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Notre Dame at NC State - Five Things To Know

Feb. 1, 2018

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WHO: Notre Dame (13-9, 3-6 ACC) at NC State (15-7, 5-4 ACC)

WHAT: Second contest of a two-game ACC road swing for the Fighting Irish.

WHERE: PNC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina

WHEN: Saturday, February 3, 2018, Noon ET

TICKETS: Available through the Notre Dame Vivid Seat Exchange

BROADCAST INFORMATION:

ESPN2 national broadcast with Mike Couzens (play-by-play) and Cory Alexander (analyst). Also available on the WatchESPN app.

Notre Dame Basketball Radio Network with Jack Nolan (play-by-play) and Zach Hillesland (analyst). Available locally on WSBT AM 960/FM 96.1, worldwide on WatchND.tv and via network affiliates (listed on page 8 of the notes package).

Here are Five Things To Know about the Notre Dame – NC State game…

QUICK FACTS

  • Sophomore T.J. Gibbs earned his seventh 20-point scoring game of the season with 22 points at Duke on Monday night. Playing 39 minutes, Gibbs (40.00) joins Syracuse’s Tyus Battle (40.25) as the only ACC players to average 40-or-more minutes played in league competition.
  • Pressed into extra duty with Notre Dame’s injury situation, T.J. Gibbs is averaging 37.1 minutes played per game. That would be the most since Jerian Grant in 2014-15 (37.1). In the 2013-14 season, Eric Atkins (37.8) and Pat Connaughton (37.2) led the Irish in minutes-played-per-game.
  • Notre Dame has out-rebounded seven of its nine ACC opponents this season, including five efforts by double-digits (+11 Georgia Tech, +11 NC State, +15 at Syracuse, +14 Louisville, +11 Virginia Tech). The seven games matches the program high in ACC play (2013-14 and 2015-16). The five ACC games with 40 or more rebounds (45 vs. Georgia Tech, 41 vs. NC State, 42 at Syracuse, 45 vs. North Carolina and 48 vs. Louisville) are a school record for ACC play.
  • Before the 22-point setback at No. 4/5 Duke, Notre Dame’s five ACC losses had come from a combined 26 points, or just 6.2 points per game (that includes a one-point losss to North Carolina and a four-point double-overtime loss to Louisville).
  • Notre Dame has shot below .400 as a team in its past seven games. The last game above .400 saw the Irish shoot .518 on Jan. 3, 2018 – against NC State in Purcell Pavilion.

NOTRE DAME – NC STATE SERIES HISTORY

Notre Dame and NC State will be meeting for the 13th time, with the Irish holding an 8-4 advantage in the series. The two teams have met five times as ACC opponents, with Notre Dame holding a 4-1 advantage (including four wins in a row).

Notre Dame is 5-0 at NC State (2-0 in ACC play).

The Wolf Pack join Georgia Tech, Boston College and North Carolina as Notre Dame’s four repeat opponents in the ACC this season. The Irish defeated NC State 88-58 on Jan. 13, 2018, providing head coach Mike Brey with his Notre Dame-record 394th victory.

INJURY TIMELINE

Notre Dame has been hit by the injury bug this season, playing a significant amount of the season without three of its top six players. A timeline of the injury losses:

Friday, Dec. 29, 2013 (loss of Colson) – Senior All-American and National Player of the Year candidate Bonzie Colson injures his foot in practice. He starts and plays the full game against Georgia Tech on Saturday, Dec. 30 (scoring 22 points and collecting 17 rebounds), but the discomfort in his left foot leads to an x-ray performed on Monday, Jan. 1. On Tuesday, Jan. 2, it is announced that Colson will miss eight weeks with a fracture in his left foot. He undergoes successful surgery on Thursday, Jan. 4 and is expected to miss eight weeks of action.

Wednesday, Jan. 3 (loss of Farrell) – In the first game without Bonzie Colson in the lineup, senior guard and Wooden Award watch list selection Matt Farrell severely sprains his left ankle with 5:09 remaining in the first half. Farrell would miss the next three games (at Syracuse – W, at Georgia Tech – L, vs. North Carolina – L). He returned to the starting line up on Tuesday, Jan.16, against Louisville.

Tuesday, Jan. 16 (loss of Harvey) – With Farrell back in the starting lineup, freshman D.J. Harvey (who had started the previous four games in place of Colson) suffers a bone bruise in his left knee with 8:25 remaining in the first half. Harvey would be sidelined for the next three games (and is expected to be out of the lineup at least one more week).

Thursday, Jan. 24 (loss of Farrell again)- After competing in two games, Farrell suffers a setback in the rehabilitation from his ankle injury. An MRI is performed and a bone bruise is identified in his left ankle (suffered during the original injury on Jan. 3). Farrell is sidelined indefinitely and does not play against Virginia Tech (L) or Duke (L). He will be a game time decision for the contest at NC State.

