Notre Dame Men’s Basketball: Fighting Irish VS Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Preview

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish begin a two game road trip at Georgia Tech this Saturday, February 6th. Notre Dame (7-9, 4-6) faces Georgia Tech (8-6, 4-4), and hopes to add another tally to their win column.

Here are some statistics for this Saturday’s match-up.

• Notre Dame’s three-point shooting percentage in its last two road games was .547 (23-42). The two games compiling these numbers were Miami and Pittsburgh. (The Irish were 13-24 against Miami on January 24th, and 10-18 against Pittsburgh on January 30th.)
• Irish graduate forward Juwan Durham’s career field goal percentage right now is .566, which ranks him fifth on the Notre Dame career charts since 1996-1997, for a player with at least 200 FGM. (More here on page 4.)
• Junior Nate Laszewski is currently in three top 10 categories in the nation: EFG% (.727, 2nd); FG% (.623, ninth) and 3FG% (.509, 10th). He is also the only major conference player in the nation shooting .600 from the field, .500 from 3FG range, and averaging over 8.0 rebounds per game.
• So far this season, the Irish have had to cancel five scheduled games due to COVID-19 safety guidelines, and two have been rescheduled (Pittsburgh and Syracuse). The home game vs. Georgia Tech that was supposed to have been played on January 6th has yet to be rescheduled.
• On the upswing ... Notre Dame’s 26-point win over Pittsburgh on Jan. 30th, followed by the 21-point victory against Wake Forest on Feb. 2nd, was the first time since the Irish joined the ACC (2013-14) that they’ve won back-to-back games by 20 points or more.
• Notre Dame and Georgia Tech’s match-up on Saturday evening will be their 24th, with the Irish holding a narrow 12-11 lead in the series. Notre Dame has won the last four contests against the Yellow Jackets and will be looking to win five straight for the first time in the series between the two teams.
• Nate Laszewski pulled down 39 rebounds in the last three games. He has increased his rebounds-per-game average from 4.6 last season to 8.2 in 2020-21 – which ranks him third in the ACC entering this weekend’s games.
• Juwan Durham has 160 career blocked shots, which passes Torin Francis (157) to move into fourth on the Notre Dame career list. Durham is one of only three Irish players to average over 2.0 blocks per game in a career (The other two are LaPhonso Ellis, and current Irish assistant coach Ryan Humphrey).
• Prentiss Hubb has 244 career assists in ACC play, which is the most of any active ACC player (Xavier Johnson, Pittsburgh, is second with 219) and seventh among all active major conference players. Hubb is the first Irish player to record 200 assists in ACC play.
• Prentiss Hubb also has 384 career assists, and is one of only two major conference players to have over 380 assists and 150 three point field goals in a career. The other two players are in their fifth season of action, Hubb is only in his third. (More here on page 4.)

ESPN’s Basketball Power Index gives the Irish only a 42.9% chance of beating the Yellow Jackets on the road.

WHEN, WHERE AND HOW TO WATCH

When: Saturday, February 6, 2021, 8:00 p.m. ET

Where: McCamish Pavilion, Atlanta, GA

How to watch: ACC Network with Jay Alter and Dan Bonner, or listen to the Notre Dame Radio Network with Jack Nolan.

GAME THREAD

If you’d like to watch the game with friends, and share some in-game banter ... the comments section here will serve as your game thread.

Cheers & GO IRISH!