1. Irish vs. Wildcats This Sunday In The Eternal City Tip-off

ROME - A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity awaits the Notre Dame men's basketball program. Glenn & Stacey Murphy Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry will take his Fighting Irish abroad to Rome, Italy, to kick off the entire 2026-27 collegiate basketball season on November 1 in the Eternal City Tip-off. 

Set the alarms and get ready, for Notre Dame and Villanova will tip off inside the Palazzo dello Sport at 9:30 a.m. ET on Fox. Kevin Kugler, Bill Raftery and Kim Adams will be on the call. 

A sold-out crowd is expected at the Palazzo dello Sport, the site of the gold medal game of the 1960 Summer Olympics. 

For the Notre Dame men, it will mark the first regular-season game outside the United States in program history. It is believed to be the first game outside the United States to start a men’s college basketball season in history.

WEEK AT A GLANCE

Notre Dame and Villanova have collaborated on this unique event, bringing together two of the nation’s preeminent Catholic universities for competition in Rome, Italy. The event aligns with Notre Dame’s commitment to the holistic development of its student-athletes, including the core belief that intercollegiate athletics can and should serve the University’s educational mission.

The Fighting Irish will take off from South Bend on Wednesday evening and land in Rome around 7:45 a.m. local time. They will stay on their feet and try to acclimate right away - visiting the Colosseum, then practicing afterward.

Friday is a strict practice day, followed by some free time, plus a team meal away from the hotel.

Saturday starts with a trip to the Vatican and a private mass at St. Peter’s Basilica followed by a papal audience. The Irish will then practice at the game arena later that afternoon.

Notre Dame will return home on Monday morning, then prep for their home opener on Thursday, November 5.

ND VS VILLANOVA

Villanova leads the all-time series, 19-17. The two sides have not met since Dec. 10, 2016. The old Big East rivals played 20 times when in the same conference, with the Wildcats owning the advantage there as well, 13-7.

Villanova was picked to finish third in the Big East this season and start the 2026-27 campaign receiving votes in both the AP and Coaches polls. The Wildcats made a return to the NCAA Tournament last season, as head coach Kevin Willard guided his squad to 24 wins during his first season on the Main Line. 

Returning to the Villanova lineup in 2026-27 is preseason First-Team selection Tyler Perkins.  The 2025-26 Most Improved Player award winner and Third-Team All-BIG EAST honoree led the Wildcats in scoring a season ago at 13.7 points per outing.  A pair of Nova newcomers were also honored by the coaches, as transfer forwards Kwame Evans Jr. and Devin Royal were named to the preseason All-BIG EAST second team.

Sunday will not mark the first Shrewsberry vs. Willard matchup. They clashed twice in the Big Ten during the 2022-23 season, with Penn State and Maryland splitting the games. Penn State’s Camren Wynter won on a buzzer-beater in the March 5, 2023 matchup.

COUNTDOWN TO 2000

Notre Dame men’s basketball is a rich historical program that’s been around since 1897. It’s a program full of history, major upsets, legendary individual performances and team glory.

When the Fighting Irish begin the 2026-27 campaign, they’ll be closing in on a major milestone. The Irish are just nine wins away from reaching 2,000 all-time, beginning the year with a 1991-1146-2 record. They will become just the ninth team ever to reach the 2,000-win milestone.

It’s impossible to encapsulate over a century of accomplishments, but here are a few By The Numbers for you:

• 92 winning seasons
• 37 NCAA Tournament appearances - tied for the 12th most
• 40 NCAA Tournament wins
• 1 Final Four appearance
• 736 wins inside Purcell Pavilion since it opened on Dec. 1, 1968
• ND has knocked off the AP No. 1-ranked team eight times inside Purcell - tied for 8th most. That includes the memorable upset over UCLA on Jan. 19, 1974
• 108 ACC wins
• 13 ACC Tournament victories, which includes the 2015 ACC Tournament title
• 38 All-Americans spanning 62 honors
• 68 NBA players
• Austin Carr - NCAA Tournament scoring record holder for 61 points in a single game. His scoring average of 34.6 ppg still ranks as the 2nd highest in NCAA all-time. Carr still holds the Notre Dame scoring record, amassing 2,560 career points.

ROAD EXHIBITION TESTED

AT DEPAUL

It was one last tune-up last Friday night at Wintrust Arena for Notre Dame men’s basketball. The Fighting Irish bussed up to DePaul, secured the 71-63 exhibition victory against its old Big East rival, then bussed back all in the same day.

