Unleash the Irish Basketball Phenomenon

Enjoying Home Cooking: The Early Success

Fire up that flat top and throw some more cherry-flavored wood on the smoker! It's time for Notre Dame men's basketball to enjoy some home cooking. The Irish are out of the gate at 3-0 after three games in 11 days. They have a chance to get to 5-0 with two winnable home games this week. That precedes four straight games away from home, starting next week in Las Vegas. This means win this week and win at home. Notre Dame is a together group, a confident group, and they believe they can be even better than they've shown in just three games.

Graduate student Matt Allocco scored 17 points with five rebounds and seven assists, and Tae Davis added 13 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's 84-63 win at Georgetown. Notre Dame led for the final 35:18 and by as many as 25. Davis is averaging a career-high 16.3 points through three games while Allocco has 11 assists to one turnover in 90:21 minutes through three games. Opponents are averaging only 68.45 ppg against Notre Dame's defense, which ranks eighth in the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring defense (66.6 ppg) and third in field goal percentage defense (.352).

Scouting the Opponents: North Dakota and Elon

In a game that featured seven ties and a staggering 23 lead changes, North Dakota scored 44 points in the second half Thursday at home to beat Utah Valley, 77-71. The Hawks have been idle since that win. North Dakota is a school of 15,000 located in Grand Forks. They returned two starters and 10 players off last year's team that finished 18-14 overall, 10-6 and tied for second place in the Summit League. North Dakota was picked in a preseason coaches' vote to finish sixth in the nine-team Summit League this season and received one first-place vote. They had a game at UTSA postponed on Saturday, Nov. 9 (rescheduled for Dec. 13) because of flight issues/weather in Texas. That means the teams will play a unique home-and-home series in Grand Forks and then San Antonio on Dec. 13 and 15. The Hawks are in a stretch of seven of eight games away from home.

Elon will be the opponent for Notre Dame on Friday (7:30 p.m. tip) after the game against North Dakota. Not much specific information about Elon is provided in the original text, but it will be an interesting matchup as Notre Dame continues to build on their success.

Key Players to Watch

Treysen Eaglestaff, a 6-foot-6, 190-pound junior guard from Bismarck, North Dakota, is averaging a team-high 20 points with 2.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 27.0 minutes per game. He scored a game-high 31 points in 34 minutes Thursday against Utah Valley. A first-team All-Summit League preseason pick, Eaglestaff can play point guard, shooting guard, wing guard, and small forward. As a senior in high school in 2021-22, he was named Mr. Basketball in North Dakota.

Graduate student forward Burke Chebuhar went from DNP-CD (did not play, coach's decision) against Buffalo to nine points and three assists in 10 minutes against Georgetown. Despite averaging only 7.7 minutes per game, Chebuhar is averaging 6.0 points and 2.0 rebounds while shooting 80 percent from the field and from 3 this season.

Looking Ahead: The Road Ahead

Notre Dame remains at Purcell Pavilion for a game Friday (7:30 p.m. tip) against Elon before four straight away from home. The Irish have their sights set on continued success and are ready to take on the challenges that lie ahead. Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com.