Notre Dame men's basketball has paled in comparison to the women's basketball team in the past few years. The Fighting Irish have missed the NCAA Tournament for the last three seasons. Even when they made the tournament in 2022, they were eliminated in the second round by the 3-seed Texas Tech.
The ACC as a whole has struggled in the past few seasons to get teams to the NCAA Tournament, and that included Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have the ability to get back to the big dance, but only if they work to improve these five stats in the next season.
Offensive efficiency
Notre Dame struggled offensively last season, as it ranked near the bottom of the ACC with just 72.6 points per game. They also struggled scoring from possession to possession, causing long scoring droughts that led to opponents going on runs of their own. Scoring droughts caused games to get out of hand for the Fighting Irish and were the source of a lot of their losses.
Better ball movement and play sets could help with the scoring droughts and offensive efficiency.
Turnover rate
Last season, Notre Dame averaged 11.1 turnovers per game, which put them around the middle of the pack in the ACC. Taking care of the ball is big in any sport, but giving the ball away and allowing fast break points to teams also caused problems with offensive efficiency and scoring droughts.
Three-point shooting percentage
Like a lot of the ACC, Notre Dame struggled from deep range shooting, just 35.5% from beyond the three-point arc. Couple that with the struggles offensively, and that was a big reason for Notre Dame's low points per game average.
Defensive rebounding rate
Notre Dame averaged just 25.1 defensive rebounds last season, and getting stronger on the board would help the Fighting Irish with their offensive struggles. Allowing fewer shots per possession to opponents would allow more time on offense for the Fighting Irish, hopefully allowing them better chances to score on the other end.
Free throw rate
Notre Dame struggled to get to the free-throw line, only shooting 18.2 free throws per game. Free throws can make or break a team, and they only shot 74.0% from the line, so close games could have been decided if Notre Dame improved their shots from the line. Dedicating more time to shooting free throws in practice could help this stat next season.