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Duke Basketball: Irish trying to ‘wake up the echoes’ against Blue Devils

By Kevin Connelly

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - JANUARY 15: Head coach Mike Brey of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish talks to his players during the first half of a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Dean Smith Center on January 15, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - JANUARY 15: Head coach Mike Brey of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish talks to his players during the first half of a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Dean Smith Center on January 15, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be looking “wake up the echoes” for a major upset against the Duke Basketball team on Monday night.

As made famous by the Notre Dame Football team and its Fight Song, the Notre Dame Basketball team will look to “wake up the echoes” against the Duke Blue Devils on Monday night as the Irish look for a signature victory on the season.

It has been a rough season for Mike Brey‘s team as the Irish are normally one of the most consistent teams in the ACC, but injuries and an influx of inexperienced players have doomed the Irish this season.

The biggest blow to the Irish this season has been the injury to star Rex Pflueger who tore his ACL and is out for the remainder of the season. In ten games this season, Pflueger averaged 8.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.7 steals while shooting 39.0% from the field and 38.9% from 3-point range.

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While trying to replace Matt Farrell and Bonzie Colson is never easy, the Irish started off the season at 6-1, but the one loss was an ugly one at home to Radford, 63-60.

The Irish would then lose back to back games against Oklahoma and UCLA, but find a way to beat Purdue in an in-state rivalry game.

The win over the Boilermakers jump started a four game winning streak for Notre Dame to end the non-conference schedule, finishing the slate at 10-3.

Since the last non-conference win over Coppin State, it has been all downhill for the Irish, with back to back losses to Virginia Tech and Syracuse to start ACC play, followed by a home victory against Boston College, which has been followed by four straight defeats.

In the four game losing streak for Notre Dame, three of the losses have come against ranked teams, on the road against then No. 13 North Carolina and at home against then No. 17 North Carolina State and Saturday against No. 3 Virginia.

The other loss came on the road against Georgia Tech, 63-61.

The Irish have been led this season by John Mooney, T.J. Gibbs, and D.J. Harvey.

Mooney leads the team in points, rebounds, and blocks as he averages 14.5 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game, while shooting 52.5% from the floor and 45.5% from 3-point range.

With Pflueger out of the lineup, Gibbs leads the team in assists at 3.9 assists per game, but also averages 13.4 points and 2.2 rebounds, but has struggled shooting the ball at 34.5% from the field and 34.1% from 3-point range.

Related Story. A first look at Mike Brey’s struggling Notre Dame squad. light

As for Harvey, he has been effiecnt scoring and on the backboard with 11.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, shooting 40.1% from the field, but an abysmal 29.3% from 3-point range.

The Irish certainly don’t have the quality of players the team has had in years past, but this will be Notre Dame’s National Championship.

Yes, they got rolled by Virginia on Saturday, but the Cavaliers aren’t considered a a ‘blue blood program’.

Duke is the standard in college basketball, Duke has the star freshman, Duke are the favorites to win the National Championship.

The Irish will be ready to play and the Purcell Pavilion will be rocking and ready to go at 7:00 pm ET on Monday. The game 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. 

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