Duke Basketball: A first look at Mike Brey’s struggling Notre Dame squad

The Duke Basketball team will head to South Bend to face the struggling Notre Dame Fighting Irish who are in a complete free fall.

Ahead of Monday’s matchup between the Duke Blue Devils and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the team at Ball Durham got a chance to talk to the Notre Dame FanSided site, Slap the Sign, and Notre Dame Basketball expert Mychal Hunter about the game.

Q: It’s been a struggle, to say the least, for Notre Dame in ACC play, what has been the Irish’s biggest issue this season? 

A: I think the biggest issue has been outside shooting. The consistency just hasn’t been there. Temple Gibbs, who shot 40% last season, is at about 35% this year with seemingly more talent around him. It doesn’t make much sense. D.J. Harvey is more of a slasher than a shooter and Prentiss Hubb has yet to adjust to the speed of the college game after missing his senior season of high school with a knee injury. I think what we are seeing is our young guys being thrown right into the fire and the game has yet to slow down for them and their shooting has been the casualty of that.

Q: When Rex Pflueger went down with an ACL tear, how did that change things up for the Irish this season? 

A: There are some things that always matter in College Basketball: home court and leadership. Rex is one of the best “glue guys” in the entire country bar none. He might score 20 or he may have no points but give you eight rebounds and seven assists. Whatever it takes to get it done, Rex was your guy. He was also the guy to mentor guys like Dane Goodwin and Robby Carmody. This Notre Dame team was pretty young to begin with, and the loss of Pflueger just exacerbated that. Now those young guys have to play more minutes before they might be ready. It has accelerated the plan to bring some of the young guys along and you’re seeing the result of that as this Notre Dame team struggles to put opponents away.

Q: How have TJ Gibbs and John Mooney evolved as players this year? Have they taken that next step that was needed, or are they still in that role-player phase? 

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A: Simply put, John Mooney has been the best big man in the ACC and I’m not sure that’s up for debate. Right now I would take Mooney over Luke Maye, Elijah Thomas of Kerry Blackshear. His progression has been meteoric.

Gibbs has been ok but if I have one criticism it’s that he has become a spot up guy and he’s better than that. He’s averaging under 13 field goal attempts per game, but seven of those are 3-point attempts. He’s also only averaging around three free throw attempts per game. This is a guy who shoots 82% from the line, that’s a weapon that needs to be used. This is a guy who was ranked as the No. 3 returning player in the ACC Basketball Report’s returning players list. He has been good, but less impactful than expected.

Q: Having games against Virginia and Duke with only one day of rest is very tough, but what is the biggest challenge for Notre Dame when playing the Blue Devils? 

A: Right now it has to be health and youth. Juwan Durham didn’t play again against Virginia and the Irish were -12 on the glass. The last 18 months this program has been snake bit with injuries. Right now the Irish are without Robby Carmody, who was a great perimeter defender, to a shoulder injury, Pflueger to an ACL and Durham to a leg injury. When you combine those injuries with inexperience and a difficult ACC slate it’s hard to expect great results.

Q: At 11-9 overall and 1-5 in the ACC, what are the expectations going forward for Notre Dame this season? 

A: I think this team projects as a second-weekend team next year and that’s not a stretch at all in my eyes. They get everyone back, including Pflueger, and this talented freshman class will be a year older. Dane Goodwin is the next big star in the Irish program and next year is probably going to be an eye-opening display from him. Coach Brey is too good of a coach to stay down too long, but this years team seems to be suffering through the perfect storm of injuries, inexperience and bad luck. Next season this team is going to be ten deep and experienced, which Brey loves as the architect of “get old, stay old.”

The Blue Devils and the Fighting Irish will tip off at 7:00 pm ET from the Purcell Pavilion and can be seen on ESPN.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham on Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Duke Blue Devils vs. the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.