Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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MEN'S BASKETBALL Notre Dame's early season wins over Iowa, ranked No. 4 nationally on Feb. 8, on a neutral court, and a 25-point beat- down on a Stony Brook team that im- proved to 19-4 overall as of Feb. 8 were also key résumé boosters. If the trajectory following the UNC win and a road victory at Clemson — 89-83, on Feb. 8 — holds true, the Irish are headed to the NCAA Tournament with anywhere from a No. 6 to a No. 9 seed, spearheaded by the nation's No. 1 offense according to KenPom.com. DEFENSE STILL AN ACHILLES' HEEL If Notre Dame goes off course from that pace, though, the Irish defense will likely be the culprit. The Irish check in all the way down at No. 226 nationally in defense as of Feb. 8 according to KenPom, which is the lowest ranking of any Brey team since at least the 2001-02 season. Brey even referenced the ratings following Notre Dame's 76-49 win over Boston College Jan. 23, one of the few games all year in which the Irish played well on defense. "One of the things I thought we re- ally needed to do today was defend for 40 minutes," he said. "Our defensive numbers today were excellent. "[Freshman guard] Rex Pfleuger in the game on their best player has some- thing to do with it. But we had to be better there. Our numbers are still not acceptable overall. Hopefully, this can get us trending defensively a little better. "Offensively, we're still No. 1, so we've got that handled." The massive gap between the offense and defense means in order to continue 2015-16 NOTRE DAME MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Oct. 30 St. Francis (Ill.)* W, 87-56 Nov. 5 Caldwell* W, 81-56 Nov. 13 St. Francis (Pa.) W, 87-56 Nov. 17 Milwaukee W, 86-78 Nov. 21 UMass Lowell W, 83-57 Nov. 26 vs. Monmouth# L, 70-68 Nov. 27 vs. Iowa# W, 68-62 Nov. 29 vs. Alabama# L, 74-73 Dec. 2 at Illinois W, 84-79 Dec. 8 Stony Brook W, 86-61 Dec. 13 Loyola Chicago W, 81-61 Dec. 19 vs. Indiana^ L, 80-73 Dec. 21 Youngstown State W, 87-78 Dec. 29 Liberty W, 73-56 Jan. 2 at Virginia L, 77-66 Jan. 7 at Boston College W, 82-54 Jan. 9 Pittsburgh L, 86-82 Jan. 13 Georgia Tech W, 72-64 Jan. 16 at Duke W, 95-91 Jan. 20 Virginia Tech W, 83-81 Jan. 23 Boston College W, 76-49 Jan. 28 at Syracuse L, 81-66 Jan. 31 Wake Forest W, 85-62 Feb. 3 at Miami L, 79-70 Feb. 6 North Carolina W, 80-76 Feb. 8 at Clemson W, 89-83 Feb. 13 Louisville (ESPN/2) 4 p.m. Feb. 20 at Georgia Tech (ESPN2) 8 p.m. Feb. 24 at Wake Forest (RSN) 9 p.m. Feb. 27 at Florida State (ESPN/2) TBA March 2 Miami (ESPN2) 7 p.m. March 5 NC State (CBS) 12 p.m. March 8-12 ACC Championship$ TBA * Exhibition; # Advocare Invitational at Orlando, Fla. (Notre Dame, USC, Wichita State, Dayton, Xavier, Ala- bama, Iowa, Monmouth); ^ at Indianapolis; $ at Veri- zon Center in Washington, D.C.; RSN — Regional Sports Network; ACCN — ACC Network