Dave Leitao, DePaul

We preview the non-conference showdown between the DePaul Blue Demons and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend, Indiana on Saturday in this report.

Key Information

DePaul Blue Demons (3-0) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-1) – Saturday, November 24th, 2018, 11:00 a.m. Central – Edmund P. Joyce Athletic & Convocation Center, South Bend, Indiana

Television – ACC Network Extra

Radio – WSCR AM 670

Follow @WeAreDePaul on Twitter

Streaming Video



Streaming Audio

Notre Dame Basketball

Notre Dame Fans Site

Irish Illustrated

Game Preview

The Blue Demons are off to a 3-0 start, their best start in 10 seasons, and are fired up for their first road game with a trip to South Bend to face the Fighting Irish.

The memory of last season’s 72-58 season opening loss to Notre Dame in the inaugural game at Wintrust Arena is still fresh in their memories.

The memories are there for leading scorer Max Strus who struggled in his DePaul debut in that game. While scoring 11 points, Strus shot three from 13 from the floor and even had a rare missed dunk. Notre Dame’s Rex Pflueger did a defensive number on Strus on that day.

Strus was named Big East player of the week for last week and is now the leading scorer in the Big East at 23.7 points per game. He also leads the league in three pointers made at 4.3 per game.

So, obviously Strus is no longer the same player that he was in last year’s Notre Dame game, but the memories of that game are still there for him.

Notre Dame isn’t the same team either. The Irish have lost Matt Farrell and Bonzie Colson from last year’s squad to graduation.

Notre Dame owns wins over Illinois-Chicago, Chicago State, William and Mary, and Duquesne.

The Irish are currently ranked 64th in Ken Pomeroy’s College Basketball Ratings at KenPom.com. DePaul is not far behind Notre Dame at the 66 slot in the ratings.

The Fighting Irish are still stinging from a 63-60 loss to Radford at home.

So how did Radford do it? Well, first of all, Radford is no slouch. They advanced to the NCAA tournament last season after winning the Big South conference tournament. Radford then defeated LIU Brooklyn in the opening round before succumbing to national champ Villanova in the second round. Radford is the favorite to win the Big South again this season.

Importantly, the three point shot is the great equalizer in college basketball. Radford made 9 three pointers in the game. Radford star Caleb Tanner dropped six of those three pointers on the Irish on his way to 20 points.

The second half was where the game was won on the perimeter for the Highlanders. Radford went 40 percent from beyond the arc, while Notre Dame shot a paltry one for 11 (9.09 percent) in the second half.

Notre Dame will be playing without co-captain Elijah Burns. The 6-8 forward left the program on Tuesday with plans to immediately transfer out of the program. Burns was averaging 5.3 points per game for the Irish this season.

6-9 junior forward John Mooney leads Notre Dame in scoring and rebounding at 14 points per game and nine rebounds per game. Junior guard T.J. Gibbs contributes 11.8 ppg and a team leading 3.6 assists per game.

“You’re not playing a team, you’re playing a program,” DePaul Dave Leitao said of Notre Dame on WMVP Radio. “They have seven new players. They lost to Radford. They’re still learning, but you can see the semblance of what their program asks of each individual on that team to do. So, we have our work cut out for us. We have to be prepared to: 1) go out on the road for the first time and 2) to be able to prove ourselves worthy. Most importantly to carry over from nine days, what we learned and carry it over with some growth in other aspects of the game. It will be a major test for us obviously.”

DePaul’s biggest weakness still remains their three point shooting. Even with Strus’ contributions, the Blue Demons are currently ninth in the Big East at 31.1 percent from beyond the arc. That’s still better than the 28.1 percent that Notre Dame has been shooting.

Where DePaul has made up for their perimeter shooting is with their domination on the glass. The Demons lead the Big East in Rebounding Margin with a +15.7 rebounds per game over their opponents. Much of that is due to sophomore Jaylen Butz who has been a beast on the boards and is leading the Big East in rebounds at 10.3 boards per game.

With the rest of the Big East struggling in non-conference play, a win over an ACC opponent like Notre Dame would be good for the league and especially good for the Blue Demons in getting off to an even better start to the season.

The Line

The Blue Demons are 3-0 Against the Spread so far this season.

Notre Dame is favored by 4.5 points.

The over/under is 137.

The Last Time

On November 11, 2017 in the inaugural game at Wintrust Arena, the No. 14 Fighting Irish handed the Blue Demons a 72-58 defeat.

Second half defensive letdowns and poor shooting proved too costly for DePaul. The Demons gave up way too many threes in the second half to stay in the game as Notre Dame shot 75 percent (nine for 12) from beyond the arc in the second half.

The Irish never trailed in the contest. Notre Dame’s veteran players were big for the Fighting Irish down the stretch.

Notre Dame’s Temple Gibbs led all scorers with 21 points and went four for seven from three point territory. Senior Bonzie Colson put up a double-double effort of 18 points and 13 rebounds. Farrell added 15 points including five for nine from beyond the arc.

Overall DePaul shot 33.8 percent from the field as they struggled to find ways to score. The Blue Demons also got very little scoring from their bench.

Eli Cain and Tre’Darius McCallum led the way for DePaul with 14 points apiece. Lewis transfer Max Strus struggled from the field in his debut, but managed to contribute 11 points. Devin Gage chipped in with 10 points.

Notre Dame Roster

# Name Pos. Ht Wt. Year Hometown

0 Rex Pflueger GUARD 6'6" 209 LBS 2018-19 TEAM CAPTAIN SENIOR DANA POINT, CA MATER DEI

3 Prentiss Hubb GUARD 6'3" 167 LBSFRESHMAN UPPER MARLBORO, MD GONZAGA

5 DJ Harvey GUARD 6'6" 225 LBS SOPHOMORE BOWIE, MD DEMATHA

10 TJ Gibbs GUARD 6'3" 194 LBS 2018-19 TEAM CAPTAIN JUNIOR SCOTCH PLAINS, NJ SETON HALL PREP

11 Juwan Durham FORWARD 6'11" 223 LBS JUNIOR TAMPA, FL TAMPA PREP

12 Elijah Burns FORWARD 6'8" 237 LBS 2018-19 TEAM CAPTAIN SENIOR TROY, NY BLAIR ACADEMY (N.J.

13 Nikola Djogo GUARD 6'7" 217 LBS JUNIOR HAMILTON, ONTARIO ATHLETE INSTITUTE PREP

14 Nate Laszewski FORWARD 6'10" 200 LBS FRESHMAN JUPITER, FL NORTHFIELD MOUNT HERMAN (MA)

15 Chris Doherty FORWARD 6'8" 225 LBS FRESHMAN MARLBOROUGH, MA

23 Dane Goodwin GUARD 6'6" 203 LBS FRESHMAN UPPER ARLINGTON, OH

24 Robby Carmody GUARD 6'4" 204 LBS FRESHMAN MARS, PA MARS AREA

25 Liam Nelligan GUARD 6'5" 198 LBS FIFTH YEAR LA GRANGE PARK, IL BENET ACADEMY

33 John Mooney FORWARD 6'9" 242 LBS JUNIOR ORLANDO, FL LAKE BRANTLEY