Game Thread | No. 14 Wake Forest vs. No. 11 Notre Dame | ACC Tournament

ACC Tournament |No. 14 Wake Forest vs. No. 11 Notre Dame 

Date: March 9th

Time: 7:00 p.m. ET

Where: Greensboro Coliseum | Greensboro, N.C.

TV:  ACC Network 

Line: Notre Dame -8.5

ACC Standings 

Quick Facts 

- Mike Brey is 7-4 when facing Wake Forest and 1-0 against Steve Forbes

- Notre Dame leads the series 7-5, but the Irish are 0-2 in neutral site games against Wake Forest

- Notre Dame is 4-1 all-time – and on a four-game win streak - in the Greensboro Coliseum during ACC Tournament play.

- Notre Dame has won its first game of conference tournament action in 11 of the last 12 seasons, with a 2014 ACC first-round setback to Wake Forest the lone blemish in that run.

- Prentiss Hubb enters the ACC Tournament No. 10 in the nation in total assists. 

- Hubb recorded 120 assists in ACC play this season, which is tied for the eight-most in a single ACC season since 1996-97. Hubb was one of just five major conference players to eclipse 100 assists in league play in 2020-21.

THE STARTERS

Notre Dame

Wake Forest   

Preview

Points Per Game
Notre Dame: 73.0
Wake Forest: 65.8

Opponent Points Per Game
Notre Dame: 73.1
Wake Forest: 71.6

FG%
Notre Dame: 46.3%
Wake Forest: 41.1%

Rebounds Per Game
Notre Dame: 33.5
Wake Forest: 32.4

Assists Per Game
Notre Dame: 15.2
Wake Forest: 11.3

Blocks Per Game
Notre Dame: 3.8
Wake Forest: 2.2

Steals Per Game
Notre Dame: 4.3
Wake Forest: 6.3

Notre Dame opens ACC Tournament play on Tuesday and will face a Wake Forest program that has lost seven in a row.

The Demon Deacons fell to Notre Dame 79-58 in February, so it’s good news for Mike Brey’s team, but the Irish also have some momentum as they knocked off Florida State on Saturday night. 

However, COVID protocols have made life a little unusual for the Irish in Greensboro. 

"The one thing we can't do is get out and get a shootaround,” stated Brey. “You cannot leave the bubble and use UNCG. Greensboro Day is a high school we've used here. There is a practice court they're using, but all the teams that play Wednesday are on it all day tomorrow. We have a 7pm game and no shootaround, and that's probably overrated at this point. We'll walk through a couple things in the ballroom. We had a good 45 minutes today. 

"It's eerily quiet in this hotel. They've got Miami, Boston College, Wake Forest, Pitt and us. The kids are in single rooms. They're not even putting the kids together and there is nobody else in this hotel. We're all going to test at 7pm. This is our test to see if we can go tomorrow night. It's very different."

Brey says he’ll start the same lineup as Saturday as he likes Nik Djogo’s energy, but also the scoring coming off the bench in Dane Goodwin and Cormac Ryan. 

"We're going to start the same way,” said Brey. “We're not going to mess around with that. Certainly, (Nik) Djogo gave us great movement. He's our greatest cutter and mover. Actually, Prentiss (Hubb) got to be a better cutter in the last couple days.

"That's a lot of firepower coming in and you have some guards who can score and play. Hopefully, we can get the same kind of punch we got the other day when we bring them off tomorrow night." 

It has been a season of highs and lows, including last week where the loss to NC State might have been the lowest point of the season, while the win over Florida State was the highest. 

Brey feels the win over a ranked team for the first time since 2017 provides enough foundation where his team will be motivated for a run this week. 

"I got some ammo,” said Brey. “It's why we watched a lot of us today. They felt it. I give them a lot of credit. Wednesday night across the board was a really tough night. When you have great kids, they came back and rallied for the seniors and did their thing. You do have some ammunition with Saturday's performance. If you didn't have that performance, it's a harder sales job and I've been on that side of it too. Luckily, not that much, but a few times." 

Prediction: Notre Dame 77 Wake Forest 69