Game Thread | Notre Dame at Wake Forest
Notre Dame (18-10, 9-8) at Wake Forest (12-15, 5-12)
Date: February 29th
Time: 4:00 p.m. ET
Where: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum | Winston-Salem, N.C.
TV: Regional Sports Networks or ACC Network Extra
Quick Facts
- Notre Dame and Wake Forest will meet for the 11th time on Saturday.
- Notre Dame leads the all-time series 6-4, including a 90-80 win on January 29th.
- John Mooney is second in the nation and leads all major conference players in rebounds-per-game with a 12.7 average.
- Mooney leads the nation with 23 double-doubles this season (in 27 games) ahead of William & Mary’s Nathan Knight (22 in 30 games).
- On Wednesday, TJ Gibbs became the seventh player in program history to play over 4,000 minutes in his career.
- Notre Dame leads the country in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.72.
THE STARTERS
Notre Dame
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Prentiss Hubb | 11.9 | 2.5 | 4.9 |
| TJ Gibbs | 13.3 | 2.3 | 3.3 |
| Rex Pflueger | 5.3 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
| John Mooney | 16.6 | 12.7 | 1.8 |
| Juwan Durham | 8.1 | 4.8 | 0.9 |
Wake Forest
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Brandon Childress | 15.1 | 3.2 | 4.5 |
| Jahcobi Neath | 4.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Chaundee Brown | 12.6 | 6.3 | 1.4 |
| Isaiah Mucius | 6.8 | 4.5 | 0.8 |
| Olivier Sarr | 12.9 | 8.5 | 1.0 |
Preview
Points Per Game
Notre Dame: 74.6
Wake Forest: 73.1
Opponent Points Per Game
Notre Dame: 68.8
Wake Forest: 73.7
FG%
Notre Dame: 42.6%
Wake Forest: 42.7%
Rebounds Per Game
Notre Dame: 37.7
Wake Forest: 38.1
Assists Per Game
Notre Dame: 16.7
Wake Forest: 12.3
Blocks Per Game
Notre Dame: 3.9
Wake Forest: 2.9
Steals Per Game
Notre Dame: 5.8
Wake Forest: 5.1
Notre Dame enters the final road game of the regular season with its NCAA Tournament hopes on the line, but the Irish can’t look ahead to Wednesday’s game against No. 6 Florida State.
Wake Forest fell 90-80 in South Bend in January, but the Demon Deacs were without its second-leading scorer in Chaundee Brown, who scored 24 points during Wednesday’s win over No. 7 Duke.
The Irish will need to play defense to win this one as Wake Forest can score and can score quick as Duke found out. Brandon Childress has scored in double-figures 11 of his last 14 ACC games, including 24 points against Notre Dame.
The good news for Notre Dame is Wake Forest can give up points and quickly. TJ Gibbs led Notre Dame with 23 points in the first meeting, but Dane Goodwin (14 points) and Nate Laszewskii (18 points) scored at will in January.
Notre Dame went 10-for-26 from three-point range in the first meeting and they may have to top it on Saturday as 38.5 percent from deep could cut it close on the road.
Rebounding is another area where the Irish will need to touch up in Winston-Salem. Wake Forest out-rebounded Notre Dame 38-34 in the first meeting. Juwan Durham only played 14 minutes and pulled down two boards in that game. The senior forward has played good ball since then, so Durham could be one to watch in this game as the Irish need someone to slow down center Olivier Sarr (12.9 ppg, 8.5 rpg).
ESPN gives Notre Dame a 51.9 percent chance of winning and despite the Irish winning 7 of its last 9, I think Saturday could be a tall task as they’ve been on the road since Wednesday afternoon. Notre Dame stayed on the road between Clemson and Virginia earlier this month and the Fighting Irish went 1-1.
Boston College and Wake Forest aren’t at that level, but Notre Dame needs to prove they can execute and play consistently on the road, which they haven’t done this season.
Prediction: Wake Forest 71 Notre Dame 67