HOOPS: Notre Dame vs. No. 3 Maryland Preview

Where: Xfinity Center, College Park, Mary.

Time/TV/Internet: Tonight, 7:30 p.m. EST; Available on ESPN, UND.com, Sirius/XM Radio Channel 989

Line: Maryland -9.5 (141.5 total)

Prediction: Maryland 74, Notre Dame 68

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Series Facts: The Irish are 11-9 all-time against the Terps but have lost the last two meetings, most recently, a 74-66 conference game at Maryland in 2014 when both teams were ACC members.

These two played 10 total games against four common opponents last season.

*Maryland lost to Virginia (76-71), lost to Illinois (78-67), beat Radford (78-64) and split two games with Purdue (62-60 loss and a 70-56 win).

*Notre Dame beat Purdue (88-80), beat Illinois (76-74), lost to Radford (63-60) and lost twice to Virginia (82-55 and 60-54).

Moving and protecting the basketball will again be a critical formula if Notre Dame hopes to pull an upset over Maryland.

With 24 assists and just seven turnovers in the 91-66 victory Nov. 26 over Fairleigh Dickinson, the Irish jumped to the top of the Division I rankings in team assist-turnover ratio at 1.82.

Starting Notre Dame guards T.J. Gibbs, Rex Pflueger and Prentiss Hubb all recorded five assists against FDU, marking three years to the day from the last time that happened when Gibbs and former Irish stars Matt Farrell and Bonzie Colson each hung five on Chicago State.

While a Thanksgiving weekend trip to Florida for the Orlando Invitational didn’t necessarily provide Maryland with much elite competition, the Terps held serve and left the tournament with three wins and a championship trophy.

After suffering through sluggish starts and surviving some drama against its first two opponents in Orlando — Temple (76-68) and Harvard (80-73) — Maryland put everything together in the title game with an 84-63 blowout of Marquette.

As the first team the Terps have played this season from a Power Five Conference, expect Notre Dame to provide the best test to date for a Maryland team that has beaten its first eight opponents by an average of 18.6 points per game.

Maryland senior guard Anthony Cowan Jr. officially emerged in Orlando as the go-to offensive option for the Terps, in a variety of ways.

During those three games, Cowan averaged 24 points on 51.1-percent shooting (9-of-20 from deep) with 4.3 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals in 35.3 minutes per game.

This game brings a homecoming feel for Hubb and Irish head coach Mike Brey.

Hubb hails from Upper Marlboro, Mary., which is only about a half hour drive from the University of Maryland campus.

Brey is from Bethesda. Mary., and said that he and his father attended many a Maryland game, basketball camp and other events at the venerable old Cole Field House before the Xfinity Center opened in 2002.

Both Brey and Hubb said they were bombarded with ticket requests for this game.

QUICK HITS:

*Maryland represents only the fourth different opponent the Irish have played in its seven appearances of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

Previously, Notre Dame played home-and-home matchups with Iowa, Michigan State and Illinois, winning four of those six games.

*In a Feast Week weekend surprise, a Maryland team known for its deep bench and long rotation under ninth-year head coach Mark Turgeon only had seven players average double-digit minutes in the three Orlando games played over four days.

*With 13 rebounds against FDU, Irish senior forward John Mooney became the eighth Irish player under head coach Mike Brey to grab 600 boards for his career. Mooney’s 13.0 rebounds per game this season lead the ACC and rank fourth in the country.

QUOTEABLE:

“Going on the road to play these guys, it’s an opportunity for you. It’s a strength of schedule kind of thing and opportunity, and you almost look at it as like an extension of 20 league games. You got an opportunity to play on a big stage,” — Brey on perhaps the only positive of playing on the road against the No. 3 team in the country.

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