Game Preview/Thread: No. 10 Notre Dame at No. 2 Duke
No. 10 Notre Dame at No. 2 Duke
Date: March 8th
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.
TV: ESPN
QUICK FACTS
- Duke leads the all-time series 23-7.
- Duke won last year's ACC Championship game over the Irish 75-69 and also beat the Irish 88-66 on January 29th.
- Notre Dame is now 8-2 at the Barclays Center.
- Notre Dame's senior class is now responsible for 102 wins.
- The 21-point comeback was the greatest in school history as it passed the 20-point comeback in 2012 against Villanova.
- Notre Dame's 50-point half was its third of the season.
THE STARTERS
Notre Dame
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Matt Farrell | 17.0 | 2.5 | 5.3 |
| TJ Gibbs | 15.4 | 2.8 | 3.1 |
| Rex Pflueger | 8.4 | 4.3 | 3.0 |
| Bonzie Colson | 20.3 | 10.1 | 0.9 |
| Martinas Geben | 10.8 | 8.1 | 1.1 |
Duke
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Trevon Duval | 10.4 | 2.1 | 5.3 |
| Grayson Allen | 15.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 |
| Gary Trent Jr. | 14.3 | 4.1 | 1.5 |
| Marvin Bagley III | 20.7 | 11.2 | 1.6 |
| Wendell Carter Jr. | 14.1 | 9.5 | 2.1 |
National Rankings
| Category | Notre Dame | Duke |
| Scoring Offense | 75.6 (123) | 85.1 (6) |
| Scoring Defense | 68.3 (72) | 69.5 (100) |
| Rebound Margin | 2.3 (100) | 9.4 (4) |
| Assist Per Game | 14.3 (122) | 17.5 (8) |
| FG% Offense | 45.1% (156) | 49.4% (28) |
| FG% Defense | 42.8% (107) | 40.0% (12) |
| Three-Pointers Per Game | 8.7 (87) | 8.4 (101) |
| Three-Point Percentage | 37.5% (65) | 38.0% (50) |
| Free-Throw Percentage | 75.4% (47) | 70.5% (210) |
| Assist-Turnover Ratio | 1.42 (19) | 1.40 (20) |
Prediction
March is off to a great start for Mike Brey and the Irish as they found a way to come back from down 21 points in the second half on Wednesday night against Virginia Tech.
The comeback was the best in school history, but it won't be celebrated long as the Irish play Duke on Thursday night.
Knocking off the No. 5 team in the country will be a tough task for anyone, but it will be especially hard when its the third game in three days.
Duke isn't an overwhelming deep team this year, but the Blue Devils will wear you down with style of play and athleticism they throw on the court.
Notre Dame hung tough with Duke in the first meeting in January but without Bonzie Colson, Matt Farrell and DJ Harvey, the Blue Devils ran away in the second half.
"I talked to them after the game last night, the Pittsburgh game, saying I'm excited to play Virginia Tech with you two back because we didn't have you guys against Virginia Tech," Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey said of Colson and Farrell. "For a while there, we looked worse with those two guys back, but we salvaged it.
"These guys wanted to play, and play in Cameron and play against Duke and they couldn't. So they're excited, and we're excited for an unbelievable challenge. Duke is playing really well right now."
For Notre Dame's fiery leader, Farrell admitted it was tough to be on the bench at Cameron Indoor, especially during Duke's big run to close the game.
"It was tough to watch," stated Farrell. "It was tough to watch all the games we weren't playing in. With how close we are as a team and what we've gone through, it obviously wasn't easy to watch. But we tried to stay together. And we went down by 20-something. There are three things you can control: Effort, attitude, and energy, and that's what they did, and we got a shot. We got a shot back at them tomorrow."
Notre Dame will need to contain Duke's freshman phenom, Marvin Bagley Jr., which few teams have done this season. Martinas Geben and Colson will be counted on to do even more on the glass as Bagley, and Wendell Carter Jr. are averaging 20 rebounds a game between themselves.
If there's anyone up for a challenge, it would be Colson.
"You've just got to ask the guys to give it your all and empty the tank," said Colson. "It's going to be a little different game with Matt and myself playing, and it's going to be another opportunity for us, and we're excited about it."
Prediction: Duke 85 Notre Dame 71