Notre Dame Men’s Basketball Preview & Game Thread: Irish VS Radford

Welcome back college basketball season! The Notre Dame Fighting Irish start things off at home against the Radford Highlanders.

This is Mike Brey’s oldest and most experienced team to date, and one of the most experienced teams in the country. The Irish have six players that are earning their master’s degrees right now — but this isn’t school.

Nate Laszewski, Trey Wertz, Dane Goodwin, and Cormac Ryan comprise the core group of veterans that Notre Dame will use on the court, but two freshmen will see plenty of playing time this season in J.J. Starling and Ven-Allen Lubin.

We get to see how this might all start to come together tonight in the season opener against Radford. Notre Dame is a team that is picked to finish somewhere in the middle of the pack in the ACC, but the goals of Sweet Sixteen and more are more than whispered thoughts in South Bend.

LET’S GOOOO!

ODDS

According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Irish are 18.5 point favorites against Radford with an OVER/UNDER of 137.5.

Radford Highlanders

Head Coach: Darris Nichols (2nd season)
Season Record: 0-1
Key Players: G Kenyon Giles (15 ppg), F Shaquan Jules (11 rpg), G Josiah Jeffers (6 apg))
Quick Overview: Radford started the season against Marquette. The Highlanders played a nice game, but the 8 point deficit at halftime was too much to overcome, and they lost to the Golden Eagles, 79-69.

WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW TO WATCH

When: Thursday, November 10, 8:50 PM EST
Where: Purcell Pavilion, South Bend, Indiana
How to Watch: ACC Network

GAME THREAD

The game thread is open below. I know many of us are on Twitter for most of the game, but I encourage you to vent and do other things that require more than 280 characters here.