Notre Dame (19-7, 12-3) at Wake Forest (20-7, 10-6)
Dated: February 19
Time: 1 p.m. ET
Or: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum | Winston-Salem (NC)
TV: Bally Sports (Regional Sports Networks) | Tom Werme and Mike Gminsky
Line: Wake Forest -6.0
WHERE : 143
ACC Ranking
Fast facts
– Notre Dame leads the all-time series 8-5.
– Mike Brey is 2-0 against Steve Forbes.
– Notre Dame holds an impressive 6-2 road record in ACC play this season.
– With 12 wins in their first 15 ACC games, the 2021-22 team tied the 2014-15 team for the best ACC competitive start in program history.
– Prentiss Hubb’s assist-to-rotation ratio in the ACC game is 5.7.
PROJECTED BEGINNERS
our Lady
name | Points | Bounces | Aids |
Prentiss Hubb | 8.6 | 2.9 | 3.5 |
Blake Wesley | 14.4 | 3.6 | 2.6 |
Danish Goodwin | 15.1 | 5.0 | 1.3 |
Cormac Ryan | 7.5 | 4.7 | 1.8 |
Paul Atkinson Jr. | 12.4 | 6.9 | 1.5 |
WakeForest
name | Points | Bounces | Aids |
Alonde Williams | 19.8 | 6.8 | 5.2 |
David Williamson | 12.3 | 2.4 | 1.1 |
Dallas-Walton | 8.3 | 4.9 | 1.1 |
Isaiah Mucius | 9.7 | 3.4 | 0.9 |
Jake LaRavia | 14.6 | 6.6 | 3.7 |
Overview
Category | our Lady | WakeForest |
Points | 71.1 | 78.4 |
Opponent points | 66.2 | 68.8 |
FG% | 45.6% | 48.7% |
Bounces | 33.8 | 36.8 |
Aids | 13.6 | 15.3 |
Blocks | 2.0 | 4.0 |
Fly | 5.4 | 6.5 |
The good news: Notre Dame is on a five-game winning streak. The bad news: Mike Brey’s team is heading to Wake Forest to play one of the ACC’s top offenses after giving up 95 points to Boston College on Wednesday night.
Now Notre Dame is 6-2 on the road, but this game might look a little different as offense will be king despite Ireland winning with defense for most of the year.
That game goes to Wake Forest point guard Alondes Williams, who would likely be the ACC Player of the Year if it weren’t for a guy named Paolo Banchero at Duke. Williams is averaging 19.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. He shoots over 50 percent from the field and is simply one of the elite playmakers in the conference.
Notre Dame needs to find a way to force him to make mistakes, as Williams is turnover-prone averaging 3.7 per game, including seven games with six or more turnovers.
On offense, Brey’s side have won in different ways, so it will be interesting to see how they score on Saturday. In Wednesday’s win over Boston College, the Irish had moved away from their movement attack for a drive attack and won by securing the line.
“In the second half, we got away from our movement and our predictable movement,” Brey said. “We were just screening the ball and playing. We call it open.
“(Prentiss) Hubb went to the hole and got the foul line because we were just driving it. That’s an option for us too. That’s kind of how we started playing at the start of the season, then we went to the move and sometimes, we’re going to open. We just said at halftime, let’s play and we’re going to have to score tonight.
“We played a bit faster that way and found a pretty good rhythm.”
Senior forward Nate Laszewski has played the last two games and is now two weeks away from his bruise. If he can add a few threes, it could go a long way for the Irish to reach the 20-win mark this season.
Wake Forest Final Five
@ Duke – 76-74 L
Miami – 76-72L
@ NC State – 69-51W
Florida State – 68-60
Pitt – 91-75W
Notre Dame Last Five
Boston College – 99-95 S/OT
@Clemson – 76-61W
Louisville – 63-57 W
@ NC State – 69-57W
@ Miami – 68-64W