What to know about Notre Dame men's basketball at Louisville
Throughout the 2023-24 season, Notre Dame men’s basketball has always had at least one thing going for it. Irish fans could watch their team lose by 20 to The Citadel, go down 17-0 against Marquette and lose seven-straight Atlantic Coast Conference games, but there was always that one line that never went away:
“At least they’re not Louisville.”
Notre Dame will put that small bragging right in jeopardy Wednesday night, when the Irish travel to Louisville, Ky. to take on the Cardinals.
Louisville was almost unfathomably bad in 2022-23, going 4-28 just 10 years after winning its third national championship. The Cardinals have doubled that win total so far in head coach Kenny Payne’s second season, but they’re still alone in last place in the ACC.
Opponent aside, Notre Dame has a chance to win three-straight games for the first time this season. Here’s everything you need to know about Wednesday night’s matchup.
Notre Dame vs. Louisville game information
- Teams: Notre Dame (9-16, 4-10 ACC) at Louisville (8-18, 3-12 ACC)
- Date: Wednesday, Feb. 21
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- Time: 7 p.m. ET
- Television: ESPNU
- TV announcers: Anish Shroff (play-by-play), Tom Crean (analyst)
- Radio: 960 WSBT-AM in South Bend
- Radio announcer: Tony Simeone
Matchup notables
• Louisville has five scorers averaging double figures: sophomore guards Mike James (13.5 points per game), Tre White (13.2) and Skyy Clark (13.1), junior forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (12.3) and senior forward JJ Traynor (10.1). Offense has not been the Cardinals’ main issue; they’re 194th in the nation in scoring, which isn’t good but is much better than Notre Dame at No. 346.
• The main issue is defense. Louisville ranks 329th in Division I with 78.9 opponent points per game, tied with Michigan and just behind Alabama A&M. The Cardinals allowed 89 and 86 points to Boston College and Pittsburgh, respectively, in their past two matchups.
• Lousville’s best individual skill is Huntley-Hatfield’s rebounding. He ranks fifth in the ACC with 8.5 boards per game.
• Notre Dame is coming off its bye weekend, and ACC teams in that situation are 3-10 since conference play began. However, that record was 1-10 before Pittsburgh beat Virginia on Feb. 13 and North Carolina State beat Clemson on Saturday.
• Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry was not thrilled with taking six days off after back-to-back wins, but he acknowledged there are some positives with the situation.
“We gotta keep getting good at the stuff we’re doing well, but I think there’s small things that we can add that can help us even more here down the stretch,” Shrewsberry said. “But I wanna keep playing. I hate stopping, man. But it’s probably good for everybody.”
