The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will look to continue their march toward an NCAA Tournament bid with a home game against the Louisville Cardinals on Wednesday night in South Bend, Ind.
Notre Dame (16-7, 9-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) has won 12 of its last 14 games and is currently tied with Duke for first place in the ACC after the Blue Devils’ loss Monday against Virginia.
Most recently the Fighting Irish swept a two-game road trip at Miami and North Carolina State, completing the week with a 69-57 win in Raleigh on Saturday.
As a team, Notre Dame went 27 of 51 (52.9 percent) shooting from the floor and held the Wolfpack to just 20 of 67 (29.9 percent) shooting, a season best for the Fighting Irish defense.
“We’re a confident group, especially on the road,” Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey said after the win. “I think that’s five road wins now (6-3 on road). We’ve got a chance. There’s a lot of work to do, but we’ve done a lot of work already. We’ve got a chance. We’ve put a lot of money in the bank, and today helped.”
Louisville (11-12, 5-8) is still trying to fight through a difficult season under interim head coach Mike Pegues. The Cardinals have lost five in a row and eight of nine, the latest defeat coming in a 92-69 blowout loss at Syracuse.
“Obviously (we are) incredibly disappointed,” Pegues said after the loss. “In particular with defensive effort and inability to get stops to start the game. No excuse to allow Syracuse — who I understand is a very good offensive team — to get 25 points in the first eight minutes.”
Notre Dame and Louisville have already met this season, a game Notre Dame won 82-70 in Louisville on Jan. 22.
The Fighting Irish went a season-high 15 of 23 (65.2 percent) from 3-point range and had four different players knock down at least three 3-pointers. Blake Wesley led Notre Dame in scoring with 22 points, and Jarrod West topped Louisville in scoring with 14 points off the bench.
All seven Notre Dame players recorded at least one assist in the January win over Louisville, part of 17 total assists on 31 made field goals in the win.
–Field Level Media
