched.
FIGHTING IRISH TO HOST SPARTANS IN ACC/BIG TEN CHALLENGE
– Notre Dame will play host to Michigan State Dec. 3 in the 16th annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge Presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods.
– The Notre Dame-Michigan State contest will mark the 95th meeting between the two Midwest schools, but the first since March 18, 1979, when the Spartans downed the Irish 80-68 in the Mideast Regional final in Indianapolis, Ind., en route to the national championship. Notre Dame leads the all-time series 59-35. Michigan State last played at Notre Dame on Feb. 5, 1975, when the Spartans defeated the Irish 76-73.
– Notre Dame fell at Iowa, 98-93, last season in its inaugural appearance in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
ANOTHER CROSSROADS CLASSIC CLASH
– Notre Dame will battle Big Ten rival Purdue in the fourth annual Crossroads Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. The game between the Irish and the Boilermakers will be the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday, Dec. 20. Butler and Indiana will square off in the first contest.
– The Fighting Irish are 2-1 in their three previous Crossroads Classic showdowns. Notre Dame topped Indiana, 79-72, last season and the Irish downed Purdue, 81-68, in 2012. Notre Dame fell to Indiana, 69-58, in the inaugural event in 2011.
NOTRE DAME FIRST AGAIN IN GRADUATION RATE SUCCESS
– The University of Notre Dame once again claims the 2014 national championship for graduating student-athletes in all sports–in the process posting the top NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) figure (99) for its student-athletes for the eighth straight year.
– The GSR number for all Notre Dame student-athletes rates the Irish first among the football-playing institutions in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A). The 2014 NCAA figures are based on entering classes from 2004 through 2007.
– Twenty-one of Notre Dame’s men’s and women’s athletic programs posted GSR numbers that rank them best in the nation within their sports (including 20 perfect 100 scores)– and 11 produced federal graduation rates that led all NCAA FBS institutions (including eight perfect 100 scores). Men’s basketball at 100 tied for first with 14 other schools.
– Five Irish women’s programs had perfect 100 federal rates ranking them first within their sports among the NCAA FBS subset. Six Irish men’s programs had federal rates ranking them first within their sports (three with perfect 100 scores) among the NCAA FBS subset. Men’s basketball at 85 ranked tied for first with Penn State.
– Five Irish women’s programs had perfect 100 federal rates ranking them first within their sports among the NCAA FBS subset. Six Irish men’s programs had federal rates ranking them first within their sports (three with perfect 100 scores) among the NCAA FBS subset. Men’s basketball at 85 ranked tied for first with Penn State.