Feb. 22, 2018
WHO: Notre Dame (16-12, 6-9 ACC) at Wake Forest (11-17, 4-12 ACC)
WHAT: ACC road challenge to begin the final three-game stretch of the regular season
WHERE: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (14,665)
WHEN: Saturday, February 24, 2018, 3:00 p.m. ET
TICKETS: Get access to tickets through the Vivid Notre Dame Ticket Exchange
BROADCAST INFORMATION:
ACC Network with Tom Werme (play-by-play) and Brian Oliver (analyst). Available on ACC Network affiliates across the country.
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 any network affiliate (listed on page 8 of the notes package).
Here are Five Things To Know about the Notre Dame – Wake Forest game…
IRISH BACK TO TOBACCO ROAD FOR A TRIP TO WAKE FOREST
The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team (16-11, 6-8 ACC) heads back on Tobacco Road this weekend at Wake Forest (11-17, 4-12 ACC) in the first of three remaining regular season games in 2017-18. The Irish will return home for Senior Day on Wednesday, Feb. 24, before the regular season ends at No. 1/2 Virginia on Feb. 28.
QUICK FACTS
- The Irish are looking to complete a sweep of the Saturday – Monday turnaround this year for the first time, as they went 0-2 on the first challenge, then 1-1 vs. Florida State and North Carolina.
- Matt Farrell has 34 assists (6.8 pg) over his past five games and was able to post seven assists in his career-high 37 point game at Boston College on Feb. 17.
- T.J. Gibbs has scored in double figures in a career-best 16 consecutive games dating back Dec. 21, 2017.
- Martinas Geben has scored in double figures in five consecutive games, matching his career-best mark of five straight from earlier this season. Over the past five games, Geben has shot .698 from the field (30-43).
- Notre Dame has hit 9 or more 3FGs in each of its past five games, including a season-high 30 in the two match ups with Boston College in 2017-18.
NOTRE DAME – WAKE FOREST SERIES HISTORY
Notre Dame and Wake Forest will be meeting for the eighth time on Saturday afternoon. This weekend’s game will mark just the third trip to Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum for the Irish, who are 1-1 in the venue (including a 69-58 victory on Feb. 24, 2016 – exactly two years prior to Saturday’s game date).
The Irish lead the all-time series 4-3. Wake Forest owns two neutral-site victories in the series, a 71-61 win in the 2000 National Invitational Tournament championship game and an 81-69 win in the 2014 ACC Championship first round.
ON THIS DATE
- Notre Dame is 16-14 in games played on February 24.
- Notre Dame is 1-1 in ACC competition on February 24 (60-65 vs. Syracuse, 2/24/15; 69-58 at Wake Forest, 2/24/16).
- 2/24/1912 – The first of 105 meetings between Notre Dame and DePaul takes place at the Fieldhouse. The Irish win 58-11.
- 2/24/1973 – Notre Dame defeats #11/13 St. John’s at the Nassau Coliseum 75-71, behind 31 points from John Shumate.
GEBEN SINGLE SEASON FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE AMONG THE BEST ALL-TIME
As one of the most improved players in the ACC this season, Martinas Geben has stepped up to enjoy a career season – his final year in an Irish uniform. Along with averaging career-best for points per game (10.8) and rebounds per game (7.8), Geben also is on pace to be among just 10 players to shoot over .600 in a single season at Notre Dame (150 minimum attempts).
