Boston College at Notre Dame in men's basketball: What you need to know
Tom Noie
MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
∎ WHO: Notre Dame (9-10 overall; 1-7 ACC) vs. Boston College (8-11; 2-6)
∎ WHERE: Purcell Pavilion (9,149)
∎ WHEN: Saturday at 2 p.m.
∎ TV: Regional Sports Network (locally, Marquee Sports Network)
∎ RADIO: WSBT (960 AM).
∎ TICKETS: Plenty available.
∎ ONLINE: Follow every Notre Dame game with live updates from Tribune beat writer Tom Noie at twitter.com/tnoieNDI
More:After 23 seasons, head coach Mike Brey will step down at Notre Dame at season's end
∎ NOTING: In his second straight start since returning from a foot injury, center Quinten Post scored 17 points with five rebounds and guard Jaeden Zackery added 14 points and two steals in Tuesday’s 72-64 loss at North Carolina. The Eagles outscored the Tar Heels for points in the paint (38-30). They shot 48.1 percent from the field and 85.7 percent from the foul line. Boston College went without a 3-point basket (0-for-6) for the first time since a Nov. 28, 2009 loss to Providence. … The Eagles have lost four straight and five of six. The win in the run was at home over Notre Dame (70-63) on Jan. 3. Notre Dame led for 37:19. The Irish were up by 10 with 17:37 left and up three with 3:01 to play before the Eagles scored 10 straight to take control. Zackery led the Eagles with 16 points and six rebounds. Freshman forward Prince Aligbe added 15 points and seven rebounds. Super senior guard Dane Goodwin led the Irish with 16 points and six rebounds; freshman guard J.J. Starling added 16 points, three rebounds and two assists. … Picked in preseason to finish 13th after finishing tied for 11th last season, Boston College enters the weekend in 11th place; Notre Dame, picked sixth in preseason, is tied with Georgia Tech for 13th. … Boston College is ranked sixth in the league in steals (6.58) and turnover margin (+1.16), seventh in scoring defense (69.5 ppg.), 10th in blocks (3.68), 12th in rebounding margin (-1.63), 13th in field goal percentage (.425) and field goal percentage defense (.446), 14th in scoring offense (64.9), scoring margin (-4.63), assists (10.7) and assist/turnover ratio (0.89) and 15th – last – in free throw percentage (.691), 3-point field goal percentage (.275) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (.377). … Boston College is one of six repeat opponents for Notre Dame and one of two permanent repeat opponents (Georgia Tech) since the Irish joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013. … Notre Dame is 1-6 against repeat opponents this season. … Notre Dame leads the all-time series 25-14 overall, 16-5 at home and 15-4 as ACC colleagues. The Irish have lost three of the last four in the series. … Notre Dame looks to avoid being swept by Boston College for the first time since January/March 1997 when both were in the Big East. … The Irish have lost two straight, five of six, eight of 10 and 10 of 14 overall.
∎ QUOTING: “It’s easy to just say start the game better, but we’ve really got to start the game better. We’ve got to plan for that. I mean, we’ve all got to look at each other (and say), if we want to keep losing every game, that’s how it’s going to be. We need to come out with more energy. Even if it’s (0-0) at the first media timeout, we’ve got to just get stops.” — Notre Dame super senior guard Marcus Hammond on starting games with more confidence and consistency.
— Tom Noie