MEN'S HOOPS -- Notre Dame vs. No. 7 Duke Preview
NOTRE DAME (15-9; 6-7 ACC) vs. No. 7 DUKE (21-3; 11-2)
Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314), Durham, N.C.
Time/TV/Internet: Today (4:00 p.m., EST); Available on ESPN, UND.com, Sirius/XM Radio Channel 989
Line: Duke -12.5 (151 over/under)
Prediction: Duke 88, Notre Dame 69
Game Note Links: Duke … Notre Dame
ACC Standings: Link is here
Series Facts: Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey is 5-7 all-time against Duke and its legendary head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Brey guided Notre Dame to five wins in six games versus Duke from 2013-14 through 2015-16, including a victory in January of 2016 at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and consecutive ACC Tournament wins in 2015 and 2016 — the first of that duo in a semi-finals match-up that carried the Irish to a conference tournament title.
Fortunes have flipped.
Duke has won five straight in the series, the previous three victories coming by an average of 21 points per outing.
Notre Dame is 1-8 all-time at Cameron. Brey has one win in three tries there.
Duke is 25-7 all-time in a series that dates back to 1965.
NOTRE DAME OVERVIEW
The 50-49 loss Tuesday to Virginia was a bad beat for Notre Dame because it moved the Irish from what would’ve been a fourth-place tie in the ACC standings with a win into a seventh-place logjam in a league that isn’t expected to land more than four or five NCAA invites.
With a No. 49 BPI and an all-important No. 53 NCAA NET ranking, Notre Dame can see the NCAA bubble, but it still lacks any eye-popping victories that today could provide.
The Irish have played 11 straight games that have been decided by 10 points or fewer. They are 6-5 In those games.
With Duke a prohibitive favorite today, the hope for the Irish is to keep things close, add this game to the win list, and steal a much-needed signature road victory.
Notre Dame has lost 19 straight games against ranked teams, the longest such streak during the 20-year Brey era as head coach.
DUKE OVERVIEW
A member of the ACC’s Elite Three, along with Florida State and Louisville, the Blue Devils enter this game winners of six straight games and alone in second place in the league standings.
Staying on an annual script, the Blue Devils rank third nationally in both scoring offense (82.6), and scoring margin (+16.5); and their four 30-point wins in ACC play this season have already tied a school record.
Duke’s overall strength of schedule this season is No. 12, slotting the Blue Devils at No . 1 in the BPI, No. 3 in KenPom, and No. 3 in Sagarin.
GAME OUTLOOK
*Following two tough road games in three days — rugged single-digit wins over North Carolina and No. 8 Florida State — Duke returns to action after four days riding a six-game winning streak and very much still in the hunt for a regular-season ACC title.
Duke leads the ACC in scoring at 82.6 points per game.
*Notre Dame’s scoring surge of five straight games of at least 80 points expectedly came to end in consecutive road contests against Clemson and Virginia, where it scored 61 and 49 points, respectively.
If the Irish hope today to stand a chance in this game, it needs tally at least 13 three-point baskets and reach 80 points.
QUICK HITS
*This game features three players who have combined for seven ACC Player of the Week Awards this season: Duke’s Tre Jones (three) and Vernon Cary Jr. (two, plus four Freshman of the Week honors) and Irish senior forward John Mooney (two).
*Jones — this week’s ACC Player of the Week for a league-best third time — is averaging 17.4 points and 5.9 assists during his last 10 games.
*At No. 7 in the current AP Top-25 rankings, Duke extended its streak to 38 consecutive weeks in the top-10, the second-longest in the nation.
QUOTEABLE: “Last year, Syracuse got in the NCAA Tournament with 13 losses (20-13 overall). They got in because they won at Cameron.” — Brey on the importance of winning today’s game at Duke.
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