Notre Dame scouting report: Rutgers men's basketball's 1st NCAA Tournament opponent
The Rutgers men’s basketball team will face Notre Dame on Wednesday night in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament. The program will play a Fighting Irish (22-10, 15-5) team that finished tied for second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) with North Carolina.
Notre Dame is led by Mike Brey, who is in his 22nd season coaching the Fighting Irish. He has been to 12 NCAA Tournaments, three Sweet 16 trips and two Elite Eights. Brey and Notre Dame’s last trip to the Big Dance was in 2017.
The Fighting Irish score an average of 72.5 points, which is 141st nationwide. The program is led in points by Blake Wesley, who averages 14.6 points per game (PPG). On the boards, Paul Atkinson Jr. leads with seven rebounds per game, and Prentiss Hubb dishes out approximately four assists per game.
Three-pointers are Notre Dame’s forte. The team averages 38 percent from behind the arc, which is ranked 16th nationally and second in the ACC. The Fighting Irish have a 46.2 percentage from the field, which is 62nd in the nation.
Notre Dame also has a 75.8 free throw percentage, which puts them at 40th in the country.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Fighting Irish allow an average of 66.9 PPG, which brings them to 98th when compared to all of college basketball.
"To see these guys last year, a beaten-down group not being a part of it, to being a part of it. We are honored," Brey said after the matchup was announced. "We will be there early and ready to go in Dayton. I am very proud of this group for chasing it for a year.”
Notre Dame entered ACC play after a non-conference schedule which included losses to Big Ten opponents, Illinois and Indiana. The program also defeated then-No. 10 Kentucky during its non-conference slate.
The Fighting Irish had a strong start to ACC, defeating the likes of the Tar Heels (24-9, 15-5) and Clemson, a team that the Scarlet Knights (18-13, 12-8) also defeated this season.
Notre Dame is a First Four team primarily due to a difficult end to the season. The Fighting Irish went 3-3 in their last six games and had a 2-8 record against Quadrant 1 opponents in the NET Rankings.
Notre Dame made up for its poor Quadrant 1 record by finishing 2-1 against Quadrant 2 opponents and were a combined 17-1 against Quadrant 3 and Quadrant 4 opponents.
In the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament, the two-seeded Fighting Irish lost to seven-seeded Virginia Tech by a score of 87-80, but this loss was not enough to take them out of the field.
Rutgers and Notre Dame will tip off at 9:10 p.m in Dayton, Ohio, on truTV and 88.7 WRSU-FM. The winner of the game will play six-seeded Alabama in San Diego, California, on Friday. That game will tip off at 4:15 p.m. and will be broadcasted on TNT.
"Sometimes when you get a chance to play ... and win a game in Dayton, it can jumpstart you a little bit," Brey said. "I think Virginia Tech had good momentum because they played and won before they got to us. To scratch our way back into this, let's do it."
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