Villanova Wildcats (0-0) vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish (0-0)
Where: Palazzo dello Sport (Rome, Italy)
When: Sunday, November 1 at 9:30 AM EST
Betting Line: Villanova -7.5 (subject to change)
How to Watch: FOX
How to Listen: Villanova Sports Radio Network
KenPom: Villanova 32, Notre Dame 83
Torvik: Villanova 30, Notre Dame 81
Evan Miya: Villanova 30, Notre Dame 83
About Notre Dame:
Micah Shrewsberry, the former Penn State head coach, is going into his fourth season with Notre Dame. Shrewsberry took over for Mike Brey, who coached the team for the previous 23 years. Brey had this program nationally relevant more often than not throughout his tenure, but that has yet to be the case for Shrewsberry. In his final season with Penn State, Shrewsberry led the Nittany Lions to an NCAA-Tournament birth and a second round game against No. 2 Texas, coming up just short in a 71-66 loss. The expectations were that he would parlay that into success with Notre Dame, but through three seasons his combined record is 41-56.
Things are not expected to go any better this year for the Fighting Irish, as they were picked to finish 16th in an 18-team ACC. Notre Dame had no players selected for preseason honors. The only two programs selected to finish behind the Fighting Irish were Boston College and Georgia Tech, both of whom have new coaches.
Notre Dame played two exhibition games, both away from home. The first game came at Dayton, where Notre Dame fell 75-65. In the second contest, the Fighting Irish took down fellow Big East team DePaul 71-63.
Notre Dame’s leading scorer in the Dayton game was Penn transfer Ethan Roberts, who Villanova fans should be familiar with over the past two seasons. Roberts averaged 16.9 points, three rebounds and 3.9 assists per game for the Quakers a year ago, and he projects as a potential leading scorer for Notre Dame this season. He was the only player in double-figures on the night with 11.
In the contest with DePaul, starting center Logan Duncomb missed the game with a leg injury. Listed as day-to-day, the expectation is that the 6’10” senior will be available against Villanova. Duncomb is a senior transfer from Winthrop who averaged 18.3 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. The leading scorers in the game against the Blue Demons were Brady Koehler with 19, Braeden Smith with 17 and Jonathan Sanderson with 13.
Koehler is a 6’10” sophomore who averaged 5.6 points per game in his freshman year for Notre Dame. He is a capable three-point shooter for his height, having made 4/10 in the exhibition games. Smith, a 6’ senior transfer from Gonzaga, averaged 5.1 points per game for the Bulldogs a year ago. Smith played his first two seasons at Colgate, averaging 11.6 and 12.5 points as a freshman and sophomore, respectively. Sanderson meanwhile is a 6’3” true freshman who has come off of the bench thus far for the Fighting Irish. Sanderson was ranked 66th nationally by 247Sports.
The other starter in the two games was senior guard Braeden Shrewsberry, who is the son of Micah. Braeden Shrewsberry has spent his whole career with Notre Dame, averaging double-figures in each season. For his career, Braeden Shrewsberry has shot 38.1% from three on 6.9 attempts per contest.
Notes on Nova:
Villanova comes into the season opener having gone 2-1 in three exhibition games. The Wildcats defeated Rutgers on the road and George Mason at home, while falling to No. 9 Virginia at home in the preseason finale. Villanova has been led by Devin Royal in the three outings, averaging 22 points per game. The team’s second-leading scorer has been Tyler Perkins, who has averaged 19.3 points per contest. Missing from this has been Kwame Evans Jr., who has been “day-to-day” for some time now with a left leg injury. Kevin Willard hasn’t seemed to indicate that he’s in danger of missing the Eternal City Tip-Off, but it would have been nice to see him get some action in prior this. The other player that missed all three practice games was Matt Hodge, who is not expected to play as he continues to recover from his ACL surgery.
The starting line-up has changed each time out for Villanova. In the game against Rutgers, Willard went with Elijah Crawford and Adam Oumiddoch in the backcourt. That combo changed completely against George Mason, with Darryl Simmons II and Jake Fiegen stepping in with the starters. Against Virginia, Willard went back to the Crawford-Oumiddoch duo. If Evans Jr. were to sit against Notre Dame, I would expect Willard to go with Crawford and Oumiddoch once more. If Evans Jr. does make his debut, the logical move would be that Oumiddoch goes to the bench. His return will be even more important, as redshirt freshman Nico Onyekwere was not able to make the trip due to visa issues.