Game Thread | Notre Dame at Boston College
Notre Dame (17-10, 8-8) at Boston College (13-15, 7-10)
Date: February 26th
Time: 9:00 p.m. ET
Where: Conte Forum | Chestnut Hill, Mass.
TV: ACC Network | Chris Cotter and Chris Spatola
Quick Facts
- Notre Dame and Boston College meet for the 35th time on Wednesday.
- Notre Dame is 8-6 at Conte Forum and lost to the Eagles 73-72 on December 7th.
- John Mooney is second in the nation and leads all major conference players in rebounds-per-game with a 12.7 average.
- Sophomore Dane Goodwin is the only player in the ACC averaging double figures this season with less than three games started.
- John Mooney is tied for first in the nation with 22 double-doubles this season (in 26 games) behind William & Mary’s Nathan Knight (22 in 30 games) as of Monday, February 24.
- Notre Dame leads the country in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.75.
THE STARTERS
Notre Dame
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Prentiss Hubb | 12.0 | 2.4 | 4.9 |
| TJ Gibbs | 13.4 | 2.3 | 3.3 |
| Rex Pflueger | 5.3 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
| John Mooney | 16.3 | 12.7 | 1.8 |
| Juwan Durham | 8.3 | 4.9 | 0.9 |
Boston College
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Derryck Thornton | 13.0 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| Jay Heath | 13.0 | 3.3 | 2.0 |
| Nik Popovic | 11.1 | 5.2 | 1.5 |
| Jairus Hamilton | 9.4 | 4.3 | 1.0 |
| Steffon Mitchell | 7.1 | 8.3 | 2.8 |
Preview
Points Per Game
Notre Dame: 75.0
Boston College: 64.8
Opponent Points Per Game
Notre Dame: 69.1
Boston College: 69.8
FG%
Notre Dame: 42.6%
Boston College: 40.6%
Rebounds Per Game
Notre Dame: 37.8
Boston College: 32.7
Assists Per Game
Notre Dame: 16.9
Boston College: 12.4
Blocks Per Game
Notre Dame: 4.0
Boston College: 2.6
Steals Per Game
Notre Dame: 5.6
Boston College: 8.1
Notre Dame will continue to play for a shot at the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday night at Boston College. The Irish will need to win its final four games of the season to have a chance at the Big Dance and Notre Dame is taking it one game at a time.
“We’ve got one game on our schedule,” stated Brey. “That’s how we’ve got to think about it. It would be a heck of a win for us to win up there (Wednesday) night,” Brey said. “I hate to put a limit on it or a cap on it. We have work to do; I’ve explained that to them. We have more to do, but there’s other stuff out there happening in other leagues as well.
“I’m thrilled we’re in the position we’re in, and I want to try to keep us, and Mooney got us into this, ‘We’ve got Boston College, and we’ll deal with the other one on Thursday when we get to Winston-Salem.’”
Notre Dame lost to Boston College in December and it’s proving to be a significant loss for the Irish. John Mooney did his part with 16 points and 18 rebounds and TJ Gibbs scored 22 points, but no other player reached double-figures against the Eagles, which will need to happen tonight.
The Eagles will also have some firepower missing from the first meeting. Senior forward Nik Popovic missed the first game and didn’t return to the court until January 22nd and has scored in double-figures five of the last seven games.
The Irish are more talented and should play with a sense of urgency, but like most games, Wednesday will come down to the three-pointer. Notre Dame will need to hit at least 10 to win this game and that’s a feat they’ve shown they can do in the first half, but also struggled on the road.
However, it’s just about winning. Whether it’s by one or ten. The Irish need a win.
“I think our guys are smart enough, we’re not looking ahead, but next Wednesday night, a Quad-1 opportunity is huge for us (against Florida State at home),” Brey said. “But if you keep winning down the stretch, whether it’s Quad-1s, Quad-2s or Quad-3s, you start to get into the mix and it kind of works itself out. So that’s the goal.”
Prediction: Notre Dame 79 Boston College 74