NOTRE DAME SINGLE SEASON FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE TOP 12 (all above .600)
|
Player |
Year |
% |
FGM-FGA |
|
|
1. |
Bruce Flowers |
1978-79 |
.656 |
107-163 |
|
2. |
Orlando Woolridge |
1980-81 |
.650 |
156-240 |
|
3. |
Keith Robinson |
1987-88 |
.647 |
123-190 |
|
4. |
LaPhonso Ellis |
1991-92 |
.631 |
227-360 |
|
5. |
John Shumate |
1973-74 |
.627 |
281-448 |
|
6. |
Jack Cooley |
2011-12 |
.625 |
158-253 |
|
7. |
2014-15 |
.619 |
190-307 |
|
|
8. |
2017-18 |
.613 |
119-194 |
|
|
9. |
Keith Robinsion |
1989-90 |
.607 |
159-262 |
|
10. |
Bill Varner |
1982-83 |
.604 |
134-222 |
|
11. |
Bruce Flowers |
1975-76 |
.602 |
100-166 |
|
12. |
Tim Kempton |
1982-83 |
.601 |
101-168 |
FARRELL CLOSING IN ON 1,000 POINTS
Senior guard Matt Farrell, who saw limited minutes in his first two seasons with the Irish, is closing in on 1,000 points in his career. Farrell currently has 984 points – needing 16 over the final three games of the regular season (plus any post season play) to become the 62nd (and 23rd Mike Brey era) player in school history to reach that notable milestone.
Farrell is averaging 15.6 points per start in his career.
Entering the 2017-18 season, Notre Dame was tied for fifth all-time for the most players to reach 1,000 points in a career –
CAREER 1,000 POINT SCORERS
|
School |
1,000 pt scorers |
|
|
1. |
North Carolina |
76 |
|
2. |
Louisville |
67 |
|
Duke |
67 |
|
|
4. |
Villanova |
63 |
|
5. |
NOTRE DAME |
61 |
|
Syracuse |
61 |
|
|
7. |
Kentucky |
60 |
|
8. |
Kansas |
59 |
NOTRE DAME AT WAKE FOREST – BY THE NUMBERS
|
1 |
Senior guard Matt Farrell will not make the minimum amount of games played required by the ACC to appear on the conference’s statistical rankings. He has played 10 games, however, and would lead the league in assists (5.8) and 3FGM per game (4.20) in conference games. He would also be fifth in assist/turnover ratio (2.32) and seventh in 3FG5 (.420). |
|
2 |
Notre Dame leads the NCAA in two statistical categories – fewest fouls (367) and personal fouls per game (13.1). |
|
3.35 |
Three-point field goals made per game for Matt Farrell, first in the ACC and 13th in the nation. |
|
8 |
Full weeks of game action 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, over two steals and over two blocks per game – the only college player to hit those averages in 2017-18 and the only player to reach those averages since Sports Reference started tracking statistics in the 1992-93 season. |
|
10 |
School-record matching three-point field goals at Boston College for Matt Farrell. Farrell started the game nine-for-nine from three-point field goal range and scored a career-high and Notre Dame player ACC-game high 37 points in the victory (see page 4 for more details). |
|
11.1 |
Sophomore guard T.J. Gibbs has improved his scoring by 11.1 points per game this season (4.7 to 15.8), the second-best mark in the ACC. |
|
15 |
Both T.J. Gibbs and senior guard Matt Farrell are on a streak of 15 consecutive games with at least one three-point field goal, which is tied for fifth in the ACC. Farrell’s career-best streak of 31 games ended earlier this season vs. St. Francis Brooklyn. Farrell has hit at least one three pointer in 45 of his last 46 games played. |
|
29 |
Combined games missed due to injury by Bonzie Colson (14), Matt Farrell (5) freshman forward D.J. Harvey (9) and junior Rex Pflueger (1) – three of the top six players on the Irish roster missing at least five games. |
|
98 |
The senior class of Bonzie Colson, Matt Farrell, Martinas Geben, Matt Gregory and Austin Torres (graduate student) have set the mark as the all-time winningest senior class in Notre Dame basketball history. |
|
120.0 |
Offensive rating for senior forward Martinas Geben according to KenPom.com, the ninth-best in the league with at least 20% of possessions used. |
|
984 |
Career points scored for Matt Farrell who is on pace to become the 62nd Notre Dame player to reach the 1,000-point milestone. |