HOOPS PREVIEW: Notre Dame Vs. Mount St. Mary's
NOTRE DAME (1-0, 0-0 ACC) VS. MOUNT ST. MARY’S (0-1, 0-0 NEC)
Where: Purcell Pavilion
Rankings: Notre Dame is ranked No. 14 in the AP Poll
Time/TV: 7 p.m. ET/ACC Network Extra (WatchESPN)
Last Meeting: 2014 in South Bend which Notre Dame won 93-67.
Series Info: Notre Dame leads the series 2-0 (2003, 2014). Both meetings were in South Bend.
Notre Dame picked up a road win to begin its 2017-2018 season defeating DePaul 72-58 in Chicago Saturday afternoon.
It was the first time during Mike Brey's tenure the Irish opened on the road. Of the teams ranked in the initial AP Top 25, Notre Dame was the only program to start the season with a true road game.
Tonight will be the home opener for the Irish as they host the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers. Head coach Jamion Christian’s group fell 80-59 to Marquette last Friday.
Here is a quick preview of each team heading into the matchup which is a Maui Jim Maui Invitational regional game. Statistics recorded do not count toward the tournament games played next week in Maui.
NOTRE DAME OVERVIEW
A strong second half offensively on Saturday helped propel the Irish over the Blue Demons thanks to a 9-of-12 effort from behind the three-point line.
While seniors Bonzie Colson and Matt Farrell played a role in the win, it was sophomore guard TJ Gibbs who stole the show scoring a game-high and career-high 21 points.
Gibbs, who shot 7-of-11 overall from the floor including 4-of-7 from deep, scored 12 points in the second half to keep DePaul at bay. The sophomore also added two rebounds and three assists to his total.
Colson put together an all-around performance with 18 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Farrell knocked down five triples to score 15 points to finish as the third Irish player in double figures.
Freshman DJ Harvey contributed seven points in his debut on 3-of-4 shooting. Junior guard Rex Pflueger struggled a bit knocking down just one shot on six attempts, but made an impact on the defensive end grabbing nine rebounds and one steal.
It was just one game, but a question mark for the Irish heading into the season was who would step up and become the third scoring option behind Colson and Farrell. Gibbs showed he could be that guy.
Though the Irish won’t be overlooking the Mountaineers, who made the NCAA tournament last season, this matchup should give Brey another chance to continue fine tuning his lineups and rest some of his starters a little more after Colson, Pflueger, Farrell and Gibbs each played at least 36 minutes against DePaul.
MOUNT ST. MARY'S OVERVIEW
The Mountaineers were selected to finish fourth in the Northeast Conference after finishing 20-14 last season winning the regular season and tournament titles. Mount St. Mary’s was knocked out by Villanova in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as the 16-seed.
Mount St. Mary’s returns just two of its top seven scorers from a season ago due to graduations and transfers. Senior guard Junior Robinson, who averaged 14.1 points last season, will be relied on to carry the Mountaineers. The 5-foot-5 guard (that is not a typo) scored 20 points in the opener against Marquette. Freshman guard Donald Carey contributed 11 points.
Last season, the Mountaineers ranked 288th in the country in points per game scoring 68.3 per contest, so consistency on offense will be a key for the team this season to make another run.
According to the Mount St. Mary’s game notes, Christian wants the Mountaineers to shoot 35 or more three-pointers per game this season. Against Marquette, Christian’s group attempted 28 threes but made just seven (25 percent). The team attempted 67 three-pointers total in their two exhibition games shooting 46.3 percent (31-of-67).
Guarding the three-point line will be a key for the Irish as it can be the great equalizer when mid-majors are attempting to pull the upset.
OUTLOOK
Brey and his team will look continue their defensive effort from the DePaul game while staying hot on the offensive end.
Mount St. Mary’s game plan of attacking offensively from the three-point line will be worth watching, but the Irish held DePaul to a 5-of-22 clip.
PREDICTION:
Notre Dame 82, Mount St. Mary’s 56
The Irish should be able to avoid playing four starters 36-plus minutes against the Mountaineers and get more minutes for Harvey and big men Elijah Burns and John Mooney to continue their development. Redshirt freshman Nik Djogo, who did not play against DePaul, will likely find his way into the rotation tonight as well.
Notre Dame cruises and moves to 2-0 heading into Thursday's matchup against Chicago State.
----
• Talk about it inside Rockne’s Roundtable
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD,
@BGI_DMcKinney and @BGI_CoreyBodden.
• Like us on Facebook.