Notre Dame Basketball Set To Open Gotham Classic vs Southern Indiana

Notre Dame men’s basketball is set to play the first of three games in the 10th annual Gotham Classic when it hosts Southern Indiana Wednesday night. The Irish will host Bowling Green in its second game of the Classic next Tuesday and then play St. Bonaventure at UBS Arena at Belmont Park in Elmont, NY on Nov. 25 in the feature game of the event.

Where: Notre Dame, Ind – Purcell Pavilion
When: Wednesday, Nov. 16 – 8:00 PM EST
Network: ACC Network
Radio: Notre Dame Radio Network – WSBT 960 AM in South Bend, Tony Simeone PBP

Let's take a look at today’s matchup:

NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (2-0, 0-0 ACC)

Head Coach: Mike Brey (474-259 at Notre Dame (23rd season), 573-311 28th season overall)

Notre Dame followed its season-opening win over Radford with an 88-81 home win over Youngstown State this past Sunday.

Dane Goodwin led five Fighting Irish players in double figures with 20 points in the win, while Nate Laszewski turned in a double double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Highly touted freshman JJ Starling finished with 14 points, thanks in part to 3 for 4 shooting from 3-point range.

Probable Irish Starting Lineup

G JJ Starling - 6-3, Fr. - (No Previous Stats)
G Cormac Ryan - 6-5, 5th – 9.2 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.8 APG
G Dane Goodwin - 6-6, 5th - 13.6 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.2 APG
G Trey Wertz - 6-5, 5th. - 4.0 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 2.0 APG
F Nate Laszewski - 6-10, 5th – 9.3 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 18 BLK

Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles (2-0, 0-0 Ohio Valley Conf.)

Head Coach: Stan Gouard (30-13 in 3th year at the school, 258-130 in 15th season overall)

Southern Indiana is in its first season of the transition process from Division II to Division I. Under the NCAA’s transition policy, the Screaming Eagles will not be eligible to compete in either the NCAA Tournament or the NIT until the 2026-2027 season.

Head coach Stan Gouard led SIU to the Division II NCAA tournament in his first season at the helm in 2021. He spent the previous 12 seasons at Indianapolis, where he led the Greyhounds to six consecutive DII NCAA Tournament appearances from 2011-2016. He took them to another in 2020.

USI is led by senior guard Jelani Simmons, who was named Preseason All-OVC by Blue Ribbon Basketball Magazine and the league coaches and athletic communicators after averaging 14.2 points and 4.5 rebounds game last year. He is joined by Tyler Henry, who was the team’s second leading scorer at 12.2 ppg.

Opponent Projected Starting Lineup (2021-2022 Stats)

G Jelani Simmons- Stats – 14.2PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.7 APG
C Kiyron Powell - Stats – 2.3 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 4 BLK
G Gary Solomon - Stats – (DNP Last Year)
G Isaiah Swope - Stats – 8.2 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 2.4 AST
F Trevor Lakes - Stats – 1.5 PPG, .9 RPG

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Southern Indiana pushed Missouri in its season opener, but ultimately fell 97-91 on the road. They hit 15 of 30 3-pointers in that game and followed that by going 6 for 16 in their 71-53 win over Southern Illinois last week. Simmons was named OVC Player of the Week after averaging 20.5 points in the two games.

Notre Dame’s five starters are averaging at least 34 minutes per game through two games. Ven-Allen Lubin is the sixth man, averaging 19.9 minutes. Matt Zona played 2.0 minutes against Youngstown. Niagara transfer Marcus Hammond is expected to miss his third straight game with an MCL strain.

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