Notre Dame might be a little angry when it visits the Miami Hurricanes in an Atlantic Coast Conference game on Wednesday night.
That’s because the Fighting Irish scored a season-low point total Monday in a 57-43 loss to No. 9 Duke.
Notre Dame (14-7, 7-3 ACC) now will challenge the Hurricanes (16-5, 8-2), who are tied with Duke for the top spot in the ACC.
Miami has won 12 of its past 14 games, and its only two losses during that span were each by one point to Florida State.
The Hurricanes have been outrebounded in 10 of their 11 games against Power 5 schools, but they have prospered — going 8-3 in those contests — by stealing the ball.
Miami’s Charlie Moore ranks second in the ACC in steals at an average of 2.1 per game. Kameron McGusty is averaging 1.6, and Jordan Miller (1.5) is close behind, making it dangerous for opponents to dribble, pass or even just hold the ball in the vicinity of Miami players.
“We play off our defense,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said.
The Hurricanes, who are 9-2 at home this season, are paced in scoring by McGusty, who is fifth in the ACC in points per game (18.0). Teammate Isaiah Wong (16.0) is eighth in the league in scoring, and Moore is averaging 12.5 points and a team-high 3.9 assists.
Sam Waardenburg leads Miami’s starters in 3-point-shooting percentage (46.9), and Moore — who has very deep range — is making 39.8 percent of his 3-pointers. Freshman Bensley Joseph doesn’t play much, but he has shot 12-of-20 on 3-pointers (60 percent).
Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s top 3-point shooter among starters has been Dane Goodwin, who is shooting 49 percent from deep (48-for-98).
On Monday, though, Goodwin went scoreless in 33 minutes, missing all seven shots from the field. That snapped a streak of 20 straight games in which Goodwin had scored in double figures.
Monday’s loss aside, Notre Dame can score. In fact, the Irish are the only team in the nation with five players who have at least 1,000 career points: Goodwin, Paul Atkinson Jr., Prentiss Hubb, Trey Wertz and Nate Laszewski.
The Irish are 4-3 away from home and 1-3 on neutral courts.
Even so, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey won’t ever count out his team.
“No one has played more hard games than us,” Brey said. “I think (our guys) are battle tested, and they do not panic.”
Goodwin, despite his poor performance Monday, leads the Irish in scoring (14.6). Blake Wesley is second (14.5).
But the biggest problem for Miami may be Notre Dame’s size and skill inside with the 6-foot-9 Atkinson, who is averaging 11.7 points and 6.4 rebounds a game; and 6-10 Laszewski, who is averaging 9.0 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds.
–Field Level Media
