5. Friday Night Lights - Irish Hoops Version

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – With Las Vegas looming around the corner for Notre Dame men’s basketball, Glenn & Stacey Murphy Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry emphasized to his team to focus at the task of hand — to improve to 5-0, to take down a game Elon squad and to protect the home court. The Fighting Irish (4-0) vs. Phoenix (2-2) matchup will mark ND’s first weekend home game of the year and it comes with a special start time of 7:30 p.m. ET. Tickets are still available for purchase on FightingIrish.com.

IRISH OFF TO 4-0 START

 The Irish and Phoenix have only met twice in history with the last being a 94-63 ND victory on Dec. 16, 2006. Here’s what’s at stake:

• In Notre Dame’s 4-0 start, they have scored 75+ points in each. If they get to 75 points on Friday night, it’ll mark the first time they’ve opened the season with five straight of 75 since the 2009-10 season.
• The Irish have shot over 50% in four consecutive games as well. The last time they shot 50% in five straight to start the year – the 2014-15 season.

A BURTON GAME IN GAME 4

In Notre Dame’s 75-58 victory over North Dakota, Burton was a bucket shy of a career-high and rebound shy of his first career double-double. Burton dropped 29 points on 13-of-20 shooting. He also tied his career high in rebounds with nine.

He’s currently the only player in the country averaging 20+ points, 5+ assists, and 6+ rebounds.

NOT LAST YEAR’S OFFENSE

The Irish are shooting a hot 53.0 percent from the field which ranks 14th nationally and second in the ACC. They are also shooting a blistering 62.6 percent from two, which ranks 16th in the country.

Diving deeper – Notre Dame is one of the best mid-range jump-shooting teams in the country. They are converting 60.7 percent from the mid-range which ranks seventh nationally.

CBB Analytics has Notre Dame’s offensive rating at 122.3 which ranks 42nd in the country. KenPom’s offensive efficiency ranking puts the Irish at No. 55.

OTHER NOTABLE STATS

• Notre Dame’s overall KenPom ranking is up to No. 51. Keep in mind, they finished last year at No. 118.
• Notre Dame’s current highest national ranking on NCAA Statistics – defensive rebounds per game. The Irish are averaging 33.0 per game which ranks ninth in the nation and first in the ACC.
• Irish are shooting 78.9% from the free-throw line which ranks 33rd nationally and fourth in the ACC.
• Lastly, Notre Dame is averaging 40.0 points in the paint, while limiting its opposition to just 22.0 points. ND’s 40.0 pts in the paint ranks 44th nationally.

TAE’S HOT START

Tae Davis is averaging the second most points on the team with 14.3 ppg. He’s shooting 56.7 percent from the floor.

In the Buffalo victory, he poured in a career-high 27 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Plus he drained a career-best 12-of-13 from free-throw line. Davis got it done in crunch time as well, scoring 13 of Notre Dame’s final 15 points. He followed that up with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the Georgetown road win. He grabbed a team-high eight boards.

Davis is averaging 7.8 fouls drawn/40 minutes which ranks 48th nationally. With that in mind, Tae has improved his free-throw numbers every season in college and he is off to a great start this season, shooting 87.5 percent (21-24). A season ago Tae was 72.3 percent from the stripe.

INTRODUCING MUSH

If Irish fans weren’t familiar with Matt Allocco’s game, they were after the Georgetown game. A team high 17 points, team-high seven assists, plus five rebounds. He was nearly a perfect 4-for-5 from three in the first half.

Allocco is both the vocal leader and vet guidance for this young squad. He’s a gamer and super competitor. He ranks 18th nationally in both true shooting percentage (80.8) and effective field goal percentage (81.2).

And it’s not just his shooting. Allocco ranks 20th in the nation and fourth in the ACC with his 6.5 assist/turnover ratio.

— ND —