4. Battle of the ND’s Tuesday Night at Purcell – Notre Dame Fighting Irish – Official Athletics Website

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s basketball team returns home with its unblemished record intact and passed its first road test of the season with a win at Georgetown. Next, the Fighting Irish (3-0) will host back-to-back games inside Purcell Pavilion, starting with North Dakota on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 1 p.m. 19 A.M. The game will be streamed on ACCNX. Tickets can still be purchased at FightingIrish.com.

BACK AT PURCELL WITH A 3-0 RECORD

Notre Dame got a coveted win on the road in game three. After the game, Coach Shrewsberry described road wins as gold nuggets. That was a hurdle last season, when they went 2-10 in true road games. This is a very different group, though, and they proved it in Georgetown with an 84-63 rout. It was the 31st all-time meeting between the two and marked Notre Dame’s biggest win over the Hoyas since March 4, 2000.

With that, Notre Dame starts 3-0 and will look to keep the good vibes going against the Fighting Hawks. The only time Notre Dame and North Dakota have battled on the hardwood was a 46-38 victory in February 1941.

FULL TEAM EFFORTS

“We shot 60 percent from the field, we shot 43 percent from three, 92 percent from the free throw line. We’re really an elite offensive team when we move the ball like this. We had 20 assists on 32 field goals made. It’s hard to handle. Everyone was too, and that’s what we need to be successful.” – Trains shrews

Game three was Matt Allocco’s breakout/spotlight performance. The graduate guard went 5-for-6 from the field, 4-for-5 from three, to earn 15 points in the first half. Allocco ultimately finished the game with 17 points, a team-high seven assists and five rebounds.

Markus Burton picked up the torch in the second half, scoring 12 of his 16 points. Burton was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line and dished out five assists.

That duo shone brightest, but everyone had their moment. Braeden Shrewsberry had a solid second half, finishing with nine points. Tae Davis continued his strong start to the season with 13 points and eight rebounds. Then there is Kebba Njie with eight points and five boards. Nikita Konstantynovskyi came off the bench and tied Davis for the team high in rebounds with eight plus eight points. Burke Chebuhar came off the bench and went 3-for-3 from deep for nine points.

NOT LAST YEAR’S CRIME

Offseason focus, familiarity with Coach Shrews’ system, comfort with your returning teammates – this isn’t last year’s offense, and the Irish have proven it through three games.

• V, 89-60, over Stonehill
• W, 86-77, over Buffalo
• W, 84-63, over Georgetown

The Irish have already tied the number of games they scored over 80 points last season with three straight 80+ point wins to start the year.

If the Irish can repeat that against North Dakota and Elon this week, they will tie the program’s all-time record for consecutive 80+ point games to start the season. Five ties have occurred on four occasions: 1962–63, 1964–65, 1978–79, 2009–10.

TAES HOT START

What a week for Tae Davis. In the Buffalo win, he had a career-high 27 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Plus he drained a career-best 12-of-13 from the free throw line. Davis got it done in crunch time, too, scoring 13 of Notre Dame’s final 15 points. He followed that up with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the Georgetown road win. He grabbed a team-high eight boards.

Through three games, Davis is averaging 16.3 points and 6.3 rebounds. He shoots 56.0 percent from the field and 86.4 percent from the free throw line.

KenPom’s offensive rating for Davis ranks him seventh nationally. They also rank him 13th in the nation in Fouls Drawn/40 minutes at 9.5.

ONE OF THE BEST FIVE STARTERS IN THE COUNTRY

Notre Dame’s starting five of Burton, Shrewsberry, Allocco, Davis and Njie ranks as the second-highest adjusted offensive efficiency group in the country. In addition, they are ranked sixth nationally in Efficiency Margin. The top lineups are shown in the image below from EvanMiya.com.

Furthermore, according to CBB Analytics, the ND start five is +26 in +/-, which ranks in the 98th percentile this season.

ANALYST TO WATCH

Three straight games with not only 80+ points, but all over 50 percent shooting as well. The Irish are shooting 53.4 percent from the field, which ranks 13th nationally. They also shoot a blistering 61.8 percent from two, which is 24th in the country.

Diving Deeper – Notre Dame is shooting 55 percent from the mid-range jumper (two-point range outside the paint), which ranks 17th in the nation.

CBB Analytics has Notre Dame’s offensive rating at 125.5, which ranks 25th nationally.

After the Georgetown win, the Irish jumped from 76 on KenPom to no. 53.

With all that said, Notre Dame’s current highest national ranking in the NCAA stat is defensive rebounds per game. The Irish have an average of 34.3 per game, which ranks sixth nationally and first in the ACC.

INTRODUCING MUSH

If Irish fans weren’t familiar with Matt Allocco’s game, they were after the Georgetown game. A team-high 17 points, a team-high seven assists, plus five rebounds. He was nearly a perfect 4-for-5 from three in the first half.

Allocco is both the vocal leader and crafty vet for this young team. He is a gamer and super competitor. He boasts an 88.3 true shooting percentage, which ranks fifth nationally. He owns an effective field goal percentage of 92.3, which ranks fourth in the nation. He is shooting 9-of-13 from the field (.692) and 6-of-10 from three (.600).

And it’s not just his shooting. Allocco ranks fifth in the nation and first in the ACC with his 11.0 assist/turnover ratio.

— ND —