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Notre Dame Men's Basketball Notebook

Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey has referred to the upcoming three-game road swing — at Clemson on Sunday (6 p.m. ET, ACC Network), at Virginia on Tuesday and at No. 7 Duke on Saturday — as perhaps the most difficult in the program’s history.

That statement would seem pretty easy to dismiss considering that Clemson is 11-11 overall and 5-7 in the ACC, and has lost its last two games while tallying only 44 points each time, versus Wake Forest and Virginia.

Senior guard T.J. Gibbs take their three-game winning streak on the road now for three straight games.
Senior guard T.J. Gibbs take their three-game winning streak on the road now for three straight games. (Rivals.com)
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Meanwhile, reigning national champion Virginia is attempting to claw its way back onto the NCAA Tournament bubble after losing five of its last nine league games (15-7 overall, 7-5 in the league).

Duke remains Duke.

But toughest ever?

From a conference perspective, that’s legit (when not including winning three straight at a neutral site to dramatically capture the 2015 ACC Tournament or doing the same in 1978 to reach the Final Four).

Any others?

In his lone season as Notre Dame’s head coach, Matt Doherty from Nov. 24-30 lost to No. 8 Arizona and No. 24 Maryland, and then at No. 24 Indiana as well — but the first two were on neutral court in Madison Square Garden.

However, one gauntlet remains a standard that will be difficult to eclipse.

In the late John MacLeod’s first season (1991-92), when Notre Dame was still an independent in basketball and trying to find marquee matchups, it played seven — count ‘em, seven ! —consecutive games on the road in a 20-day stretch from Jan. 2-21: Kentucky, USC (ranked with star Harold Minor), LaSalle, North Carolina (at MSG), West Virginia, Virginia and Marquette.

Remarkably, led by the senior trio of LaPhonso Ellis, Elmer Bennett and Daimon Sweet, the Irish won the “best of seven” 4-3, although it would fail to make the NCAA Tournament that year with a 14-14 regular season outcome.

Winning the best-of-three over the next seven days this year would at least put Notre Dame back into the 2020 NCAA Tournament conversation.

The Irish will fly directly from Clemson to Charlottesville, Va., and arrive at a “reasonable hour,” per Brey. They will hold practice at Virginia on Monday before the 9 p.m. tip-off on Tuesday.


AT CLEMSON: OFFENSE VS. DEFENSE


The team identities for Notre Dame and Clemson are clear: The Irish want to get the game into the 80s, while the Tigers under 10th-year head coach Brad Brownell are more in their wheelhouse in the 60s.

In the 15-team ACC, Notre Dame’s 76.9 scoring average — with four straight of at least 80, the last three all victories — is second only to Duke.

Meanwhile, Clemson is 5th in scoring defense at 64.2, but only 13th in scoring at 66.2.

One significant difference is in the six conference games away from home that average is only 56.0 points per game. In the six at the friendly confines of Littlejohn Coliseum, it’s 71.6 — and 75.5 in the last four.

Forward Aamir Simms is the leading scorer (13.4) and rebounder (7.4), while guards Tevin Mack (12.0) and John Newman III (9.5) are next, with all three shooting at least 44 percent from the field.

“Simms has become a great college player,” said Brey of the powerful 6-8, 240-pound junior. “They use him like John Mooney, all over the court.”

Clemson’s modus operandi is to try to emulate Virginia’s famed Pack Line Defense that puts a premium on not allowing the offense inside the post box and limiting dribble penetration.

“They jam it in like Virginia and make it hard to get into the lane,” said Brey, who is anticipating the Tigers to double the post and double Mooney. Double the post, double Mooney. “They are athletic and can make the court seem smaller in the half court.”

To combat it, Brey said it’s not going to be about just swinging the ball around and just running a motion offense, where the Irish have been so proficient of late.

“We have to drive a little,” he said.

Thus, he gave sophomore point guard Prentiss Hubb a little extra rest after playing Wednesday against a Pitt ball-pressure defense that harangued him all night.

“It’s exhausting doing that the whole night,” Brey said. “He’s such a key for us the way he’s taking care of the ball.”

Sophomore Dane Goodwin also has become much more aggressive at driving the ball instead of just settling for jump shots.

“Love how aggressive he is going to the basket,” said Brey, who has been comparing Goodwin’s game to previous figures such as Chris Quinn (2002-06) and Steve Vasturia (2013-17). “I think he can still hunt his jump shot. He (still) turns down threes early in the possession, but he’s come a long way since last year.”


NEWS & NOTES

• Notre Dame continues to lead the country in assist-to-turnover ratio at plus-1.77, with T.J.Gibbs, Rex Pflueger and Hubb all among the top 7 in the ACC in that category.

The Irish also are second in least amount of turnovers committed per contest (9.8).

• Mooney’s 13.0 rebounding average is second nationally and he has 18 double-doubles in the 21 games he has played. Only William & Mary’s Nathan Knight has more (19 in 25 games).

• Since 1992, the only two college basketball players to average at least 15 points and 13 rebounds per game are Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan (1996-97) and Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin (2008-09). Currently at 16.5 scoring and 13.0 rebounding, Mooney is vying to be the third.

• Hubb’s six games of scoring at least 20 points leads the team, and it is the most in a season since Bonzie Colson had eight in 2017-18.

Five of the six have been ACC road games — with each of the last four versus Syracuse (22), NC State (24), Georgia Tech (25) and Florida State (24).

Yet in the recently completed three-game home stand, all victories, he totaled only 14 points while shooting 5 of 26 from the floor (3 of 16 from three-point range).

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