WHO: Notre Dame (0-0) vs. UIC (0-0)
WHAT: First game of the 2018 Gotham Classic
WHERE: Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center
WHEN: Tuesday, November 6, 2018, 7:00 p.m. ET
VIDEO BROADCAST: ACC Network Extra with Juan Jose Rodriguez (play-by-play) and Mike Lightfoot (analysis)
RADIO BROADCAST: Notre Dame Basketball Radio Network with Jack Nolan (play-by-play) and Zach Hillesland (analysis). Available via network affiliates, online at und.com, XM Channel 383 and via the Notre Dame app
RENEWED IRISH ROSTER BEGINS SEASON AND 2018 GOTHAM CLASSIC VS. UIC
The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team begins the 2018-19 season and the 2018 Gotham Classic on Tuesday, November 6, against UIC. The season opener marks the first meeting between the Irish and Flames and the first of seven consecutive games for Notre Dame at Purcell Pavilion.
Notre Dame has won eight consecutive in-season tournament games (four in the 2016 Legends Classic and four in the Maui Invite last season), posting the best streak of the Mike Brey Era. From 1952-1957, the Irish won nine consecutive in-season tournament games, including two Sugar Bowl Tournament titles, an ECAC Holiday tourney title and the 1957 Hoosier Classic.
NOTRE DAME vs. UIC BY THE NUMBERS
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1 |
Notre Dame led the country in 2017-18 for personal fouls committed per game (13.1) and finished fourth in fewest fouls committed (470). |
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2 |
Returning starters for the Irish in 2017-18 (Rex Pflueger, T.J. Gibbs), matching the 2002-03 and 2009-10 seasons for the lowest in the Mike Brey era (2000-01 – present). |
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3 |
Junior guard T.J. Gibbs logged 1,348 minutes in 2017-18, third-most in Notre Dame basketball history and the 10th-most in the NCAA for the 2017-18 season. His 704 minutes in ACC play also marked the second-most for an ND player. |
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4 |
UIC is the first of four first-time opponents for Notre Dame basketball this season (Radford, Oklahoma and Jacksonville are the others). Mike Brey is 44-3 (.936) at Notre Dame in games featuring first-time program meetings and 129-37 (.777) against all first-time opponents at Notre Dame. |
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4 |
Under Mike Brey, the Irish have earned four in-season tournament titles, the 2001 Hawaii-Pacific Thanksgiving Classic, the 2010 Old Spice Classic, the 2016 Legends Classic and the 2017 Maui Invitational. |
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6 |
The Irish have six players competing for Notre Dame for the first time this season – junior Juwan Durham and freshmen Robby Carmody, Chris Doherty, Dane Goodwin, Prentiss Hubb and Nate Laszewski. Those six match a Mike Brey-era high from the 2009-10 season. |
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7 |
Notre Dame begins the 2018-19 season with a seven-game homestand – the longest for the program since 1986. It is the second-longest of the Mike Brey era, the Irish played six straight at home to begin the 2013-14 season. |
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8 |
The Irish will be putting an eight-game in-season tournament win streak on the line Tuesday afternoon. Notre Dame won the 2016 Legends Classic, sweeping four games in the event and also posted four wins in the 2017 Maui Invitational (three on the island) to claim the program’s first Maui title. The school-record for consecutive in-season tournament victories is nine compiled from 1952-57. |
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10 |
The freshman class of Robby Carmody, Dane Goodwin, Prentiss Hubb, Nate Laszewski and Chris Doherty was ranked 10th in the nation by ESPN – the highest recruting class rating of the Brey era. |
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24 |
The lack of returning playing time/statistics for Notre Dame in 2018-19 have much in common with 2002-03, 2009-10 and 2012-13. Those three seasons the Irish won an average of 24.3 games, 10.3 conference games and earned three NCAA bids (see page 5 for more details). |
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62 |
Notre Dame has seen 62 players reach the 1,000-point career plateau, which is tied for the fifth-most in NCAA history. Since joining the ACC, six Irish players have reached 1,000 points (tied with UNC for most in the league) and 13 have reached 1,000 points since 2008-09 – the second-best total in the nation over that time frame. |
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76 |
Notre Dame shot .758 from the free throw line in 2017-18, leading the ACC in team free throw shooting percentage for the second consecutive season. The Irish led the ACC and the NCAA in free throw shooting in 2016-17 (.800). |
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502 |
With 502 career wins, Mike Brey is the 11th active coach to reach that career milestone coaching at just one or two institutions. See page 3 of the notes package for more details. |
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77,000 |
Notre Dame’s new practice facility home, Rolfs Athletics Hall, boasts over 77,000-square feet of athletic training, strength and conditioning, practice courts and team offices for the Irish men’s and women’s teams. The teams have been able to use the practice courts since the start of October and the facility will be completed in mid-November. |
UIC QUICK FACTS
- Located in Chicago, Illinois, UIC (University of Illinois-Chicago) is a member of the Horizon League.
- Founded in 1896, UIC has an enrollment of 31,683.
- UIC finished 20-16 in 2017-18 and advanced to the championship game of the CollegeInsider.com post-season tournament.
- The 2017-18 season was UIC’s first 20-win season since 2004 and the Flames posted a school-record nine road victories during the season.
NOTRE DAME vs. UIC
- Tuesday marks the first meeting between the Notre Dame and UIC programs.
