Irish Welcome Blue Hose For Monday Matchup

NOTRE DAME vs. PRESBYTERIAN

The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team (3-1) will play its first home game of the season outside of the Men Against Breast Cancer Invitational on Monday night when Presbyterian (1-2) makes its first visit to Purcell Pavilion (7 p.m. ET, ACC Network Extra).

• The Irish and Blue Hose will be meeting for the first time.
• A member of the Big South Conference, Presbyterian is 1-2 with a season-opening loss at Clemson (45-79), a victory at VMI in overtime (80-77) and a setback in the Blue Hose home opener against Morehead State (55-77).
• Presbyterian is coming off a historical season, as the Blue Hose earned a trip to the program’s first Division I post season tournament, taking part in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason tournament in 2018-19. Presbyterian advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament with wins over Seattle and Robert Morris.
• Presbyterian head coach Quinton Ferrell is in his first season – and first full season as a Division I head coach –after serving as an assistant at Presbyterian from 2007-12.
• Presbyterian College athletic teams are called the ‘Blue Hose,’ a reference that dates back to the early 1900s when local sportswriters referred to the team as the ‘Blue Stockings’ or ‘Blue Hose’ due to the distinctive blue socks they wore as part of their uniform. The school’s official colors are garnet and blue and the school mascot is Scotty the Scotsman, a medieval Scottish warrior.

Notre Dame MBB Notes vs. Presbyterian (PDF)

BY THE NUMBERS: IRISH vs. BLUE HOSE

MOONEY REBOUNDING AT AN HISTORIC RATE

Senior John Mooney dominated on the front line during Notre Dame’s two victories over Howard and Marshall last week, posting 18 points and 16 rebounds against the Bison, then following up with a career-high 28 points and 16 more rebounds against the Thundering Herd.

Coupled with his 16-rebound and 19-rebound efforts in back-to-back games last season against UNC (19 on 1/15/19) and  NC State (16 on 1/19/19), Mooney becomes the first ACC player to post 16-or-more rebounds in back-to-back games multiple times in a career since Tim Duncan did it for Wake Forest in 1996-97 (Duncan did it three times that season).

Some other superlatives for Mooney’s back-to-back 16 rebound performances –

First Notre Dame player to do it since Jack Cooley in 2012-13 (16 vs. Villanova on 1/30/13; 16 at DePaul on 2/2/13).

First ACC player to do it since Tyler Hansbrough in 2007-08 (21 vs. Florida State on 2/3/2008; 18 vs. Duke on 2/6/08).

FOUR MORE FIRST-TIME OPPONENTS IN 2019-20

The 2019-20 schedule welcomes four first-time opponents to Notre Dame’s men’s basketball schedule (Robert Morris (W, 92-57), Howard (W, 79-50), Presbyterian, Alabama A&M) matching the same number from last season (UIC, Radford, Oklahoma and Jacksonville).

Under Mike Brey, the Irish are 47-5 (.904) in games featuring first-time program meetings.

MOONEY POSTS DOUBLE-DOUBLES IN THREE OF FIRST FOUR GAMES

Senior forward John Mooney, who led all major conference players in rebounds per game in league action last season and was one of seven major conference players to average a double-double, is off to an even better pace in 2019-20.

The Orlando, Florida, native has posted three double-doubles in four games played this season. He paced the ACC with 20 in 33 games played last year (and 13 in conference play – the most since Tim Duncan in 1996-97) and is up to 24 total in his career (good for 19th on the all-time Notre Dame double-double list).

MOONEY DOUBLE-DOUBLES IN 2019-20

PFLUEGER JOINS 300-200-100 CLUB

Graduate student Rex Pflueger is one of just 10 players since 1996-97 (the year Notre Dame joined a conference) to compile 300 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals in a career.

The list of players who have reached the 300-200-100 plateau: Chris Thomas, Tory Jackson, David Graves, Jerian Grant, Chris Quinn, Eric Atkins, Steve Vasturia, Matt Carroll, Demetrius Jackson and Pflueger.

GIBBS CLOSING IN ON 1,000-300-200-100 CLUB

Senior T.J. Gibbs, who reached the 1,000-point career mark last season, is poised to join an exclusive club later this year. With 293 assists, Gibbs is going to reach at least 300 assists in his career which will push him above 1,000 points, 300 assists, 200 rebounds and 100 steals in his time at Notre Dame.

Only Chris Thomas, Jerian Grant, Chris Quinn, Eric Atkins, Steve Vasturia, Tory Jackson and Demetrius Jackson all reached those milestones under Mike Brey at Notre Dame.

GOODWIN SURGING IN THE BOXSCORE

Scoring nine points in the second half of the victory over Marshall, Dane Goodwin recorded his third consecutive double-digit scoring game of the season with a total of 11 points. That marks the second time in his career the sophomore has hit double-digits in three straight games, dating back to late in the 2018-19 season when he hit for double figures against Clemson, Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech.

Expand the run to include last season, Goodwin has scored in double figures in six of his last eight games played for the Irish.

LASZEWSKI WORKING HARD ON THE BACKBOARD

Off to a slow shooting start, sophomore Nate Laszewski had not let it effect the development of the rest of his game. As a rookie, Laszewski connected on 44 three pointers (the sixth-best for a freshman in school history) and averaged 3.9 rebounds per contest. This year, the Jupiter, Florida, native has grabbed at least four rebounds in each game and is currently second on the team in rebounding with a 6.3 average.

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

Notre Dame finished third in the NCAA last season in turnovers per game – posting the fifth consecutive season of ranking in the nation’s top-10 for least amount of turnovers in a game.

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

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 10 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. So far, in 2019-20, the Irish are fifth in the NCAA in least amount of fouls committed (11.5).

NOTRE DAME FOULS PER GAME NATIONAL/CONFERENCE FINAL RANKING