A Rough Night Ahead? Notre Dame Faces Tough Task at North Carolina

Notre Dame gets a tough test on Wednesday night as it travels to North Carolina

Jan 17, 2026; Blacksburg, Virginia, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry looks at the official during the first half at Cassell Coliseum. | Brian Bishop-Imagn Images

Although Notre Dame's football season has been over for quite some time now, college football as a whole just came to an end earlier this week. That leaves some, like myself, finally making the transition to basketball season and whew boy, we've got another doozie for Notre Dame.

Micah Shrewsberry's boys started off the year well enough, going 9-3 to start, but an absurd loss to Purdue Fort-Wayne in South Bend on December 21 sent the Irish spiraling. Including that night, Notre Dame is just 1-5 over its last six, which includes a 1-4 mark to start ACC play.

And things won't be getting any easier for Notre Dame Wednesday night when it travels to Chapel Hill, a place that has given it issues regularly.

Notre Dame Travels to No. 22 North Carolina

Notre Dame will be at North Carolina on Wednesday night, in a game that can be seen at 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2. It's a place that Notre Dame has only won once all time, all the way back in the first days of 2015 when the Irish escaped with a 71-70 victory.

This North Carolina team might not be stacked full of NBA talent like Tar Heels' teams we've seen before, but it has plenty to cause problems for the Irish.

Notre Dame will have to slow down North Carolina Caleb Wilson if it is to have much hope in pulling the upset, as he averages nearly 20 points and pulls down over 10 rebounds per game.

Notre Dame has been trying to tread water since point guard Markus Burton went down in early December, but it has clearly struggled to find a rhythm.

Quotable:

“I don’t want to jinx us or say anything, but we’ve played well on the road. This group has had a really tough, dog mentality on the road where we’ve kind of galvanized when we’ve been together, when we’ve gone into tough environments.” — Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry after last week’s loss against Miami, but before it traveled to Virginia Tech where it fell, 89-76.

Betting Information:

North Carolina is currently a 12.5-point favorite over the Fighting Irish after opening as a 10.5-point pick. The total of the game sits at 148.5 while the moneylines are as follows: Notre Dame +600, North Carolina -900.

ESPN's Matchup Predictor gives Notre Dame just a 20.3% chance of walking out of the Dean Dome with a victory Wednesday night.