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Notre Dame Basketball: Irish looking for signature win at Duke

By J.P. Scott

DURHAM, NC - JANUARY 29: Head coach Mike Brey of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish talks to head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils before their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 29, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NC - JANUARY 29: Head coach Mike Brey of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish talks to head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils before their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 29, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Notre Dame basketball has had a rollercoaster season, but a win over Duke today would put them in a really good position on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

Mike Brey and the Notre Dame basketball team will walk onto the court at Cameron Indoor Stadium today looking for their biggest win of the season. The Irish are only two games out of fourth place in the ACC with seven games remaining on the 2019-2020 schedule.

A win at Duke today not only helps their cause in the ACC race, it would be the signature win on Notre Dame’s NCAA Tournament resume.

To pull off the upset, Notre Dame’s supporting cast of characters around John Mooney will need to step up in a big way. You know Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski will have a defensive game plan centered around taking the Irish big man out of the game and challenging the other Notre Dame players to beat his squad. That means guys like TJ Gibbs and Prentice Hubb need to be ready to make an impact.

In terms of stopping Duke, the Irish will need to really focus on preventing the Blue Devils from getting easy buckets. Duke is one of the most efficient teams in the country on offense. The Irish need to prevent the easy buckets and make the Blue Devils work for everything, subsequently forcing mistakes that lead to turnovers.

The battle in the middle between John Mooney and Duke’s talented freshman center Vernon Carey is going to be a fun one to watch for basketball junkies who love watching great battles between bigs. In fact, the winner of that matchup will be key in deciding who eventually wins the game.

dark. Next. Back to Reality for the Irish?

Tip off is this afternoon at 4 p.m. EST on ESPN. The Duke Blue Devils are currently favored by 12.5 points.