College Basketball
- Matchup: #2 Duke Blue Devils (17-2, 6-1 ACC) @ Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-9, 1-6 ACC)
- Date: Jan. 28th, 2019
- Time: 7 p.m. (est)
- Network: ESPN
- Location: South Bend, Indiana
- Venue: Joyce Center
- Seating Capacity: 9,149
Short Turnaround
Duke travels to South Bend to take on Notre Dame just two days after taking down Georgia Tech at home. The Irish also played a game on Saturday, getting bashed at home against UVA, 82-55.
Breaking Down the Fighting Irish
Notre Dame is in what can be considered a rebuilding year. They are 13th in the ACC standings with just one win in conference play. Lacking a star player, head coach Mike Brey is forced to play nine players at least 11.3 minutes per game. Their most consistent player, and team captain, has been junior forward John Mooney (14.5 PPG, 10.8 RPG, and 1.1 BPG) who has averaged a double-double through 20 games. Also a team captain, junior TJ Gibbs (13.4 PPG and 3.9 APG) has carried his weight throughout his 19 games played. As an offense, the Irish have scored 73.1 points per game, just 189th in the country, while shooting 40.7% from the field. On defense, the Irish have given up 69.4 points per game, ranking 126th in the country, allowing opponents to shoot 42.2% from the field.
Starters
Notre Dame
Guard – #10 TJ Gibbs
Guard – #5 D.J. Harvey
Guard – #23 Dane Goodwin
Forward – #33 John Mooney
Forward – #14 Nate Laszewski
Duke
Guard – #3 Tre Jones
Forward – #2 Cam Reddish
Forward – #5 RJ Barrett
Power Forward – #1 Zion Williamson
Center – #20 Marques Bolden
Prediction
Against Georgia Tech, Duke was just 2-of-21 from the three-point line, keeping the Yellow Jackets hanging around until midway through the second half. If Duke continues their abysmal shooting performance from beyond the arc on the road against the Fighting Irish, Duke could find themselves on upset alert in hostile territory. I think the shooting performance will improve, and Cam Reddish will make a two or three clean looks. At the end of the first half, it wouldn’t be a shock if Duke was down or up by a few buckets. In the end, Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett will have their way with the help of Tre Jones distributing the ball.
Duke: 85
Notre Dame: 71
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Photo Credit
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