Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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things he does … [he's] unbelievably smart basketball‑wise. Jerian hated play‑ ing against him because he can guard you, he can guard anybody. We put him on the best guy." A critical part of Notre Dame's late run last season was improved execu‑ tion on the defensive end of the court, and Brey thinks that could carry over into this year with his new lineup. Jack‑ son and Vasturia are proven defenders, and adding Beachem and Colson to the lineup provides some length that the Irish didn't have last year. "Look at the starting lineup I gave you," Brey said. "When you put Beachem and Colson on the floor, and Grant and Connaughton out — don't compare them as players, but think about the wingspan that is added to the court and the wingspans that aren't on the court anymore. And Connaugh‑ ton and Grant, it's not like I was on them about guarding guys all the time, because I needed them to score and I didn't need them to get in foul trouble. "But Beachem and Colson are long — like the court is smaller. We get more deflections. We block a few more shots when Beachem and Colson are in there. We rebound a little higher. It's the one time I've said our defense is ahead of our offense, right now. And that's re‑ ally not been the case here in our pro‑ gram, but I can say that right now. And I think a lot of it is just the bodies that are added. Jackson and Vasturia are two of the better defensive guards in the country — they may be the best. And Auguste improved." Brey and the Irish open the season with a home exhibition against St. Fran‑ cis (Ill.) at 7 p.m. on Oct. 30. ✦ 2015-16 NOTRE DAME MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Oct. 30 St. Francis (Ill.)* 7 p.m. Nov. 5 Caldwell* 7 p.m. Nov. 13 St. Francis (Pa.) (ESPN3) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17 Wisc.-Milwaukee (ESPN3) 7 p.m. Nov. 21 UMass-Lowell (ESPN3) 2 p.m. Nov. 26 vs. Monmouth# (ESPNU) 6:30 p.m. Nov. 27 vs. Dayton/ 7/9 p.m. Iowa# (ESPN2/3) Nov. 29 vs. TBA# TBA Dec. 2 at Illinois (ESPN2) 9:15 p.m. Dec. 8 Stony Brook (ESPNU) 9 p.m. Dec. 13 Loyola Chicago (ESPN3) 2 p.m. Dec. 19 vs. Indiana^ (ESPN2) 2 p.m. Dec. 21 Youngstown State (ESPN3) 7 p.m. Dec. 29 Liberty (ESPNU) 3 p.m. Jan. 2 at Virginia (ESPN2) 5 p.m. Jan. 7 at Boston College (RSN) 7 p.m. Jan. 9 Pittsburgh (RSN) 4 p.m. Jan. 13 Georgia Tech (ACCN) 9 p.m. Jan. 16 at Duke (ESPN/2) 2 p.m. Jan. 20 Virginia Tech (RSN) 7 p.m. Jan. 23 Boston College (ACCN/RSN) 12 p.m. Jan. 28 at Syracuse (ESPN/2) 7 p.m. Jan. 31 Wake Forest (ACCN) 1 p.m. Feb. 3 at Miami (ESPN2) 7 p.m. Feb. 6 North Carolina (ESPN/2) 2/7 p.m. Feb. 8 at Clemson (ESPNU) 9 p.m. Feb. 13 Louisville (ESPN/2) 4/9 p.m. Feb. 20 at Georgia Tech (ESPN2) 8 p.m. Feb. 24 at Wake Forest (RSN) 9 p.m. Feb. 27 at Florida State (ESPN/2) TBA March 2 Miami (ESPN2) 7 p.m. March 5 NC State (CBS) 12 p.m. March 8-12 ACC Championship$ TBA * Exhibition; # Advocare Invitational at Orlando, Fla. (Notre Dame, USC, Wichita State, Dayton, Xavier, Ala- bama, Iowa, Monmouth); ^ at Indianapolis; $ at Veri- zon Center in Washington, D.C.; RSN — Regional Sports Network; ACCN — ACC Network