Game Thread | No. 10 Boston College vs. No. 7 Notre Dame | ACC Tournament
No. 10 Boston College (13-18, 7-13) vs. No. 7 Notre Dame (19-12, 10-10)
Date: March 11
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: Greensboro Coliseum | Greensboro, N.C.
TV: ESPN2 | Sean McDonough, Dan Dakich and Katie George
Line: Notre Dame -9.0
Quick Facts
- Notre Dame and Boston College meet for the 36th time on Wednesday.
- The Irish lead the all-time series 24-11, but the two programs have never met in the ACC Tournament.
- The two teams split the regular-season contests as the road team got one-point wins.
- 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 25 double-doubles this season.
- Notre Dame leads the country in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.66.
- The Fighting Irish enter the game with 1,899 wins and could become the eighth program to reach 1,900 wins.
THE STARTERS
Notre Dame
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Prentiss Hubb | 12.0 | 2.4 | 4.9 |
| TJ Gibbs | 13.2 | 2.2 | 3.2 |
| Rex Pflueger | 5.2 | 3.6 | 3.4 |
| John Mooney | 16.5 | 12.8 | 1.8 |
| Juwan Durham | 7.6 | 4.6 | 0.8 |
Boston College
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Derryck Thornton | 13.1 | 2.9 | 3.5 |
| Jay Heath | 13.0 | 3.4 | 2.1 |
| Nik Popovic | 10.5 | 5.2 | 1.6 |
| Jairus Hamilton | 9.4 | 4.3 | 1.0 |
| Steffon Mitchell | 7.4 | 8.5 | 3.2 |
Preview
Points Per Game
Notre Dame: 74.1
Boston College: 64.8
Opponent Points Per Game
Notre Dame: 69.0
Boston College: 70.3
FG%
Notre Dame: 42.6%
Boston College: 40.4%
Rebounds Per Game
Notre Dame: 37.6
Boston College: 33.0
Assists Per Game
Notre Dame: 16.4
Boston College: 12.8
Blocks Per Game
Notre Dame: 3.7
Boston College: 2.5
Steals Per Game
Notre Dame: 5.8
Boston College: 7.8
Notre Dame and Boston College will get a rubber match on Wednesday evening after splitting the regular season matches. The prize will be a meeting with Virginia on Thursday.
The Irish should win this game, but they can’t let Boston College score 41 points in a half as they did two weeks ago in Chestnut Hill.
Prentiss Hubb needs to continue to play well and score. If Hubb gets to double-digits, it might be hard for Boston College to overcome the Irish offense. When Hubb is scoring, it’s hard to guard the Irish offense.
The X-factor could be forward Juwan Durham. Durham played just 10 minutes in Notre Dame’s 62-61 win at Boston College and was 2-of-2 from the field with five points, but 0 rebounds. Will Durham be able to make a difference in this game? Brey’s club would benefit from an inside presence, but small ball has worked for this team.
Notre Dame found magic in a bottle in 2015 as the No. 3 seed and left with an ACC Tournament title. Irish basketball coach Mike Brey is hoping for more of the same in 2020.
“I’ve got some clips of 2015 that I want to watch down there and channel as much karma as possible,” stated Brey. “We have unbelievable memories of Greensboro. We may all rub the trophy on the way to the bus.”
Wednesday will be about Notre Dame playing good basketball and limiting turnovers. The Irish have done just that over most of the last two months to get themselves out of a 2-6 conference start.
The start of the second season should provide energy as the Irish know what they have to do to make the NCAA Tournament and while it’s a lot, Brey’s teams have made March runs before.
“We’re 9-5 in the ACC tournament and we’ve played in two championship games in seven years, winning it once,” said Brey. “We’re in the same hotel. I’m sure it’s the same Waffle House waitress across the street. So we’ll try to channel that.”
“I like our team. I like our group. We’ve had some heartbreakers. We love playing together. They come in, they’re coachable. Let’s go down there and see what happens.”
Notre Dame wins if they hit 10 threes and have 11 or less turnovers.
Prediction: Notre Dame 68 Boston College 62