Game Thread | William & Mary (1-2) at Notre Dame (2-1)
William & Mary (1-2) at Notre Dame (2-1) - Gotham Classic
Date: November 17th
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Where: Purcell Pavilion (9,149)
TV: ACC Network
QUICK FACTS
- Wednesday will be the second meeting between the two programs.
- Notre Dame won the first meeting 90-45 in 1982.
- The Tribe finished 19-12 in 2017-18 and 11-7 in the CAA to finish fourth. They return starting players Matt Milon, Nathan Knight and Justin Pierce.
- Notre Dame is 16-0 all-time against the Colonial Athletic Association with most of the victories (seven) coming against Hofstra.
- William & Mary is 0-2 in the Gotham Classic as the Tribe fell to Duquesne (84-70) and UIC (100-95 OT).
- The Irish committed just four turnovers against Radford marking the 13th time a Notre Dame Mike Brey team has committed less than five turnovers in a game.
- John Mooney became the 11th player in the Brey era to hit on six three-pointers in more than one career game.
THE STARTERS
Notre Dame
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| TJ Gibbs | 10.0 | 2.3 | 3.7 |
| Rex Pflueger | 6.7 | 3.7 | 3.0 |
| DJ Harvey | 9.3 | 5.7 | 1.0 |
| Elijah Burns | 7.0 | 4.7 | 0.7 |
| John Mooney | 13.7 | 8.0 | 0.3 |
William & Mary
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Justin Pierce | 22.3 | 11.3 | 3.7 |
| LJ Owens | 11.3 | 1.3 | 1.0 |
| Luke Loewe | 4.7 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Matt Milon | 17.7 | 3.0 | 2.3 |
| Nathan Knight | 15.0 | 6.3 | 2.7 |
Preview
Notre Dame will look to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Radford (63-60) on Wednesday night as William & Mary comes to Purcell Pavilion for a Noon tip.
It’s anyone’s guess what Irish head coach Mike Brey will do with his starting lineup and rotation. Notre Dame has struggled on both ends of the floor in its first three games and Brey has had to balance offense for defense and vice versa.
Brey was forced to go small on Wednesday, which led to Radford winning the battle on the boards and it’s something that could be a problem as the Irish get deeper into the season.
“We went smaller to start the second half to help ourselves offensively,” stated Brey. “We didn’t rebound very well, so we changed that up a little bit. The whole downshifting thing, you’re giving up some meat on the backboard to see if you can get on an offensive run, but we couldn’t. It didn’t help us either.”
As for Saturday’s game, it goes against everything Brey believes in and probably needs, but I would love to see him a 10-man rotation.
It’s not a normal season and Brey might have to step out of his comfort zone with a bigger rotation. The freshmen class is going to have to play and I’m not sure Brey has a lot to lose by giving the youngsters bigger minutes.
Senior Rex Pflueger has struggled in the first three games and he clearly looks hurt. I’m not sure Brey will reduce his minutes because he’s an old guy but it’s not far fetched to believe Dane Goodwin or Robby Carmody would give the Irish more of a boost on the offensive end.
It will be interesting at Purcell Pavilion on Saturday, but I’m not sure William & Mary boasts the depth and talent of Radford.
Prediction: Notre Dame 81 William & Mary 64