Feb. 16, 2017
by Alan Wasielewski
WHO: No. 25/20 Notre Dame (20-7, 9-5 ACC) at NC State (14-13, 3-11 ACC)
WHERE: PNC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 18, Noon ET
NATIONAL BROADCAST: ESPN with Mike Couzens (play-by-play), Doris Burke (analyst) and Allison Williams (sideline).
RADIO BROADCAST: Notre Dame Basketball Network with Jack Nolan (play-by-play) and Zach Hillesland (analyst). You can listen online at WatchND.tv or via any Notre Dame Basketball Network affiliate.
Here are Five Things to Know about the Notre Dame – NC State matchup –
NOTRE DAME vs. NC STATE SERIES HISTORY:
Notre Dame and NC State will be meeting for the 11th time on Saturday afternoon, with the Irish holding a 6-4 advantage in the series. Notre Dame has won two of the three matchups with NC State since joining the ACC for the 2013-14 season, including an 81-78 victory at PNC Arena on January 25, 2015.
NOTRE DAME vs. NC State 6-4 | home 2-3 | away 4-0 | neutral 0-1 | acc 2-1
|
Date |
City |
Site |
ND rank |
Opp rank |
W/L |
ND |
Opp |
|
2/21/1978 |
Notre Dame, IN |
Purcell Pavilion |
9 / t12 |
nr / t19 |
W |
70 |
59 |
|
2/7/1979 |
Raleigh, NC |
Reynolds Coliseum |
1 / 1 |
W |
53 |
52 |
|
|
2/9/1980 |
Notre Dame, IN |
Purcell Pavilion |
9 / 9 |
L |
55 |
63 |
|
|
2/14/1981 |
Raleigh, NC |
Reynolds Coliseum |
12 / 14 |
W |
71 |
55 |
|
|
2/13/1982 |
Notre Dame, IN |
Purcell Pavilion |
L |
42 |
62 |
||
|
2/12/1983 |
Raleigh, NC |
Reynolds Coliseum |
W |
43 |
42 |
||
|
11/26/2005 |
Indianapolis, IN |
BankersLife Fieldhouse |
L |
48 |
61 |
||
|
1/7/2014 |
~Notre Dame, IN |
Purcell Pavilion |
L |
70 |
77 |
||
|
1/25/2015 |
~Raleigh, NC |
PNC Arena |
8 / 9 |
W OT |
81 |
78 |
|
|
3/5/2016 |
~Notre Dame, IN |
Purcell Pavilion |
W |
89 |
75 |
~ – ACC Game
20 WINS A TRADITION FOR BREY AT NOTRE DAME:
For the 13th time in 17 seasons and 10th time in the past 11 seasons, Notre Dame has reached the 20-win mark for the year.
That matches the school record for 20-win seasons at Notre Dame with Digger Phelps, who posted 20 wins 13 times in his 20 years as head coach with the Irish.
|
Head Coach |
20-Win Seasons |
Total Seasons at Notre Dame |
|
Mike Brey |
13 |
17 |
|
Digger Phelps |
13 |
20 |
|
George E. Keogan |
4 |
19 |
|
John Dee |
4 |
7 |
|
John Jordan |
3 |
13 |
|
Moose Krause |
1 |
7 |
|
Matt Doherty |
1 |
1 |
SUCCESS ON TOBACCO ROAD:
Notre Dame joined the ACC at the start of the 2013-14 basketball season. The Irish ended up 0-3 in the state of North Carolina that year (65-58 loss at Wake Forest, 63-61 loss at North Carolina, 81-69 loss to Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro).
Since breaking through for the program’s first win in Chapel Hill, 71-70, at North Carolina on Jan. 5, 2015, the Irish have won seven of the last nine games they have played on ‘Tobacco Road’:
|
Opponent |
W/L |
Score |
Date |
|
at North Carolina |
W |
71-70 |
Jan. 5, 2015 |
|
at NC State |
W |
81-78 (OT) |
Jan. 25, 2015 |
|
at Duke |
L |
60-90 |
Feb. 7, 2015 |
|
vs. Miami |
W |
70-63 |
March 12, 2015* |
|
vs. Duke |
W |
74-64 |
March 13, 2015* |
|
vs. North Carolina |
W |
90-82 |
March 14, 2015* |
|
at Duke |
W |
95-91 |
Jan. 16, 2016 |
|
at Wake Forest |
W |
69-58 |
Feb. 24, 2016 |
|
at North Carolina |
L |
72-84 |
Feb. 5, 2017 |
* – 2015 ACC Championship, Greensboro Coliseum
VASTURIA CAREER NUMBERS:
Senior Steve Vasturia continues to climb the career charts – at Notre Dame, in the ACC and the NCAA.
