Notre Dame Men’s Basketball: Syracuse Orange Preview

Back at it again with the white jerseys

After a week off, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s basketball team is playing a game again. On Wednesday night, the Irish return home to play another conference game against the Syracuse Orange. It will be good to go back home. The Irish look for a chance to get a win streak going this season, something we haven’t seen much of this year (hey, two is a streak). Notre Dame will host Syracuse, whom they have already played this season just this month. The Irish (11-6, 2-4) beat the Orange (11-7, 4-3) 88-87 in the Carrier Dome in an absolute thriller that went down to the wire. The game had high scoring, rainbow shots, and a little bit of a scuffle.

The Irish have no doubt struggled this season overall, especially in conference play. However, before the team got a week off, they went into Atlanta last Wednesday night and beat Georgia Tech. No matter how good or bad you are, getting road ACC wins is a great thing. This would be a good time to get a win streak and a home conference win, though. In the game last week, the Irish and the Yellow Jackets went back and forth all night, as they usually do. The Irish ended up with the 78-74 victory at the end of the night.

Players to Watch and Things to Note

-John Mooney: On Wednesday, John ‘Mutton” Mooney recorded his 11th straight double-double on the season. Actually, in all but 1 of the games he has played this season, John recorded a double-double. He has been a freak and consistent with that this season, and he is on his way to averaging a double-double this season. He has been a consistent, bright spot for the team. That 11th straight double-double ties him with Luke Harangody (ever heard of him?) for most double-doubles in a row all time for the men’s basketball team.

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-Prentiss Hubb: Prentiss has been an interesting player this year. He has an unconventional (read: rainbow) shot that sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Recently, though, he has seen some success with that lefty shot of his. He sparked the Irish offense in both conference wins, also making the very clutch shots at the end of the first game vs. Syracuse. If he can get hot, the offense can score a lot of points.

-Buddy Boeheim: Yes, Jim Boeheim’s son is on the team, and he is making some waves. He is averaging just over 16 PPG and is shooting about 40% from the field. He is a very good shooter that can go off at any minute. He will need to be contained/have a bad game or else the Irish will have to be in another shootout.

-Joe Girard: Speaking of keeping someone contained, the Irish will have to do that with Girard. He has been a solid shooter, too. He also was set off in the game against the Irish earlier this month when Prentiss Hubb taunted him. He then caught the shooting fever and a lot of motivation. It did make for quite a show, but Irish fans saw that he can shoot from deep.

-Even though Syracuse is having a bit of a down year for their standards, they are 3-1 in conference since they played the Irish.

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Game Details

The Irish will host the Orange on Wednesday, January 22 at 7 PM. You can watch the game on ESPN2. It should be an interesting game, but unfortunately not of the same caliber as some other ND-Cuse games in Purcell Pavilion in the past. It’s always an entertaining battle between two teams that have history now in the ACC but then also from the old Big East days. And one thing about the game you all should know.........

RED PANDA WILL BE PRESENT!!!!!

Red Panda, aka the greatest halftime act that isn’t a marching band, will be gracing Purcell Pavilion with her presence to show us her wonderful bowl-on-head, unicycling talent. She is a national treasure and a gem.

Photo by Matthew Maxey/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images