University of North Carolina Athletics
Know Your Opponent: Notre Dame
February 6, 2016 | Men's Basketball
Location: South Bend, Ind.
Rankings: ND - No. 34 KenPom, NR AP; UNC - No. 4 KenPom, No. 2 AP
Records: ND - 15-7, 6-4 ACC; UNC - 19-3, 8-1 ACC
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Carolina leads 18-6 (Notre Dame 90, UNC 82, March 14, 2015, Greensboro Coliseum)
Last year, Mike Brey's Fighting Irish had the No. 2 offense in America, with cornerstone seniors Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton leading the way. Grant, a consensus first-team All-American, commanded the high-powered offense as a scoring point guard who made 57 percent of his 2s and led the ACC in assist rate, while Connaughton was one of four players on the ND roster who made better than 40 percent of his 3s.
With Grant and Connaughton gone, Notre Dame has only become the No. 1 offense in America in 2016, scoring almost 1.19 points per possession in conference play. Junior Demetrius Jackson has inherited the lead guard role from Grant and has hit the ground running to the tune of 16.0 points per game and a 2.6-to-1 assist-turnover ratio. He's one of five Irish players averaging double figures, and senior big man Zach Auguste is good for a double-double nightly as the team's - and perhaps the league's - best rebounder.
Also back are deep threats Steve Vasturia and V.J. Beachem as well as rapidly improving sophomore forward Bonzie Colson, who gives Brey more of a traditional power forward than the more perimeter-oriented Connaughton. Notre Dame ranks in the top 40 nationally in effective shooting percentage and turnover rate, meaning it doesn't need to play fast (304th in adjusted tempo) to score at an elite level.
But it's not all happy news in South Bend. After playing enough quality defense a season ago to win 32 games, grab the ACC title and push Kentucky in one of the best NCAA tournament games in recent memory, the Irish have dipped back to the defensive form that saw them slump to a 15-17 finish in 2014. No team in the ACC ranks lower in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency rankings, where the Irish sit at 227th. Notre Dame allowed 79 points in 63 possessions in a loss at Miami on Wednesday, a continuation of a troubling trend, especially away from home. In their only home loss of the year, the Irish yielded a whopping 86 points in 63 possessions to Pitt.
Notre Dame has not lost consecutive games since the end of the 2014 season, and with ESPN GameDay in town, Carolina can expect the home team's best shot after a disappointing effort at Miami during the week. The Irish has just enough quality wins to feel comfortable about its NCAA standing (Iowa and Duke stand out), and an RPI of 36 entering Saturday is squarely on the good side of the selection line. But with four more road games looming down the stretch, Notre Dame will be plenty motivated to grab one more big win on its home court.
