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Notre Dame at Syracuse - Five Things To Know

Jan. 5, 2018

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WHO: Notre Dame (12-3, 2-0 ACC) at Syracuse (12-3, 1-1 ACC)

WHAT: First of a two-game ACC road trip for Notre Dame.

WHERE: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York

WHEN: Saturday, January 6, 2018, 3:15 p.m. ET

BROADCAST INFORMATION:

ESPN2 national telecast with Mike Couzens (play-by-play) and Cory Alexander (analyst).

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

Here are Five Things To Know about the Irish – Orange matchup…

IRISH BEGIN TWO-GAME ACC ROAD TRIP AT SYRACUSE

The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team (12-3, 2-0 ACC) heads out on the road in Atlantic Coast Conference play for the first time this season when it travels to Syracuse (12-3, 1-1 ACC) to face the Orange in an afternoon nationally televised game on ESPN2.

The Irish will be without All-American senior forward Bonzie Colson, who is sidelined for eight weeks with a fractured bone in his left foot. Senior point guard Matt Farrell is doubtful for the game after spraining his ankle in the victory over NC State.

A SEASON OF MILESTONES CONTINUE FOR Mike Brey

Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey has reached one key milestone in his coaching career this season and is poised to reach two more in before the season ends.

Brey became the all-time men’s basketball coaching wins leader at Notre Dame (394 current) with an 88-58 victory over NC State on January 3, 2018.

Brey is six wins away from 400 at Notre Dame, which would make him the 13th active coach to have 400 wins at his current school.

Brey is seven wins away from 500 in his coaching career, on pace to become the 31st active coach to reach 500 career wins.

Should Brey reach the 500-win barrier, he will join Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Roy Williams, Greg Kampe, Tony Shaver, Tom Izzo, Fran Dunphy, Bob McKillop, Jay Wright and Mark Few as the only current coaches to win 500 or more games while coaching at just one or two schools.

See pages 10 and 11 of this notes package for more historical and background information on Mike Brey.

COLSON LOST FOR EIGHT WEEKS WITH LEFT FOOT FRACTURE

Senior All-American Bonzie Colson, the 2017-18 ACC Player of the Year and consensus preseason first-team All-American, will miss the next eight weeks of game action after suffering a fracture in his left foot on Friday, December 29, 2017. After scoring 22 points with a career-best 17 rebounds on December 30, 2017, Colson’s foot was x-rayed and the fracture revealed.

He underwent successful surgery in South Bend, Indiana, on Thursday, January 4, 2019.

HARVEY STEPS UP IN FIRST CAREER START

Freshman D.J. Harvey responded to his first career start with a career-high 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including a career-best three three-point field goals.

It was the fourth double-digit scoring game of the season for Harvey – and the first since December 3, 2017.

The performance also marks the most for a first-year freshman player at Notre Dame since Chris Thomas scored 24 points in his first career game with Notre Dame on Nov. 16, 2001.

PFLUEGER IN A GROOVE

After a forgettable peformance against Indiana in the 2017 Crossroads Classic on December 16, junior Rex Pflueger has stepped up his game during Notre Dame’s four-game win streak.

Over the past four games, all Notre Dame wins, Pflueger is averaging 14.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists.

Date

Opponent

FG

3FG

FT

O-D-R

F

PTS

AST

TO

BLK

STL

MIN

12/19

*Dartmouth

5-9

0-2

3-3

2-4-6

1

13

1

0

0

0

39

12/21

*SE Louisiana

5-10

3-6

4-4

0-5-5

2

17

3

0

0

3

33

12/30

*Georgia Tech

3-6

2-4

3-4

0-7-7

4

11

6

1

0

1

34

1/3

*NC State

5-9

2-5

4-6

1-3-4

2

16

4

0

1

1

31

Totals

18-34

7-17

14-17

3-19-22

9

57

14

1

1

5

137

Average

.529

.412

.824

5.5

14.3

3.5

34.3

IRISH vs. ORANGE – BY THE NUMBERS

2

Notre Dame has begun an ACC season 2-0 for the second consecutive year and third time in five seasons of ACC competition.

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

Sophomore T.J. Gibbs has scored 20-or-more points five times this season, including a game-high 22 in the victory over NC State.

14.3

Points-per-game average for junior Rex Pflueger over Notre Dame’s last four victories, while also averaging 5.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals.

15

Season-low minutes played for senior Matt Farrell against NC State after rolling his ankle in the first half. His status for the Syracuse game on Saturday is doubtful. It would mark the first game missed for injury of Farrell’s career.

17

Career-high points scored for freshman D.J. Harvey, in his first career start, against NC State. That total represents the most for a first-year freshman in his first career start since Chris Thomas scored 24 points on Nov. 16, 2001.

8

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 hit those averages since Sports Reference started tracking statistics in the 1992-93 season.

21

Notre Dame is looking for its 21st victory in the series with Syracuse, which the Orange lead 28-20. The Irish have not posted a win in the Carrier Dome since a 103-91 victory on Jan. 30, 2007.

23

The four-year Notre Dame senior class (Bonzie Colson, Matt Farrell, Martinas Geben and Matt Gregory) has won 23 ACC home games over the past four seasons – the fourth-best total in the conference over that stretch.

39

ACC victories over the past three-plus seasons for Notre Dame, currently the third-most in the conference. Virginia (42) and North Carolina (40) make up the ACC top two in wins over the past three-plus years.

48

ACC program first-half record number of points scored by the Irish in the victory over NC State on Wednesday, January 3. The Irish also hit an ACC first-half high for three-point field goals (nine).