Notre Dame Sets Road Game with Howard on Martin Luther King Day
Notre Dame has added another opponent to the 2020-21 men's basketball schedule as the Fighting Irish will travel to Washington D.C. to play Howard on Martin Luther King Day, January 18, 2021.
"We have been looking for the best way to fulfill our game contract with Howard and this seemed like the perfect fit," Brey said.
"As our program searched for the best way to remain active participants in the push for social change, a visit to one of our nation's top HBCUs on Martin Luther King Jr. Day will provide an incredible educational experience for our student-athletes, coaches, support staff and university."
It will be a different experience on many levels, as Brey mentioned, but the game will also be played in Burr Gymnasium, which seats 2,700. Howard hasn't hosted a Power Five program since 2010 when Oregon State made the trip from the West Coast.
The game will be Notre Dame's first road game against one of the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities. 10 different HBCUs have played at Notre Dame in 12 games.
The Irish will also be the first ACC program to play a road game at an HBCU since Florida State played Savannah State in 2013.
Notre Dame and Howard have several connections as Mike Brey and Rod Balanis are from the area and both graduated from DeMatha. Howard heed coach Kenny Blakeney also graduated from DeMatha and played at Duke when Brey was an assistant.
Former Notre Dame three-time captain Eric Atkins is an assistant coach at Howard and current point Irish point guard Prentiss Hubb is from the D.C. region.
Notre Dame and Howard also announced a joint initiative to support When We All Vote, which is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization with a mission to increase participation in every election and close the race and age voting gap by changing the culture around voting, harnessing grassroots energy, and through strategic partnerships to reach every American.