HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: VIRGINIA TECH (14-10, 4-9 ACC) AT NOTRE DAME (10-14, 2-11 ACC) 2PM RSN

HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: VIRGINIA TECH (14-10, 4-9 ACC) AT NOTRE DAME (10-14, 2-11 ACC) 2PM RSN

Saturday hoops in South Bend 🦃🏀 pic.twitter.com/RPJSZqNFTr— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) February 11, 2023

Notre Dame (10-14, 2-11 ACC)
vs. Virginia Tech (14-10, 4-9 ACC)
February 11, 2023
Purcell Pavilion
2 p.m. ET
RSN
Virginia Tech Sports Network

TV Broadcast
The Dreaded RSN
Play-by-Play: Evan Lepler
Analyst: Terrence Oglesby

Local Radio
Virginia Tech Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Zach Mackey
Analyst: Mike Burnop

Current Spread: Hokies -5.5
Over/Under: -143

Beat the Leprechauns....
The Hokies are coming off a tough 82-76 loss to Boston College and go on the road to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Hokies are 8-9 against Notre Dame going into their 18th meeting. This is a down season for the Irish, who come in trailing the Hokies in ACC wins, which is hard to do this season.

The Fighting Irish are coached by Mike Brey, in his twenty-second year at the helm of Notre Dame. In twenty years, his team has won 20+ games fifteen times. He has led them to the NCAA Tournament twelve times, with two elite eight appearances. Notre Dame has been to the post season in all but two seasons under Brey. He is 482-271 at Notre Dame and 581-323 overall with a prior five seasons at Delaware.

Coach Brey's Fighting Irish are having their worst season in almost a decade. They come in 10-14 with only two conference wins over Georgia Tech and Louisville. They come into this contest off a tough 70-68 loss to Georgia Tech on a tip in at the buzzer.

The Fighting Irish this season were expected to do much better than they have (sound familiar) with a very experienced squad. Coach Brey has a regular rotation seven players which consists of five Seniors. The results though have been anything but stellar although their luck factor is on par with the Hokies with six conference losses by two baskets or less.

Defensively, the Fighting Irish are a very situationally based defensive team. This means against Tech we may see man to man and probably some high perimeter zone with defensive players switching off over or under screens to prevent open perimeter looks by the Hokies guards. The other aspect that we may see a lot of is to double team Mutts in the post to prevent him easy access and force him to make a good perimeter pass. If this team begins trying to utilize this double team, expect to see Cattoor receive the perimeter pass and then force Notre Dame to decide how to approach him. Ideally the Hokies would use Mutts in the high post and turn him loose to drive to the basket with Basile crashing the opposite side of the lane.

Offensively, Notre Dame runs a four out, one in motion offense. They rely on a Nate Laszewski, who leads them in scoring at 14.2 points per game. That said they have three guards scoring in double figures so defending the perimeter is a much higher priority. The Irish shoot 26 three-point attempts per game, hitting on almost 10 of them. This means the Irish find almost 30 points a game from behind the perimeter. The Hokies will have to be able to close out on the perimeter to keep the Irish from hitting their usual 37%. That said, they still manage 35 more points per game between the line and inside the arc. Only nine of those points come from the line where as a team they are shooting 72% on the season.

Fighting Irish Backcourt
Dane Goodwin
23 SR G 6-6 200
Upper Arlington, OH Upper Arlington HS
11.9 Pts, 5.3 Reb, 2.3 Ast

JJ Starling
1 FR G 6-4 200
Baldwinsville, NY Baker (NY); La Lumiere (IN) 21 (2022)
11.9 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 1.2 Ast

Cormac Ryan
5 SR G 6-5 195
New York, NY Milton Academy 60 (2018)
11.6 Pts, 4.2 Reb, 2.5 Ast

Trey Wertz
3 SR G 6-5 195
Charlotte, NC Providence Day HS
8.7 Pts, 2.8 Reb, 3.2 Ast

Marcus Hammond
10 SR G 6-2 160
Queens, NY Cardozo HS
8.9 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 1.5 Ast

Fighting Irish Frontcourt
Nate Laszewski
14 SR F 6-10 227
Jupiter, FL Northfield Mount Herman (MA) 61 (2018)
14.2 Pts, 7.0 Reb, 1.5 Ast

Ven-Allen Lubin
2 FR F 6-8 226
Orlando, FL Orlando Christian (FL) 58 (2022)
6.1 Pts, 4.5 Reb, 0.5 Ast

What to expect from Notre Dame?
The Fighting Irish come in with six players averaging 8.9 or more points per game but the Fighting Irish only go two deep on the bench for significant minutes or contributions. The offense completely focuses around getting Laszewski the ball in the post with kick out options to Starling, Ryan or Goodwin.

