Louisville's Chris Mack: "We know who Notre Dame is"

Louisville men’s basketball plays its first of three conference road games when it faces Notre Dame in South Bend Jan. 11. The Cardinals (12-3) snapped a two-game losing streak Tuesday with a 74-58 victory over Miami to improve to 3-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

Louisville is tasked with slowing down the nation’s best rebounder in John Mooney. The 6-foot-9 senior is the country’s leading rebounder, averaging 13.6 rebounds per game, along with 15.8 points.

Mooney’s rebounding prowess starts with his motor. Louisville coach Chris Mack said the forward plays extremely hard.

“He has long arms, he has great size,” Mack said. “When you want the ball, you combine that with good instincts and long arms.”

Mooney finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds in Notre Dame’s loss to NC State Jan. 8, his 12 double-double this season.

Center Steven Enoch said keeping Mooney off the offensive glass is the most important thing for Louisville to do.

“We have to make sure we keep him off the glass and we have to cover the pick-and-pop because he can spread the floor,” Enoch said. “He can also score from all three levels.”

Notre Dame doesn’t make too many mistakes with the basketball. The Fighting Irish lead the nation in assists-to-turnover ratio (1.86) and is third in fewest turnovers per game (9.9).

Notre Dame makes 10.0 3-pointers per game, which ranks 17 nationally. T.J. Gibbs has made a team-high 38 shots from behind the arc while Prentiss Hubb ranks second on the team with 35 made 3-pointers.

Six different players have made 10 or more 3-pointers for Notre Dame, a team that is shooting 34.8 percent from beyond the arc this season.

“Offensively, they do a very good job of being diligent with the ball and getting it in the right spots,” Mack said. “They post up Mooney when they can. They shoot an awful lot of threes.”

On the defensive side, Mack said Louisville knows how the Irish play. Opponents are averaging 65.4 points per game against Notre Dame.

“They play a lot of zone, so that tends to keep their guys out of foul trouble,” Mack said. “They go under a lot of ball screens. They are very soft with their pressure on the basketball, so that leads to a lot less fouling.”