Brady Koehler and Braeden Smith came up big for the Blue & Gold, combining for 36 points on a combined 12-for-24 shooting. Koehler also led the team in assists with five.

It was the big three-point shooting night for the Irish, as Koehler, Smith, Ethan Roberts and Jonathan Sanderson each drained three triples. ND finished the night 12-for-30 from deep. Sanderson also finished in double digits with 13 points while Roberts followed right behind with nine. 

Notre Dame, who trailed by one at the half, utilized great defense down the stretch to ice the game. The Irish limited the Blue Demons to 35.7% shooting in the second half and just seven free throw attempts.

AT DAYTON

Notre Dame’s starters and top rotation guys took care of business in the first half, outscoring Dayton 38-33 behind 40.7 percent shooting from the floor, plus a 13-of-14 effort from the free-throw line. By the under-12 media timeout, Coach Shrewsberry subbed out his top-five and allowed his bench to have valuable minutes down the homestretch. Next, the Flyers outshot the Irish 43.8 percent to 34.6 percent in the second half to ultimately win 75-65.

Ethan Roberts was the lone Irish in double figures, finishing with 11 points in 20 minutes of action. ND had two sparks off the bench in Tommy Ahneman and Jonathan Sanderson. Ahneman supplied eight points on 3-of-4 shooting; Sanderson tallied nine points and two assists.

KOEHLER 2.0 LOADING

Sophomore Brady Koehler is poised for a breakout year. He got after it in the gym, adding over 15 pounds of muscle.

Last season, Koehler started in 13 games, playing in 30. He shot 50.7 percent from two-point range and drained 38.2 percent from beyond the arc. In ACC play, Koehler averaged 7.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, and converted 45.7 percent from the floor. He finished in double figures in three of his last four games.

Koehler’s best showing was the 2OT loss to No. 17 Virginia, when he recorded his first career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

More recently, Koehler flashed his star potential in the exhibition win at DePaul

“I thought BK was big-time,” Coach Shrewsberry said. “When he plays like that, we’re a totally different team.”

Koehler led the Irish with 19 points, plus tallied three rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block in 29 minutes.

“I think it’s just super motivating,” Koehler said of Shrewsberry’s comments. “In the locker room, they were talking about that same stuff. And it’s just like, knowing my whole team has a super-high standard for me, that just makes me want to go harder. And I mean, felt like I did that tonight.”

BRAEDEN CAREER CHARTS CHASING FROM THREE

Braeden Shrewsberry will be chasing several career three-pointer records and top-5/top-10 lists during his senior season.

He enters the 2026-27 campaign with 238 career treys, which has already cracked the program top-10. He’s tracking to surpass 300 made threes, which only three Notre Dame players have done prior:

• Colin Falls = 331
• Chris Thomas = 302
• Matt Carroll = 301
• Braeden Shrewsberry = 238 (78+72+88)

The next list to track will be career made threes in ACC play. Shrewsberry has converted 145 threes in conference play, which only trails Prentiss Hubb (157 in ACC) and Colin Falls (189 in Big East).

If Braeden were to get to 194 career threes in league play, that would put him in the top-5 all-time for any ACC player.

NEW LOOK IRISH

The Notre Dame roster has a completely new look heading into the 2026-27 season. The program lost nine student-athletes either to graduation or to the spring portal window, which included All-ACC selections Markus Burton and Jalen Haralson; however, Coach Shrewsberry countered by adding six transfers to go along with his three-player freshmen class.

With the additions, the Irish got older, hit areas of need and gained some NCAA Tournament experience as well.

First off, Coach Shrewsberry added three former League Players of the Year:

• Logan Duncomb = 2026 Big South Player of the Player
• Braeden Smith = 2024 Patriot League Player of the Year
• Ethan Roberts = 2023 Patriot League Rookie of the Year

Furthermore, three transfers earned All-Conference recognition last season:

• Duncomb (First Team All-Big South)
• Roberts (Second Team All-Ivy)
• Devin Brown (A10 All-Rookie Team)

Two of the transfers also bring NCAA Tournament experience:

• Roberts = 2026 Penn
• Smith = 2026 Gonzaga, 2024 Colgate, 2023 Colgate.

The average age of the roster is 20.4, with the projected starting five's average age being 21.8. Coach Shrewsberry has stated in the offseason, “There’s an extra maturity from this group, and that alone could make a difference in all those close-game situations.”

-- ND --