Opponents are averaging an astonishing 75.2 points per game which is the primary indicator of how much this team has struggled defensively. Opponents are shooting 48% from the floor against the Fighting Irish and 36% from the perimeter.

The Fighting Irish commit 14.3 fouls per game allowing opponents to draw 12 points on average from the line. This may not matter much with how poorly the Hokies have shot at the line recently.

As a team the Fighting Irish are shooting 36% from the perimeter on 26 attempts per game. Laszewski and Goodwin are the starters the Hokies must focus on the most outside but Hammond off the bench is that bench guy that does nothing but hit threes that will probably have a career day if things go as normal for the Hokies.
Notre Dame struggles tremendously rebounding and have been outrebounded in all but three ACC contests. The Hokies though have the ridiculous fear of getting beat in transition by everyone so will likely not try to get offensive rebounds.

GB became the first player in our program since Justin Bibbs (2015-16) to have multiple 30+ point games in the same season 🔢📈📈⛽️ 30 vs. Delaware St. (12-16 FG)⛽️ 33 vs. BC (12-21 FG) pic.twitter.com/JxfgjVYDbg— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) February 10, 2023

The Hokies
The top takeaway from the Boston College game is that the Hokies need to take the handcuffs off Mutts and focus on scoring inside to balance the perimeter attempts. Too often they had clear openings in the paint but chose to throw up hail mary's. Mutts showed he is capable of driving from the perimeter in the waning moments of the loss and created two quick fouls on Post. Do that early to Laszewski and you change the entire game plan for Notre Dame.

The Hokies will have their hands full with Laszewski and Goodwin, who utilize an inside-out combination that the Hokies haven't dealt with much this season. Basile and Mutts may need to double team Laszewski every time the ball is passed into the paint. Laszewski also has the ability to dribble in from the perimeter and stretch the defense by stepping out to shoot. He averages 4.5 attempts from the perimeter per game.

The Hokies should still be able to have a solid game shooting from the perimeter if only because Notre Dame opponents are shooting 36%. Cattoor finding a rhythm will be critical though as well, although Pedulla and Collins both need some early success to shake off the last game. The trio shot a woeful 6-24 from the floor and 5-19 from outside. Twenty points from your three starting guards will lose you most games.

While Notre Dame plays stiff defense, they do not create many turnovers at only 8 per contest. Use their lack of aggressiveness against them by taking the chance to get inside to score. If Pedulla plays in control he could have a huge day going left on Goodwin, who is often lead footed at the top of the perimeter on a first step.

YOU HAVE TO HIT YOUR FREE THROWS. This team needs seemingly chokes at the line at critical moments and outside of Pedulla (since Maddox is still not expected to play) the Hokies shoot a woeful 68% from the line.

Nolight of the SECOND Boston College Loss

Guards shooting 6-21 from the perimeter

Hoping this wasn't a indication of how the Hokies are approaching this game from outside:

🤝 @NDMikeBrey pic.twitter.com/UdZ2HFZV36— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) February 11, 2023

Maybe instead Cattoor could do this....

pic.twitter.com/vhJzXmg1bo— Grant Basile (@GBasile00) February 11, 2023

In Closing
The Hokies have to find the open shooter when Notre Dame sags off the perimeter. Not defending the outside seems to be a calculated risk that Mike Brey is choosing to make this year based on the team he has available but expect to see him pressure the perimeter more against the Hokies since they rely on it SOOOO much.

Force Notre Dame to choose between giving up the easy bucket or fouling. Tell Mutts he has the green light the rest of the season to drive the ball at will. His size and speed are too much for most ACC forwards to handle. Let him use it.

Get Offensive Rebounds. Notre Dame is not the team that will beat you in transition and 10-12 second chance points separates this game decisively.

No more predictions....just never know which team is taking the floor.