Game Thread | Youngstown State at Notre Dame
Youngstown State (2-0) at Notre Dame (1-0)
Date: November 13
Time: 4:00 PM ET
Where: Purcell Pavilion | Notre Dame, Ind.
TV: Regional Sports Networks | RSN Bob Rathbun & Mike Gminski
Line: Notre Dame -11.0
O/U: 149.5
QUICK FACTS
- Notre Dame leads the all-time series 3-0.
- The Irish won the last meeting (Dec. 2015) 87-78.
- The Irish return a combined 5,849 career points, which is the most ever in the Brey era to start a season. Notre Dame’s guards have scored 4,694 of those points.
- Notre Dame returns 338 combined starts and 633 combined games played, which is also a new high for Brey during his time in South Bend.
- The Irish also have six graduate transfers on the roster, which is the most of any Power Five program.
- Dane Goodwin and Nate Laszewski enter the season with over 1,000 career points in the blue and gold. If the Irish play 35 games this season, Cormac Ryan would need to average 12.2 points per game to join his teammates with 1,000 career points at Notre Dame.
PROJECTED STARTERS
Notre Dame
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| JJ Starling | 9.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| Trey Wertz | 18.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 |
| Cormac Ryan | 10.0 | 6.0 | 4.0 |
| Dane Goodwin | 8.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 |
| Nate Laszewski | 28.0 | 12.0 | 3.0 |
Youngstown State
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Dwayne Cohill | 17.0 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| Bryce McBride | 4.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 |
| Garrett Covington | 7.5 | 2.5 | 2.0 |
| Malek Green | 16.5 | 10.0 | 1.0 |
| Adrian Nelson | 13.0 | 9.5 | 0.0 |
Preview
| Category | Youngstown State | Notre Dame |
| Points | 91.0 | 79.0 |
| Opponent Points | 76.5 | 76.0 |
| FG% | 50.7% | 52.1% |
| Rebounds | 45.5 | 32.0 |
| Assists | 13.5 | 11.0 |
| Blocks | 4.5 | 1.0 |
| Steals | 6.5 | 3.0 |
Mike Brey wanted to make the non-conference slate tougher this season. The goal was to play opponents that will compete for conference titles as it will be firm tests for his club, but also improve Notre Dame’s strength of schedule when March rolls around.
Radford gave Brey’s team quite the scare last week as Notre Dame escaped with a 79-76 win and now the Irish host Youngstown State on Sunday afternoon. The Penguins will bring one of the nation’s top offenses to Purcell Pavilion as Youngstown State has scored 92 and 90 points to open the year.
There will be a few things to watch for the Irish in game two and it starts on defense. Can Youngstown State force Brey into playing zone? Notre Dame struggled greatly in the first half against Radford in man-to-man defense and Brey had to flip to a 1-3-1 zone.
The zone is something that will benefit Notre Dame this year, but less than 10 minutes into the year, Brey had to get his team out man. Notre Dame finished strong in the second half, but can they build on it?
Notre Dame has one game under its belt, so it’s hard to nitpick, but Dane Goodwin needs to get going on Sunday. Could Brey get him the ball in the post earlier in the game? Goodwin has a strong game on the block and it could lead to fouls, which could get him into a rhythm at the line.
The Irish will need to score in this one, so it will be interesting to see if Nate Laszewski can put up big numbers again or if there is someone else who steps up on the offensive end. YSU also enters averaging 45.5 rebounds per game, so that could be something to watch if it’s a close game heading down the home stretch.
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