Kentucky basketball: Five things to know about the Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Five things to know about the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Kentucky basketball’s opponent on Saturday in South Bend. ESPN has the 5:15 p.m. telecast.
1. The Irish have lost three in a row
Mike Brey’s team is 3-4 on the season. It opened with a 68-52 victory over Cal State Northridge and a 70-61 victory over Tubby Smith and High Point. Both those games were played at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend.
Then the Irish lost two of three in the Maui Invitational, which this year was played in Las Vegas. St. Mary’s edged Notre Dame 62-59 in the first round. After the Irish defeated Chaminade 90-64, it lost 73-67 to Texas A&M in the fifth-place game on Nov. 24.
On Nov. 29, Notre Dame traveled to Illinois where it lost 82-72 to the Illini in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Then on Dec. 3, the Irish fell behind host Boston College 52-29 with 14:34 left before losing 73-57. Notre Dame shot 38.2 percent in that game, compared to 49.1 percent for BC.
Going into Friday night’s games, Notre Dame ranked 51st in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted efficiency rankings. The Irish ranked 24th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 114th in adjusted defensive efficiency. Kentucky ranks 19th in kenpom’s overall adjusted efficiency numbers. The Cats are 16th on offense and 40th on defense.
2. Mike Brey is trying to get his program turned back around
The 62-year-old Brey has been Notre Dame’s head coach since July 14, 2000. In his 22nd season in South Bend, Brey owns a 451-252 record, including a 207-160 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference. His teams have been to 12 NCAA Tournaments and have made two Elite Eight appearances. Notre Dame lost to Kentucky 68-66 in the Midwest Region finals in 2015 and 88-74 to North Carolina in the 2016 East Region finals.
However, Brey is just 48-50 over the past four seasons. His 2018-19 team stumbled to a 14-19 record, including a 3-15 mark in the ACC. The 2019-20 Irish went 20-12 overall and 10-10 in conference play. There was not an NCAA Tournament in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Notre Dame went 11-15 last season, with a 7-11 record in the ACC.
In the preseason, Jeff Goodman of Watch Stadium wrote, “First of all, it’ll never get to the point where Brey is actually fired. But if he has another mediocre season (or worse) in South Bend, my guess is this would be it for Brey, meaning the two sides would just agree to amicably part ways. I never anticipated writing Brey’s name on this list, but after a stretch of nine NCAA appearances in 11 years, including a pair of Elite Eights in 2015 and ’16, the Irish have disappeared from national relevance. Brey is 28-46 in ACC play the past four years. He’s incredibly well-liked, but this could be it for Brey if they don’t start winning more games.”
3. Prentiss Hubb has been a mystery
Notre Dame’s 6-foot-3 guard averaged 12.1 points per game as a sophomore in 2019-20 and 14.6 points per game as a junior in 2020-21. He shot 34.4 percent from three-point range as a sophomore and 34.2 percent as a junior. He also averaged 5.1 assists per game in 2019-20 and 5.8 in 2020-21.
This year, Hubb’s scoring average is down to 7.3 points per game. He’s just 7-of-33 from three-point range for 21.2 percent. And he’s averaging a mere three assists per game.
Hubb played 29 minutes without scoring in the season opener against Cal State Northridge. he missed all six of his shots, including five from three-point range. He committed eight turnovers in ND’s loss to Texas A&M. And he also went scoreless in 28 minutes of play at Illinois, missing all five of his shots. Three of those were from behind the three-point arc.
Hubb did show some signs of life at Boston College, scoring 15 points in 31 minutes. He was 5-of-7 from the field, including 3-of-4 from behind the arc. Perhaps that’s the beginning of a turnaround for the Upper Marlboro, Md., native. Notre Dame needs it.
4. Blake Wesley is a rising star
The 6-5 freshman is the first public school player from South Bend to be signed by the Irish since 1985. A four-star prospect ranked No. 100 by Rivals in the class of 2021, Wesley is the local kid making good. He’s averaging 12.9 points per game, while shooting 49.2 percent from the floor, including 37.9 percent from three-point range.
Wesley scored 21 points in the opener against Northridge. More impressively, he scored 24 points against Big Ten foe Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. Wesley was 9-of-12 in that game. He was held to 12 points in the loss at Boston College, but did contribute three assists.
“I think Mike Brey’s best player — and I don’t know if Mike Brey wanted to fast-track him the way he’s fast-tracked him — would be a freshman from South Bend,” Tom Noie of the South Bend Tribune said on my podcast. “Blake Wesley has the potential to be a possible and potential NBA guy down the line.”
5. Notre Dame did defeat Kentucky last season
And the Irish beat the Cats at Rupp. Nate Laszewski, a returnee on this year’s team, scored 19 points in the first half and 21 overall as Brey’s club held on for a 64-63 victory over a Kentucky team that would finish 9-16.
Notre Dame went on a 19-0 run in the first half for a 33-9 lead and held a 48-26 advantage at halftime. Kentucky stormed back, going on a 16-0 run. But it wasn’t enough. Olivier Sarr missed a 15-footer from the baseline at the horn as John Calipari suffered his first back-to-back home losses at Rupp Arena since becoming the UK coach in 2009. (Richmond had defeated Kentucky 76-64 at Rupp earlier.)
Hubb scored 18 points in the Notre Dame win that day, hitting eight of 17 shots. Starters Dane Goodwin scored nine points and Cormac Ryan six. Both are starters on this year’s Notre Dame team, as well.
This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 9:26 AM.
