South-Carolina
ACC/SEC Challenge sends Notre Dame men’s basketball on rare road trip to South Carolina
ACC/SEC Challenge
∎ WHO: Notre Dame (3-2) vs. South Carolina (5-0)
∎ WHERE: Colonial Life Arena (18,000), Columbia, South Carolina
∎ WHEN: Tuesday at 7 p.m.
∎ TV: SEC Network.
∎ RADIO: WSBT (960 AM).
∎ ONLINE: Follow every Notre Dame game with live updates from Tribune beat writer Tom Noie at X (formerly Twitter) at twitter.com/tnoieNDI
More: Notre Dame men’s basketball shares it, shoots it to earn an easy win
∎ NOTING: This is the first year of the ACC/SEC Challenge, which replaces the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. That one ran for 24 seasons but ended last year after ESPN lost media rights to the Big Ten. … Off to its best start since opening 8-0 during its Final Four season of 2016-17, South Carolina has been idle since a 75-68 victory over Grand Canyon on Nov. 19 in the championship of the Arizona Tip-off Tournament in Phoenix. Forward B.J. Mack scored 27 points with three rebounds and two assists and guard Myles Stute added 12 points and two rebounds. The Gamecocks shot 54 percent from the field, 49.1 percent from 3 and 87.5 percent from the foul line. … South Carolina also has wins over DePaul and Virginia Tech. … The Gamecocks returned one starter off last year’s team that finished 11-21 (like Notre Dame) overall and 4-14 and 12th place in the Southeastern Conference. … South Carolina was picked this preseason to finish last – 14th place – in the SEC; Notre Dame was picked to finish last – 15th place – in the Atlantic Coast Conference. … The Gamecocks’ roster carries eight transfers. It also includes three graduate transfers and two seniors. … South Carolina ranked third and fifth in the SEC for total Division I starts and games played entering the season at 480 and 836. Notre Dame’s roster carried a total of 45 starts and 194 games. … This opens a stretch of seven of nine games at home for South Carolina; Notre Dame is in a run of five of seven away from home. … Notre Dame leads the all-time series 10-5, 4-3 on the road. This is the first meeting – and first game in Columbia – since a 52-42 South Carolina victory on Feb. 4, 1984. Notre Dame had won five straight. … This is the first true road game against an SEC team for Notre Dame since a 64-63 victory at Kentucky on Dec. 12, 2020. … Since beating Alabama in the first round of the 2022 NCAA tournament, Notre Dame has lost two straight to SEC schools – to Georgia (15 points) last December and to Auburn (24 points) earlier this month in the Legends Classic. … Notre Dame is coming off a 75-55 victory Wednesday over Maryland Eastern Shore as the Irish set season highs for points, 3-point field goals (13) and assists (18).
∎ QUOTING: “I’m not scared of no smoke, so I’m ready for all of it.” — Irish power forward Kebba Njie on Notre Dame playing three of its next four on the road with trips to South Carolina, Miami (Fla.) and Marquette
— Tom Noie