- Notre Dame is 83-15 all-time against teams from the Horizon League, with a majority of those games coming against Detroit Mercy (41-12) and Valparaiso (37-3).
- Tuesday also will mark the first coaching matchup between Mike Brey and Steve McClain.
SEASON/HOME OPENERS
- Notre Dame is 18-0 all-time in season openers during the Mike Brey era (2000-01 to present).
- Historically, the Irish are 95-18 (.841) in season openers.
- Under Mike Brey, the Irish are 18-0 in home openers.
- Historically, the Irish are 102-11 (.903) 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).
SEVEN-GAME HOMESTAND TO BEGIN THE SEASON LONGEST HOME COURT RUN SINCE 1986-87
- Notre Dame begins the 2018-19 season with seven consecutive games at home. The Irish are playing host to the first home exempt tournament in school history during the 2018 Gotham Classic.
- The seven-game run matches the 1986-87 team (5-2) and the 1915-16 team (6-1) for the second-longest in school history.
- In addition to a seven-game homestand to begin 1915-16 at the Fieldhouse, Jesse Harper’s 1914-15 team set the school mark with nine home games to begin the season – finishing the streak with an 8-1 record.
- The seven-game stand to begin the 2018-19 season is the second-longest of the Mike Brey era. The 2013-14 team ended up 5-1 during a six-game run to start that year.
- Notre Dame’s first road game will be for the Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden on December 4, 2018. That marks the latest the Irish will make a road trip in a season since the trip to Providence on December 7, 1996.
- While the seven-game run to start a season is unusual in the Brey era, Notre Dame has utilized its home court early in the year on several different occasions. The Irish will play 10 of their first 13 games in Purcell Pavilion this season and posted similar runs in 2004-05, 2006-07, 2009-10, 2013-14 and 2014-15.
- In 2004-05, Notre Dame played 10 of its first 13 games at home, compiling a 10-3 overall record and 8-2 mark in Purcell.
- The 2006-07 campaign saw Notre Dame play 13 of its first 16 at home, going 14-2 with a perfect 13-0 record in Purcell.
- The 2009-10 team competed at home for 12 of its first 14 games, going 12-2 and 11-1 in Purcell.
- Notre Dame begain its first season of ACC play in 2013-14 with 12 of 15 games at home, going 10-5.
- The 2006-07, 2009-10 and 2014-15 teams advanced to play in the NCAA tournament.
- And Mike Brey’s most successful team, the 2014-15 ACC Champions began the year with 14 of its first 17 games at home – compiling a 15-2 record and 13-1 mark in the Joyce Center.
SEVEN-GAME HOMESTANDS
Not only is the seven-game homestand to begin the season unusual, the program has only seen eight teams play seven or more consecutive games at home.
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1914-15 |
12/12/1914 |
1/30/1915 |
Nine |
8-1 |
|
1915-16 |
12/15/1915 |
1/29/1916 |
Seven |
6-1 |
|
1981-82 |
1/16/1982 |
2/2/1982 |
Seven |
5-2 |
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1986-87 |
11/21/1986 |
12/29/1986 |
Seven |
5-2 |
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1988-89 |
1/17/1989 |
2/5/1989 |
Seven |
5-2 |
|
2006-07 |
12/7/2006 |
1/3/2007 |
Seven |
7-0 |
|
2009-10 |
12/1/2009 |
12/30/2009 |
Seven |
6-1 |
|
2018-19 |
11/6/2018 |
11/27/2018 |
Seven |
– |
SIX NEWCOMERS MATCH HIGH OF BREY ERA
Notre Dame welcomes six new players who are eligible for competition this season – junior Juwan Durham (sat out the 2017-18 season after transferring from Connecticut) and freshmen Robby Carmody, Dane Goodwin, Prentiss Hubb, Nate Laszewski and Chris Doherty.
Only the 2009-10 season, when transfers Ben Hansbrough and Scott Martin joined freshmen Mike Broghammer, Joey Brooks, Jack Cooley and Tom Knight, experienced as many newcomers to a Mike Brey-coached Notre Dame roster.
IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT STREAK
Notre Dame enters the 2018 Gotham Classic with an eight-game win streak during in-season tournaments. The Irish have claimed back-to-back in-season tournament titles – sweeping through the 2016 Legends Classic and the 2017 Maui Invitational.
Three of those eight victories came at Purcell Pavilion – the Irish have not lost an in-season tournament game (part of the 2013 Gotham Classic) at home since a 73-69 set back to North Dakota State on December 11, 2013.
2017 Maui Invitational
|
vs. Mount St. Mary’s |
Notre Dame, IN |
Purcell Pavilion |
W |
88-62 |
|
vs. Chaminade |
Lahaina, HI |
Lahaina Civic Center |
W |
83-56 |
|
vs. LSU |
Lahaina, HI |
Lahaina Civic Center |
W |
92-53 |
|
vs. Wichita State |
Lahaina, HI |
Lahaina Civic Center |
W |
67-66 |
2016 Legends Classic
|
vs. Bryant |
Notre Dame, IN |
Purcell Pavilion |
W |
89-64 |
|
vs. Seattle |
Notre Dame, IN |
Purcell Pavilion |
W |
92-49 |
|
vs. Colorado |
Brooklyn, NY |
Barclays Center |
W |
89-83 |
|
vs. Northwestern |
Brooklyn, NY |
Barclays Center |
W |
70-66 |