Since losing Colson, the Irish have been able to field a lineup with Farrell and Harvey for just 11:35 of game time (the first half of the double overtime loss to Louisville before Harvey’s injury).

INTERNATIONAL DUO

Senior Martinas Geben (Vilnius, Lithuania) and sophomore Nikola Djogo (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) became first pair of foreign-born players to start a game during the Mike Brey era when they were both in the starting five against Virginia Tech on Jan. 27, 2018.

The last pair of foreign-born players to start a game for Notre Dame occurred in the 1999-2000 season under head coach Matt Doherty. On Jan. 25, 2000, freshmen Jere Macura and Ivan Kartelo – both from Split, Croatia – started against Miami (Florida).

Djogo is the first Canadian-born player to start a game for Notre Dame. He and Geben join Macura, Kartelo, Tom Timmermans (Driehuis, Netherlands) and Eric Katenda (Paris, France) as the six foreign-born players to compete for Notre Dame under head coach Mike Brey.

GIBBS STEPS UP

Sophomore guard T.J. Gibbs has become Notre Dame’s main scoring threat with the loss of Bonzie Colson and Matt Farrell due to left-leg injuries.

Gibbs has played five full games without Colson or Farrell in the lineup – at Syracuse, at Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Virginia Tech and at Duke. Over those five contests, Gibbs is averaging 19.4 ppg, 5.2 apg and 3.6 rpg.

Date

Game

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Minutes Played

1/6/18

at Syracuse

18

4

4

40

1/10/18

at Georia Tech

11

3

7

40

1/13/18

North Carolina

19

4

6

39

1/27/18

Virginia Tech

27

2

5

40

1/29/18

at Duke

22

4

4

39

Totals

97

18

26

198

Average

19.4

3.6

5.2

39.6

MOONEY RISING

Sophomore forward John Mooney has made the most of his increased playing time due to the injuries to Bonzie Colson, Matt Farrell and D.J. Harvey.

In the past three games, Mooney has increased his scoring output by close to 10 points (4.3 before the past three games to 14.0) and his rebounds-per-game from 3.4 to 7.3.

Not to be overlooked, Mooney also has been red-hot from three-point range in the past three games (.643), including a career-best four three-point field goals at No. 4/5 Duke.

Date

Game

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Minutes Played

1/20/18

at Clemson

13

7

3-5

23

1/27/18

Virginia Tech

15*

11*

2-3

32*

1/29/18

at Duke

14

4

4*-6

25

Totals

42

22

9-14

80

Average

14.0

7.3

.643

26.7

* – career highs

NOTRE DAME AT NC STATE – BY THE NUMBERS

1

Notre Dame leads the country in least amount of personal fouls committed per game with a 13.0 average. The Irish are also second in the NCAA in terms of total fouls committed (287).

2

Senior Martinas Geben leads the ACC in offensive rebounds per game in league play (4.44) and is eighth in FG% (.529) in ACC play.

4

Mike Brey is the fourth-longest tenured head coach among power five conference teams – now in his 18th season at Notre Dame. Jim Boeheim (42), Mike Krzyzewski (38) and Tom Izzo (23) are the only other power five conference head coaches with a longer tenure at their current institution.

5

Notre Dame is 5-0 in games played at NC State (3-0 at Reynolds Coliseum, 2-0 at PNC Arena).

4

More weeks of game action expected to be missed by senior Bonzie Colson after fracturing a bone in his foot on Friday, December 29. Colson was averaging 21.4 points, 10.4 rebounds and over two steals and two blocks per game – the only college player to hit those averages this year and the only player to reach those averages since Sports Reference started tracking statistics in the 1992-93 season.

12

Sophomore T.J. Gibbs has doubled his scoring output from his freshman season in 2016-17. Gibbs has a team-high 346 points this year after scoring 168 points in his rookie season.

64

Percentage from three-point field goal range (.643, 9-14) for sophomore John Mooney over the past three games, including a career-best four 3FGM at No. 4/5 Duke on Monday, Jan. 29.

95

The senior class of Bonzie Colson, Matt Farrell, Martinas Geben, Matt Gregory and Austin Torres (graduate student) is three wins away from becoming the all-time winningest senior class in Notre Dame basketball history. The 2016-17 and 2012-13 senior classes currently hold the record with 97 wins over a four-year span. See page 3 of this notes package for more details.

95

Free throw percentage (.947) for T.J. Gibbs in ACC play this season – the best mark in the conference. Gibbs is 36-for-38 from the line in conference play.

360

T.J. Gibbs has played 360 of a possible 370 minutes (97 percent) over the past eight games, including a career-high 48 minutes vs. Louisville. He has more than doubled his minutes played per game in 2017-18 (37.2) compared to his freshman season (15.0).