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Notre Dame Men’s Basketball suddenly red-hot entering February slate

By Brad Weiss

Feb 2, 2021; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons forward Ismael Masoud (25) dribbles as Notre Dame Fighting Irish forward Juwan Durham (11) defends in the first half at the Purcell Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 2, 2021; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons forward Ismael Masoud (25) dribbles as Notre Dame Fighting Irish forward Juwan Durham (11) defends in the first half at the Purcell Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Notre Dame Men’s Basketball team is starting to heat up, this after a tough goes early in the season, as they took on a very rough slate to open things up. Now that they are starting to play a better brand of team basketball, they suddenly are red-hot, losing only one game since a loss to Virginia back on January 13.

Sure, their one loss is to a ranked team, but that does not change the fact that they are playing their best basketball of the season. They have now blown out ACC opponents in Pitt and Wake Forest in two of their last three games and actually look like a team that could make a run towards a possible NCAA Tournament appearance.

Notre Dame Men’s Basketball getting great play up and down the roster

A common theme is emerging with this Notre Dame Men’s Basketball team, and that is when Prentiss Hubb is distributing the ball, the offense is so dangerous. Sure, Hubb can fill it up any time he wants, but his ten dimes on Tuesday night, plus the fact that he did not look for his shot early, are indicators that he is playing pass-first ball.

Also, Juwan Durham played with incredible confidence on Tuesday night, showing himself to be a dominant presence down low. He adds another dimension to this team when he is on, as he complements Nate Laszewski so well, due to the fact they have completely different skill sets.

In this one, Cormac Ryan was fantastic off the bench, scoring 13, and a 16-0 run to open up the second half proved to be the turning point.  This was the second straight 20-point win by the Irish, who are suddenly getting it done on both sides of the floor.

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Looking ahead, the Irish only have one more ranked team on the docket, so there is a good chance this strong run of Notre Dame Men’s Basketball continues for a while. When Hubb is distributing, Durham is strong in the paint, and the threes are falling, this is a very hard team to stop on the offensive side of the floor.