Notre Dame Basketball: Irish Travel to Chapel Hill
Mike Brey’s Notre Dame basketball team looks to get even in the league Tuesday night in Chapel Hill.
I told y’all. Prentiss Hubb, was a guy I believed in. After an impressive shorthanded win at home against Boston College, Notre Dame basketball is heading to Chapel Hill.
This is a bad spot for the Irish, as North Carolina just dropped a game at home to Louisville in epic fashion. The Heels will no doubt have an ax to grind when taking the court on Tuesday. The Irish roll into Tuesday’s matchup with an 11-5 record and sit ranked 80th in the Kenpom rankings, desperately needing a signature win.
The Irish showed tremendous heart on Saturday, garnering their first ACC win against Boston College with only six scholarship players available. In that game, TJ Gibbs and Juwan Durham were absent from the Irish rotation from different ailments. It is unclear whether either of the two will be able to play for Brey on Tuesday.
On the flip side, North Carolina comes into the game ranking 9th in the Kenpom rankings. The Tar Heels are coming off a 83 to 62 thumping at the hands of the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday. The loss was North Carolina’s worst home loss under the tutelage of Roy Williams and the worst home loss for the North Carolina program, in general, since 2002. You can safely expect that the Tar Heels will come into the game with a chip on their shoulders.
This game could go one of two ways: Either the Irish can catch the Tar Heels in a tailspin after a bad loss, or the Tar Heels can take out their frustrations on a depleted Irish team at home on national television. A young Notre Dame team on the road in Chapel Hill after a historic Tar Heel loss doesn’t set up well for the Fighting Irish, but if Gibbs and Durham return and Hubb can build off the Boston College performance then we have a shot. One thing North Carolina does not do particularly well is defend. They are 234th in the nation in opponents points per game.
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Tonight’s game can be caught on ESPN, with tipoff coming at 9:00 eastern time.