Notre Dame Men’s Basketball
Hello, old friend.
Not long ago, but longer than it might seem, Notre Dame men’s basketball and Georgetown had a nice little rivalry as Big East colleagues. Once upon a time, the teams played what was then the longest regular-season game in league history – four overtimes – in the downtown D.C. arena that seemingly has changed names more than fast drivers change lanes.
Notre Dame is back in the District on Saturday and back to play Georgetown, two programs looking to re-establish their winning ways and maybe play another memorable matchup.
When does Saturday’s game between Notre Dame and Georgetown start? Is it on TV? Are tickets available?
☘ WHO: Notre Dame (2-0) vs Georgetown (2-0)
☘ WHERE: Capital One Arena (20,600), Washington
☘ WHEN: Saturday at 1 p.m.
☘ TV: NBC.
☘ RADIO: WSBT (960 AM).
☘ ONLINE: Follow every Notre Dame game with live updates from Tribune beat writer Tom Noie at X (formerly Twitter) at twitter.com/tnoieNDI.
Three pressing questions for Notre Dame
-What is the road identity of this Notre Dame team?
-Will this one be the first to 80 points? Ninety?
-Guard Matt Allocco will take a shot in this game, won’t he?
☘ Scouting the Irish
Junior forward Tae Davis scored a career-high 27 points and sophomore guard Markus Burton flirted with the school’s second triple double with 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in Monday’s 86-77 home victory over Buffalo. The Irish trailed by as many as seven and led by as many as 20 following a 24-2 run the first 6:40 of the second half. … Notre Dame has scored 89 and 86 points in its first two games, the first time under coach Micah Shrewsberry that they’ve hit for 80-plus in consecutive contests. … Nine Irish are averaging at least 10.4 minutes per game, though only seven played double figures Monday. … Notre Dame’s assist/turnover ratio is 1.25 through two games, which is tied for 154th nationally. A year ago, Notre Dame’s A/T ratio was 335th at 0.81. … This starts a stretch of five of seven games away from home for Notre Dame, which went 2-10 away from Purcell Pavilion last season.
☘ By the numbers
9-7: Notre Dame’s combined record in Washington (Capital One Arena, Burr Gymnasium) since 2000-01. The Irish went 1-1 at COA in March during the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
(+15.0): Irish rebounding margin through two games, which ranks 33rd nationally.
.508: Irish field goal percentage through two games after Notre Dame shot .407 percent from the field (330th) last season.
2010: Last time Notre Dame beat Georgetown (78-64) in Washington.
2022: Saturday is the first regular season game for Notre Dame in Washington since a 71-68 win at Howard on January 17, 2022.
☘ Keep an eye on …
Sophomore shooting guard Braeden Shrewsberry. He’s tied with Burton for the team lead in scoring and is shooting .591 percent from the field, .545 percent from 3 and 100 percent (5-of-5) from the foul line.
☘ Quoting the Irish
“There’s stuff that we want to clean up. I don’t know who’s great defensively right now as a team across the country right now. At this point in time, everybody’s offense is ahead.”
Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry
☘ Series history
Georgetown leads the all-time series 17-13, 12-11 as Big East colleagues (1995-2013). Notre Dame has lost three straight and eight of 11 dating back to 2006. Prior to that, the Irish had won five of six, including four straight dating back to 2002. Georgetown won last season’s meeting in South Bend, 72-68, in overtime.
☘ Scouting the Hoyas
Freshman center Thomas Sorber had 25 points and nine rebounds and guard Jayden Epps added 12 points in Saturday’s 69-57 home victory over Fairfield. The Hoyas held the Stags to 24 points on .276 shooting in the second half. … Sorber earned league rookie of the week honors after averaging 22.5 points and 11 rebounds in his first two games. Against Lehigh, Sorber had 20 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and two blocks. … Georgetown lost eight transfers and returned one starter off last year’s team that finished 9-23 overall, 2-18 and 10th place in the Big East. The Hoyas were picked this preseason by league coaches to finish ninth in the 11-team Big East. … Georgetown has had three straight seasons of single-digit wins – nine, seven, six – its longest since also going three seasons of 10 wins of fewer from 1935 to 1937. … Head coach Ed Cooley, in his second season on the Hilltop, is a career 3-1 against Notre Dame.
☘ By the numbers
1: Of the 17 players on Georgetown’s roster, only one (junior Jayden Epps) is an upperclassman. The roster carries one graduate transfer (Micah Peavy) and 15 underclassmen, including nine freshmen.
4-55: Georgetown’s combined Big East record the last three seasons.
8: The Hoyas open with eight straight home games. Their first game away from D.C. is December 6 at West Virginia.
51: Number of seasons (and counting) for Georgetown radio play-by-play voice Rich Chvotkin.
55: Georgetown wears a No. 55 patch on its uniform in honor of former Hoyas All-American and NBA Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo, who died September 30 after battling brain cancer.
☘ Keep an eye on …
Sophomore guard Malik Mack earned Ivy League rookie of the year honors last season after averaging 17.2 points, 4.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds in 33.2 minutes at Harvard. Like Burton, Mack is one of 20 players on the preseason watch list for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the nation’s top point guard.
☘ Quoting the Hoyas
“I just try to do anything that I can do to help my team win. My teammates tell me to go out there and dominate, so that’s what I do.”
-Freshman center Thomas Sorber
☘ Looking ahead
Notre Dame returns to Purcell Pavilion for two games next week – Tuesday against North Dakota and Friday against Elon – before four straight games away from home.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI
