Notre Dame guards Rex Pflueger and TJ Gibbs were all set to play in their ACC Tournament Quarterfinal matchup on Thursday against Virginia when conference officials swiftly canceled the remainder of the contest.
At this time, it seems unlikely that senior basketball players or other winter collegiate athletes will be granted an additional year of eligibility, which will bring an end to the careers of Pflueger and Gibbs at Notre Dame.
Due to a lack of depth on the roster, the pair combined to start in 63 of 64 games this season and were on the court 78 percent of the time (more often than not, together).
Their combined averages were 18.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game.
While the majority of their time was spent as secondary ball handlers, both had assist-to-turnover ratios that ranked in the top 55 in the country, with Gibbs landing in the top 25.
The majority of point guard duties fell on sophomore Prentiss Hubb, who had a top-100 assist-to-turnover ratio, but he will need to step up in other ways if he's going to help replace the production of Gibbs and Plueger, not to mention their leadership abilities.
Prentiss Hubb
The enigmatic point guard averaged 12.1 points and 5.2 assists per game (44th in the country), which made Hubb third on the team in scoring and first on the team when it came to setting up his teammates.
These are solid numbers for a sophomore point guard, but what made Hubb so hard to watch at times was his inconsistent play and tendency to implement a poor shot selection, especially when his shot wasn’t falling — a frustrating combination.
Ranked as the No. 99 overall player coming out of high school in 2018, Hubb likely would have been considered an even higher-rated prospect had he not torn his ACL at the beginning of his senior year. With two seasons of full health under his belt, does he have the potential to emerge as a star as a junior?
