North Carolina State University Athletics
Gary Hahn's Scouting Report: Notre Dame
11/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 25, 2005
NC STATE (4-0) vs. NOTRE DAME (2-0) in John Wooden Classic
DATE:Saturday, November, 26, 2005, at Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
TIME: Tip-off: 7:00 p.m. EST
RADIO: Wolfpack Radio Network.
AIRTIME: 6:30 p.m. EST
TELEVISION: Fox Sports Net
OPPONENT--Notre Dame plays it third game this week when the Irish take on NC State. Coach Mike Brey's squad opened up the regular season on Sunday afternoon with an 84-66 victory over Lafayette. The Irish were led by Rob Kurz' career-high 18 points, while Chris Quinn and Colin Falls each finished with 15 points. Torin Francis led all rebounders with 14 boards, in addition to scoring eight points, as Notre Dame outrebounded the Leopards 43-29 in the game. Quinn finished with a career-best nine assists in the game.
On Tuesday night, Falls scored 19 points, making five 3-pointers, Quinn added 16 and Notre Dame held Hofstra to 17 points in the second half, beating the Pride 69-50. Hofstra shot just 22.5 percent in the second half including 2-of-13 from the three-point arc. With the Irish trailing 36-32 early in the second half, Falls made a pair of free throws and Russell Carter hit a 3-pointer to begin a 14-3 run that gave Notre Dame a 46-38 lead.
After two games, the Irish are shooting 47 percent from the field and an impressive 44 percent from the three-point line (19-43) while sinking 71 percent of their free throws. They've also averaged 8 steals a game and hold a +6.5 rebounding margin.
In Notre Dame's season-opening game against Lafayette, two of the Irish players were relatively new additions to the starting lineup. Carter made just his second career start, while Kurz was in the starting lineup for the first time in his collegiate career. In contrast, the other three Irish starters - Quinn, Francis and Falls --carried 166 combined starts into the 2005-06 opener. Quinn and Francis are less than 100 points away from reaching the 1,000 career plateau.
Last season, the Irish finished 17-12 and sixth in the Big East (9-7), but lost in the opening round of the Big East Tournament to Rutgers and fell to Holy Cross in the first round of the NIT.
Notre Dame is the only team from one of the six major conferences to have a winning record in league play each of the past two seasons yet fail to make the NCAA Tournament. Over the last six years, Notre Dame is one of 25 teams nationally that has averaged better than 20 wins per season. The Irish compiled a 123-71 record for a .634 winning percentage heading into the 2005-06 campaign.
The current Notre Dame squad features two McDonald's High School All-Americans in Francis and Zeller. Zeller was Indiana's high school Mr. Basketball last season.
A WIN--Would move the Wolfpack to 5-0 and mark the first win away from home for NC State this season. Herb Sendek's overall record against non-conference competition would improve to 95-31 (85-22 in regular season play). The Pack would improve to 3-4 against Notre Dame in the all-time series.
A LOSS--Would stop a four-game winning streak and drop the Wolfpack to 4-1. The Pack would lose for the first time away from home this season and fall to 2-5 against Notre Dame in the all-time series. Herb Sendek's overall record against non-conference opponents would drop to 94-32.
NOTES--The Pack has recorded a 3-point field goal in 504 consecutive games dating back to March 4, 1989 versus Wake Forest...State has 12-games on its 2005-06 schedule against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season...Herb Sendek has eight career victories over six different coaches who have at least 700 career wins....In the last six seasons 40 percent of NC State's games have been decided by 8 points or less. The Pack had 13 of those "nail biters" last season.