As of February 16, 2017, Vasturia is seventh on the list of active career scorers in the ACC play with 1,308 points and fourth in career assists with 303.
On the Notre Dame career charts, Vasturia currently ranks second in FT% (.851), fourth in consecutive starts (108), 11th in 3FG attempted (484), 20th in 3FG% (.370), 19th in assists (303), 17th in steals (118) and 30th in scoring (1,308).
For NCAA Division I career numbers for active players, Vasturia is 31st in games played (128), 38th in FT% (.851), 93rd in 3FGM (179), 92nd in points (1,308) and 103rd in assists (303).
Vasturia and Chris Thomas (2001-05) are the only Notre Dame players to score over 1,300 points, dish out 300 assists and shoot .850 from the free throw line.
NOTRE DAME – NC STATE, BY THE NUMBERS:
|
1.68 |
Assist-to-turnover ratio for Notre Dame this sesason, the second-best in the nation behind UCLA (1.83). |
|
2 |
Bonzie Colson earned his second ACC Player of the Week award of the season on Monday, Feb. 13, finishing the week with a 30.0 ppg, 14.5 rpg and 3.0 bpg average as the Irish claimed wins over Wake Forest and No. 14/15 Florida State. Colson also was the ACC Player of the Week on Dec. 5, 2016. |
|
7 |
Player-of-the-week awards won by Bonzie Colson this week, including the Naismith Trophy and USBWA Oscar Robertson Player of the Week Award. |
|
9.9 |
Turnovers-per-game average for the Irish this season, second-best in the nation behind Michigan (9.4). |
|
10.7 |
Rebounds-per-game average for Bonzie Colson, which leads the ACC and is 11th in the country (as of Feb. 16). Colson also leads the ACC in overall double-doubles (16) and 10-rebound performances (17). |
|
11.7 |
Improved points-per-game scoring average for junior Matt Farrell (14.3 this season compared to 2.6 from 2015-16), the best mark in the ACC and second for a player from the Brey era (1st, +14.4, Tim Abromaitis, 2009-10, 3rd, Chris Quinn, +10.4, 2003-04). |
|
13 |
20-win seasons in 17 years as the head coach at Notre Dame for Mike Brey, matching the school-record for 20-win seasons (see page 3 for more details). |
|
15 |
Notre Dame has shot at least 80 percent from the free throw line 15 times this season, including a 19-of-21 performance (.905) against Boston College. |
|
76 |
Victories over the past three seasons for the Irish (32 in 2014-15, 24 in 2015-16 and 20 this season) establishing the all-time best three-season mark. The previous best of 74 occurred in 2010-11 (27), 2011-12 (22) and 2012-13 (25). See page 3 of this notes package for more details. |
|
81.6 |
Free-throw percentage for Notre Dame this season, the best in the nation. |
|
82.2 |
NCAA record free throw shooting percentage by Harvard in 1984. The Irish are in the running to threaten that mark this season (ND is currently shooting 81.6) and could set a new ACC single-season record (.799 by NC State in 2004). |
|
91.6 |
Free throw percentage for Steve Vasturia this season, first in the ACC and 9th in the nation. |
|
303 |
Career assists for Steve Vasturia – the 19th ND player to amass 300 assists. Vasturia also has scored 1,308 points, becoming the 11th Irish player to score over 1,300 points and dish out 300 assists. Vasturia joins Chris Thomas (2001-05) as the only Notre Dame player to score 1,300 points, post 300 assists and shoot over .850 from the free throw line. |
|
376 |
Victories at Notre Dame for head coach Mike Brey, the second-most in Notre Dame history and 17 away from the all-time record (393). |
|
1,000 |
Steve Vasturia, V.J. Beachem and Bonzie Colson have all reached 1,000 career points this season – the first time since 1991-92 three Irish players have reached that milestone in the same year (see page 5 for more details). |
–ND–
Alan Wasielewski is an Associate Athletics Communication Director in Fighting Irish Media, working with the men’s basketball and rowing programs.