All you need to know about Friday's men's basketball game between Notre Dame and Miami
Tom Noie
MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
∎ WHO: Notre Dame (8-5 overall; 0-2 ACC) vs. No. 14 Miami (Fla.) (12-1; 3-0)
∎ WHERE: Purcell Pavilion (9,149)
∎ WHEN: Friday at 2 p.m. (note special start time)
∎ TV: ACC Network
∎ RADIO: WSBT (960 AM).
∎ ONLINE: Follow every Notre Dame game with live updates from Tribune beat writer Tom Noie at twitter.com/tnoieNDI
More:That's the way you put the wraps on non-conference play
∎ NOTING: Miami has been idle since a 66-64 home victory over Virginia on Dec. 20. The Hurricanes were scheduled to close non-conference play Wednesday at home against Vermont. That game was canceled after the Catamounts had weather-related travel issues trying to get to South Florida. … Miami jumped eight spots in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll – from No. 22 to 14, its highest ranking since it was sixth early in the 2017-18 season. The Hurricanes were unranked to start this season. … Miami is one of four Atlantic Coast Conference teams ranked this week – Virginia (13), Duke (17), North Carolina (25). … Notre Dame is 1-0 against ranked teams with the win over then-No. 20 Michigan State. … After going 15-24 in its previous 39 games, Miami is 34-9 in its last 43. … The Hurricanes have league wins over Louisville (road), Virginia (home) and North Carolina State (home). They’ve won eight straight since the Nov. 20 loss to Maryland. … Miami returned two starters off last year’s team that finished 26-11 overall, 14-6 and fourth place in the ACC. It won a combined 25 games the previous two seasons. The 26 wins were third most in school history. The Hurricanes advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history before losing to eventual national champion Kansas. … Miami was picked this preseason to finish fourth in the ACC with two first-place votes. Notre Dame was picked sixth. … Miami’s roster features five freshmen, five sophomores, four juniors and one senior. It carries three transfers, including guard Nigel Pack, who led the Big 12 in 3-point field goal percentage (.436) and 3-pointers made (3.3) last season and former Arkansas State power forward Norchad Omier, who was the Sun Belt Player and Defensive Player of the Year last season. … An Indianapolis native, Pack received a two-year Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deal worth $800,000 from LifeWallet to attend the U. … Senior guard Isaiah Wong was a first team preseason all-league pick. … Miami was one of nine Division I schools last season not to have at least one player enter the transfer portal. … Head coach Jim Larranaga is in his 12th season at Miami and 39th overall. On the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame ballot for the first time, Larranaga is the only coach to win at least 100 games at three Division I schools and one of 53 to win at least 700 overall. He won his 700th earlier this season against Providence, his alma mater. … Notre Dame leads the all-time series 13-12, 6-5 at home, 4-5 as ACC colleagues. The Irish have won four straight and five of the last seven in the series. Notre Dame won the only meeting last year, arguably the biggest Irish win of the regular season – 68-64 in Coral Gables 48 hours after Notre Dame had lost 57-43 at home to Duke. The Miami win jump-started Notre Dame to five-straight league wins and seven of eight. … The Hurricanes opened the week ranked second in the ACC in field goal percentage (.481) and assists (15.5), third in scoring offense (78.0) and steals (7.7) and fifth in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.311). They have 46 dunks through their first 13 games.
∎ QUOTING: “It’s time to lock in. Time to lock in defensively; time to lock in offensively. Get all the kinks out. We’ve got a big conference game. We’ve got to get that one. It’s just time to dig in.” — Notre Dame freshman guard J.J. Starling on a return to ACC play the rest of the way
— Tom Noie