Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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MEN'S BASKETBALL Trailing Pittsburgh closely was Notre Dame at No. 32 and Florida State at No. 39. The Seminoles opened the year 9-2 overall, but they were 1-2 against the top 100, including an 82-77 loss to No. 98 Hofstra. Behind a 10-3 beginning to the year that included an 84-72 loss to St. John's (7-6), Syracuse was knocking on the door of the top 50 at No. 52. CHALLENGING SLATE FOR IRISH In all, half of Notre Dame's schedule (nine games) include the teams in the top two tiers, and five of those are on the road. That's in addition to a home- and-home with No. 77 Georgia Tech, a road tilt at No. 93 Clemson and a home contest against No. 70 North Carolina State. Only five of Notre Dame's confer- ence games include teams outside the Kenpom.com top 100. Home-and- homes with No. 185 Boston College and No. 104 Wake Forest, plus a home contest against No. 117 Virginia Tech are the only "breaks" the Irish get. Last year 's squad played a slightly less challenging ACC stretch than this year 's team faces, taking on seven top-50 teams in the conference. That squad lost four ACC games, but ad- vanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. That means this year 's team — which is still going through some growing pains — could play really well in the conference and still lose six or more ACC games. So after winning 32 games a season ago, Notre Dame might need the postseason just to sur- pass the 20-win marker this year. ✦ 2015-16 NOTRE DAME MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Oct. 30 St. Francis (Ill.)* W, 87-56 Nov. 5 Caldwell* W, 81-56 Nov. 13 St. Francis (Pa.) W, 87-56 Nov. 17 Milwaukee W, 86-78 Nov. 21 UMass Lowell W, 83-57 Nov. 26 vs. Monmouth# L, 70-68 Nov. 27 vs. Iowa# W, 68-62 Nov. 29 vs. Alabama# L, 74-73 Dec. 2 at Illinois W, 84-79 Dec. 8 Stony Brook W, 86-61 Dec. 13 Loyola Chicago W, 81-61 Dec. 19 vs. Indiana^ L, 80-73 Dec. 21 Youngstown State W, 87-78 Dec. 29 Liberty W, 73-56 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