Notre Dame Men's Basketball Set To Open Season vs Radford

After a three-year absence from the NCAA Tournament, Mike Brey got the Fighting Irish back to March Madness last season. He returns a veteran group this year that has key freshmen who will make a push to get back to the tournament this season.

Where: Notre Dame, Ind – Purcell Pavilion
When: Thursday, Nov. 10 – 8:00 PM EST
Network: ACC Network
Radio: Notre Dame Radio Network – WQLQ-HD3 96.1 FM in South Bend, Tony Simeone PBP

Let's take a look at tonight's matchup:

NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (24-11, 15-5 ACC in 2021-2022)

Head Coach: Mike Brey (472-259 at Notre Dame (23rd season), 571-311 28th season overall)

Mike Brey has always loved “old teams” and he has a team full of gray beards this season. Returnees Nate Laszewski, Dane Goodwin, Trey Wertz, Cormac Ryan, and Dane Goodwin are back for their “super seasons” granted by the NCAA due to the 2020 pandemic. Those five totaled nearly 50% of the teams scoring from a year ago.

Another fifth year player, Niagara transfer Marcus Hammond, is also part of Brey’s guard rotation. Hammond averaged 12.6 points in his four seasons with the Purple Eagles. He is coming off a career-best 18.1 PPG season in which he hit 68 of 184 (37%) three-pointers. He started Notre Dame's exhibition game, but Brey said Wednesday that Hammond will miss the season opener with an MCL sprain.

Blake Wesley became the program’s first ever one and done player when he was drafted by San Antonio after his freshman season, but JJ Starling will move into the same role. The. 6-4, 200-pound five-star freshman has similar explosiveness to Wesley, but might be more refined in all around shooting skills than his talented predecessor.

Big man Paul Atkinson Jr (13.6 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 24 BPG) is also gone. 6-8 freshman Ven Allen-Lubin, one of the top power forward recruits in his class, will be counted on to replace Atkinson’s post production, but he is also considered more versatile than Atkinson.

Probable Irish Starting Lineup

G JJ Starling - 6-4, Fr. - (No Previous Stats)
G Cormac Ryan - 6-5, 5th – 9.2 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.8 APG
G Trey Wertz - 6-5, 5th - 4.0 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 1.0 APG
G Dane Goodwin - 6-6, 5th - 13.6 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.2 APG
F Nate Laszewski - 6-10, 5th – 9.3 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 18 BLK

RADFORD HIGHLANDERS (11-18 7-9 Big South Conf)

Head Coach: Darris Nichols (11-18 at the school 2nd season overall)

Radford head coach Darris Nichols is in just his second season as a head coach. The 36-year-old spent six seasons as an assistant at Florida before taking the helm at Radford last year. He returns just three letterwinners from last year’s team, but one of those three is leading scorer Josaiah Jeffers.

Nichols went to the transfer portal to fill the large void. He added five Division One transfers and one junior college transfer to the roster in the offseason. Among the new faces are redshirt junior guard DaQuan Smith, who played at Murray State under then-assistant coach Shane Nichols, who is now on the Radford staff, and 5th year Onyebuchi Ezeakudo, who started 12 games for Pitt last season. Former McDonald’s All-American Bryan Antoine is also on the roster after three injury filled seasons at Villanova.

The Highlanders already have one game under their belt. They opened their season on Monday with a 79-69 loss at Marquette.

Projected Starting Lineup

F Shaquan Jules - Stats – 5.8 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 12 BLK
G Onyebuchi Ezaekudo - Stats – 2.1 PPG, 1.7 RPG, 1.1 APG (at Pittsburgh)
G Josiah Jeffers - Stats – 10.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.7 APG
G Bryan Antoine - Stats – 1.5 PPG, 1.2 RPG (at Villanova)
G DaQuan Smith - Stats – 3.5 PPG, 1.2 RPG (at Murray State)

WHAT'S AT STAKE

This is a somewhat intriguing game to open the season for the Fighting Irish. Brey’s old veterans form the nucleus of the team, but just like with Blake Wesley last year, Starling will be the ultimate key to the team’s success this season. The freshman scored just two points on 1 for 7 shooting in 32 minutes in the team’s exhibition game against Xavier (LA).

Radford played Marquette close with their roster full of transfers to open the season on Monday. They had four players score in double figures, including a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds) from Shaquan Jules.

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