Game Thread | Detroit Mercy at Notre Dame

Detroit Mercy (0-1) at Notre Dame (0-1) 

Date: December 6

Time: 7:00 p.m. ET

Where: Purcell Pavilion | Notre Dame, Ind.

TV:  ACC Network | Tony Simeone and Mike Lightfoot

Line: Notre Dame -13.5

Quick Facts 

- Mike Brey is 2-0 against Mike Davis and 2-3 against Detroit Mercy.  

- Notre Dame leads the series 42-12 and holds a record of 20-4 at home against the Titans. 

- Notre Dame is 20-0 in home openers during the Mike Brey era. Historically, the Irish are 106-11 in home openers on campus. 

- With 437 wins at Notre Dame, Mike Brey is 10th in the country for the most coaching wins of all active coaches at their current school. He is 22nd of all active coaches in career wins with 536.

THE STARTERS

Notre Dame

Detroit Mercy 

Preview

Points Per Game
Notre Dame: 70.0
Detroit Mercy: 76.0

Opponent Points Per Game
Notre Dame: 80.0
Detroit Mercy: 83.0

FG%
Notre Dame: 35.0%
Detroit Mercy: 41.1%

Rebounds Per Game
Notre Dame: 36.0
Detroit Mercy: 36.0

Assists Per Game
Notre Dame: 13.0
Detroit Mercy: 14.0

Blocks Per Game
Notre Dame: 4.0
Detroit Mercy: 2.0

Steals Per Game
Notre Dame: 4.0
Detroit Mercy: 9.0

Notre Dame will finally get back on the court as the Irish had three opponents cancel games in the last week. Tennessee was set to visit Purcell Pavilion on Dec. 4, but had to cancel due to COVID. Notre Dame then found replacements in Western Michigan and Purdue Fort Wayne, but both programs had to cancel because of availability due to COVID. 

Enter Detroit Mercy, who will have the best player on the court in Antoine Davis, the son of the Titans head coach Mike Davis. The 6-foot-1 guard almost left for the NBA last year as he’s a scoring machine. Davis dropped 27 points on the Irish last season and was just 1-for-6 from 3. 

The Titans fell to No. 8 Michigan State 83-76 on Friday, which was a far more competitive game than Notre Dame’s 80-70 loss to the Spartans on November 28. Detroit Mercy actually had the lead late in the game before Michigan State was able to go on a run to put the game away. 

Notre Dame will need to find a way to contain Davis as he dropped 24 points against Michigan State. The good news (or bad news) is Davis was just 10-for-26 from the field and 0-for-9 against the Spartans. 

On offense, Notre Dame will need to find consistency. The Irish went didn’t score for over seven minutes to end the first half against Michigan State, which led to a 26-0 run by the Spartans. 

Mike Brey needs to find a way to get Cormac Ryan a few easier shots or even potentially iso situations. Ryan scored 13 points at Michigan State, but was just 3-for-12 from the field and had three turnovers. The shot selection was forced and nothing came easy for Ryan. Now, there was going to be some rust and an adjustment period as he hadn’t played in over a year after transferring from Stanford, but he looked uncomfortable. Brey needs to find a way to get him comfortable and in situations where Ryan can take advantage of his skillset. 

Prentiss Hubb didn’t shoot well against Michigan State as he went 7-for-22, but he settled down in the second half and was effective. Hubb and Ryan are going to take some bad shots and that’s fine, but the Irish need to start to find consistency as there is no time to be off with Notre Dame’s aggressive schedule. 

The other area of improvement for the Irish offensive attack will be to get Juwan Durham involved. Durham scored just four points in the season-opener and didn’t get enough touches on the block. Notre Dame doesn't need to run the offense through him, but a few more touches would could open things up on the perimeter. 

I do think Notre Dame has some defensive questions and the bench is a complete wild card when it comes to production, but Brey needs to find answers on the offensive end if the Irish have any chance of pulling out wins in the month of December. 

Prediction: Notre Dame 78 Detroit Mercy 70