Boston College Men’s Basketball @ Notre Dame Previewed

BC has now dropped four games in a row but now has a shot to reverse course of their season with the start of conference play. They travel to South Bend to face the 6-2 Irish, whose two losses have come against ACC opponents. This will be an even tougher road trip with the report that Nik Popovic will be out indefinitely with an unspecified back injury as reported by Jon Rothstein via Twitter (https://twitter.com/jonrothstein/status/1202972392714321920?s=21). BC can’t afford to play like they did Northwestern if they’re going to grind a win out at Notre Dame

Where

Purcell Pavilion

South Bend, IN

When

December 7, 2019

2 pm

How to Watch

The game will be aired on ESPNU. You can find ESPNU on channel 208 for DirecTV (1208 VOD), channel 141 Dish Network, and channel 573 (73 standard def) for Verizon Fios. For streaming options it is available on Sling TV’s Sports Extra Package, YouTube TV’s base package, HULU + Live TV’s base package, PlayStation Vue’s Core Plan, and AT&T TV Now’s Max package.

How to Listen

WEEI 850 AM

Previewing Notre Dame

Notre Dame finished fourteenth in the ACC this past season and even though they are out to a 6-2 start, their record is deceiving. Those two losses came against UNC and Maryland who have also been their only noteworthy opponents. This is not a high scoring team, scoring only 72.4 points per game and that average is helped by a two 90 point performances against Fairleigh Dickinson and Robert Morris. Notre Dame is only shooting 40.2% from the field and 31.2% from three. The Irish also turn the ball over at average of 9.5 per game.

Players to Watch Out For

John Mooney. The senior forward is the Irish’s big man inside and their leading scorer with 14.7 points per game, as well as the team leader in rebounds with 12.9. Mooney is also fourth on the team in assists with 2.3 per game, as well as third on the team in steals. The loss on Popovic means BC will have to devote even more effort to slowing Mooney down.

How Does BC Win?

BC needs to get hot from the perimeter. A quite obvious factor in BC’s four game slide has been their struggles shooting the ball. Rebounding and good defense are ways to mitigate shooting troubles but with the loss of Popovic BC will be a bit undermanned inside the paint. That puts the pressure back on BC’s shooters like Jay Heath and Derryck Thornton to hit their shots when they get them. Better perimeter scoring will also make it easier on BC’s interior defenders, as better shooting will hopefully draw John Mooney away from the basket.

Predictions

BC – 68 / Notre Dame 67