Notre Dame Has Monster Task in Hosting Duke on Tuesday

Notre Dame lost an absolute "can't lose" game on Saturday at Pittsburgh, and the Fighting Irish are essentially on life support when it comes to even making the ACC Tournament.

Notre Dame sits tied for 15th place currently with Pittsburgh, but only 15 of the 18 teams make the ACC Tournament. Since Pittsburgh beat Notre Dame in their only head-to-head meeting, Notre Dame will have to win one more game than the Panthers the rest of the way to get into the conference tournament.

It would appear that won't likely come Tuesday night in South Bend. That's when Notre Dame will welcome college basketball's new No. 1 team to town in the form of the Duke Blue Devils.

Duke Comes in Red Hot

Duke will enter Tuesday night's contest at Notre Dame fresh off one of the most impressive wins by any team this season, as it knocked off No. 1 Michigan in Washington, D.C. The win, coupled with Houston's defeat of No. 2 Arizona, moved the Blue Devils from No. 3 to No. 1 in the last AP Poll.

Duke is 25-2 overall and 13-1 in ACC play. It's only conference loss came on a last-second three pointer at North Carolina earlier this month, and its only other loss was all the way back four days before Christmas when it coughed up a 17-point second half lead and fell to Texas Tech at Madison Square Garden.

Duke holds a 32-8 edge against Notre Dame head-to-head all-time, and Notre Dame has won just once in its last 13 tries against the Blue Devils, dating back to January of 2017.

Duke is currently listed as a 15.5-point favorite against Notre Dame, and is given a 92% chance at victory according to ESPN's Matchup Predictor.

Duke Hangs in Chicago Before South Bend Trip

With Chicagoland native (and high school basketball legend) Jon Scheyer heading the Duke basketball program, the Blue Devils made a stop at a Chicago landmark before heading to South Bend.

Scheyer brought his team to iconic, The Weiners Circle on Chicago's north side.

Thank you to coach Jon Scheyer, aka 2006 Mr basketball of Illinois, aka white Mike 😂, for bringing in Duke Men’s basketball for lunch pic.twitter.com/arc5fxTgDf
— The Wieners Circle (@TheWienerCircle) February 22, 2026

For those who have never been, The Weiners Circle represents everything right in the world.

When you walk in you're set to get absolutely roasted by Poochie (pictured in the center, above) and left contemplating life in a way you've never done before.

I can only imagine what she had up her sleeve for Scheyer. And did she go after the Boozer boys for the defense their father played (or didn't play) during his time with the Chicago Bulls?

Notre Dame fans best hope that Duke got loaded up on Chocolate Shakes during Sunday's visit, and that those will weigh them down on Tuesday night, because it feels like its going to be a long evening for the Fighting Irish.