Game Thread| Boston College at Notre Dame
Boston College (4-5, 1-0) at Notre Dame (6-2, 0-1)
Date: December 7th
Time: 2:00p.m. ET
Where: Purcell Pavilion | Notre Dame, Ind.
TV: ESPNU - Jordan Bernfield and Dalen Cuff
Quick Facts
- Saturday will mark the 32nd time the programs have met.
- Notre Dame leads the series 21-10.
- The Irish are 12-0 against Boston College since joining the ACC in 2013-14.
- Mike Brey holds a 15-1 record against the Eagles.
- Notre Dame leads the country in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.72.
- TJ Gibbs has scored 1,234 career points, which is the most of any active ACC player.
THE STARTERS
Notre Dame
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Prentiss Hubb | 10.3 | 2.6 | 4.3 |
| TJ Gibbs | 10.5 | 3.4 | 3.3 |
| Rex Pflueger | 6.4 | 3.8 | 3.3 |
| John Mooney | 14.7 | 12.9 | 2.3 |
| Juwan Durham | 8.1 | 6.8 | 0.8 |
Boston College
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Derryck Thornton | 14.8 | 3.8 | 4.1 |
| Jay Heath | 12.5 | 3.5 | 1.0 |
| Jairus Hamilton | 7.5 | 2.3 | 1.0 |
| Steffon Mitchell | 5.7 | 8.2 | 3.1 |
| Nik Popovic | 11.8 | 5.9 | 1.9 |
Preview
Points Per Game
Notre Dame: 72.4
Boston College: 66.2
Opponent Points Per Game
Notre Dame: 62.5
Boston College: 68.1
FG%
Notre Dame: 40.2%
Boston College: 41.3%
Rebounds Per Game
Notre Dame: 41.6
Boston College: 33.6
Assists Per Game
Notre Dame: 16.4
Boston College: 13.3
Blocks Per Game
Notre Dame: 3.8
Boston College: 3.3
Steals Per Game
Notre Dame: 7.1
Boston College: 8.3
Notre Dame is down to just eight scholarship players for the rest of the year after the transfer of sophomore big man Chris Doherty and the season-ending ACL injury to sophomore guard Robby Carmody.
The good news for Notre Dame is the fact they beat Boson College with six guys a year ago at Purcell Pavilion.
Now, that’s clearly not something to hang your hat on right now as Saturday is a pivotal game for the Irish after a disappointing loss at No. 3 Maryland where Notre Dame failed to simply compete.
Head coach Mike Brey was his normal positive self on Friday, but there was a little bit of a worry the team might be caught up in losing Carmody, which could be an X-factor against the Eagles.
"I think it's a little bit of reality check,” Brey stated. “There's no question. I'm interested to see how we come out (Saturday) because we got punched in the face good and had to deal with Robby's situation.
"It's time to be men and get up and see if we can win a league game."
And yes, Saturday will be the second ACC game for Notre Dame and a loss would send the Irish to 0-2 in league play, which could be a dangerous hole to climb out of moving forward.
“I'd rather be 1-1 at Christmas time than 0-2 in this league knowing what you have coming after Christmas,” stated Brey. “It's a hard league. It's harder than the Big East. We knew what we were getting into and it's played out that way. We've been all over the board in our tenure. We've been up and down, left and right, where we were a little more consistent in the Big East.
"To get a home win and keep the home thing going, let's start with that and then we'll deal with Sunday and getting ready for Detroit."
For Notre Dame to get to 1-1 in ACC play, it will need better production from guard TJ Gibbs. The senior captain went 0-for-11 from the field and scored zero points on Wednesday.
The Irish struggle to score points as it is, so Gibbs not making it in the scoring column was crippling and can’t happen moving forward.
“I can't bench him because I don't have any other guys to put in,” explained Brey. “I think for him overall, he's had a pretty good early start to this season. He wasn't very good - none of our perimeter guys were very good the other night. Our big guys did about everything we could have asked them to do.
"Our perimeter as a whole was kind of swallowed up. They want to bounce back as a group. I think you have to let TJ move on because overall, he's giving us pretty good stuff."
As far as where Boston College goes, Brey knows his team will need to be sharp on the defensive end and maybe, Nik Djogo comes out of his shell for another big game like last year’s 21-point performance.
“They run their stuff well,” said Brey. “They kind of grind you up. They have some new faces. The big guy is still hard to deal with, but I know they've gone through their stuff as they're trying to figure it out.
"I know we've had a streak. I don't know how many we've won against them, but it's going to be a hard game. They always are. We played with six guys last year and somehow stole it. We do have Nik Djogo, the Boston Strangler. We've got him ready."
Prediction: Notre Dame 71 Boston College 64