Game Thread | No. 14 Duke at Notre Dame
No. 14 Duke (10-3, 1-1) at Notre Dame (6-8, 1-2)
Date: January 6th
Time: 6:00 PM ET
Where: Purcell Pavilion | South Bend, Ind.
TV: ACC Network | Mike Monaco and Randolph Childress
Line: Duke -14.5
O/U: 133.5
QUICK FACTS
- Duke leads the all-time series 29-8
- The Blue Devils won the last meeting 68-64 in Durham last February
- Notre Dame is 4-8 at home against the Blue Devils
- The Irish enter Saturday’s game with the No. 2 scoring defense in the ACC at 64.8 ppg
- ESPN’s Matchup Predictor: 90.3% in favor of Duke
PROJECTED STARTERS
NOTRE DAME
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Markus Burton | 16.1 | 3.3 | 3.9 |
| JR Konieczny | 9.9 | 5.9 | 0.9 |
| Carey Booth | 7.1 | 4.4 | 0.6 |
| Tae Davis | 8.2 | 5.5 | 0.7 |
| Kebba Njie | 4.4 | 5.1 | 0.7 |
DUKE
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Jeremy Roach | 14.5 | 2.5 | 3.2 |
| Jared McCain | 12.2 | 3.9 | 1.9 |
| Caleb Foster | 8.8 | 2.4 | 1.8 |
| Mark Mitchell | 12.0 | 5.1 | 1.4 |
| Kyle Filipowski | 17.5 | 8.7 | 3.0 |
TEAM STATS
| STAT | DUKE | NOTRE DAME |
| Scoring Offense | 83.5 | 62.8 |
| Scoring Defense | 66.6 | 64.8 |
| FG% | 49.7% | 40.2% |
| Rebounds | 35.8 | 36.3 |
| Assists | 17.1 | 10.2 |
| Steals | 7.3 | 5.9 |
| Blocks | 4.1 | 2.6 |
THOUGHTS
Notre Dame basketball has shown life in the last week, including a win last Saturday over Virginia, but Micah Shrewsberry’s squad will get a tough test this evening as No. 14 Duke rolls into town.
Is it the Duke of old? No, but the Blue Devils are as talented as any team in college basketball despite being young at guard outside of Jeremy Roach.
The Blue Devils lack some size on the perimeter, especially when you think of Duke. Notre Dame has a chance to get some potentially favorable matchups on both ends of the floor against Jeremy Roach (6’2) and Jared McCain (6-3) and Caleb Foster (6’5). That said, Markus Burton is still 5-foot-11 and JR Konieczny isn’t known as a defensive stopper at this point in his career.
It’s a safe bet Duke will work inside-out with Kyle Filipowski and Mark Mitchell. The Duke duo is averaging 27.5 ppg and 13.8 RPG, which should be a big test for Notre Dame’s young posts.
For Notre Dame to have a chance, the Irish will need to show the discipline they showed against Virginia but also simply do what Shrewsberry emphasized following the disappointing loss to NC State on Wednesday.
“You just have to do your job,” stated Shrewsberry. “That’s it. Not for 20 minutes. Not for 25. Do it for 40 minutes because you never know which thing that happens is the one that breaks your back. It could happen with 17 minutes on the clock in the second half and not the one at the end.”
The Irish haven’t stacked up well against Top 25 programs as Miami beat them 62-49 and Marquette could have named the final score. This will be a measuring stick to see how far the Irish have truly come after two months and where some of the youth of the roster are against NBA competition.
And for the ACC conspiracy theorists, Notre Dame will be without its students on Saturday as the university is still on winter break.
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