No. 11 Rutgers vs. No. 11 Notre Dame First Four Game Thread

NCAA Tournament First Four Round

No. 11 Rutgers (18-13) v. No. 11 Notre Dame (22-10)

How To Watch, Listen, News & Notes

Where: UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio (capacity: 13,409)

Tip-off: Wednesday, March 16 at approximately 9:10 p.m. ET

TV: truTV - Tom McCarthy, Steve Lavin, Avery Johnson, Jon Rothstein

Stream: truTV link

Radio: Live Listen - RWJBarnabas Health Rutgers Sports Network - FOX Sports New Jersey 93.5-FM/WOR 710-AM/1450-AM, XM 84/Sirius 84, Scarlet Knights App - Jerry Recco and Austin Johnson; Westwood One - Lance Medow and Stephen Bardo; WRSU 88.7 FM - Chris Tsakonas and Dylan Allen

NET Rankings: Rutgers No. 77; Notre Dame 53

KenPom Rankings: Rutgers - No. 74, which is the same as before a 84-74 loss to No. 13 Iowa last Friday in the Big Ten Quarterfinals. Notre Dame - No. 51, which is two spots worse following a 87-80 loss to No. 22 Virginia Tech last Thursday in the ACC Quarterfinals.

Efficiency Rankings: Rutgers - Offense 106.4 (108th) Defense 95.5 (42nd); Notre Dame - Offense 112.0 (30th) Defense 98.3 (83rd)

KenPom Prediction: Notre Dame 67 Rutgers 65. Rutgers has a 44% chance to win.

OTB Guide to KenPom

Vegas Line: Rutgers +1 per DraftKings

Series History: Notre Dame leads 20-13 as both teams were former members of the Big East conference. The Irish won the last three meetings including the last two in a season sweep in the 2012-2013 season. Rutgers last beat Notre Dame on January 16, 2012 at home 65-58 with Eli Carter scoring a team high 13 points. Current radio color analyst Austin Johnson scored 10 points off the bench on 5 of 9 shooting.

NCAA Tournament History: The Scarlet Knights are making their eighth NCAA Tournament appearance all-time and have a record of 6-7 overall. They’ advanced to the second round five times, the Sweet 16 twice and the Final Four once.

Podcast Preview:

Key Contributors

Notre Dame: 6’5” freshman Blake Wesley - 14.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.2 steals, 41.2% FG, 31.8% 3-pt FG, 65.4% FT; 6’6” senior Dane Goodwin - 13.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 50.2% FG, 44.8% 3-pt FG, 85.5% FT; 6’9” graduate transfer Paul Atkinson Jr. - 12.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 57.8% FG, 76.1% FT; 6’10” senior Nate Laszewski - 9.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 51.0% FG, 46.0% 3-pt FG, 85.0% FT; 6’3” senior Prentiss Hubb - 9.1 points, 4.0 assists, 3.1 rebounds, 38.1% FG, 32.1% 3-pt FG, 72.2% FT; 6’5” senior Cormac Ryan - 8.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 42.9% FG, 38.7% 3-pt FG, 82.5% FT; 6’5” senior Trey Wertz - 4.2 points, 1.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 39.1% FG, 38.7% 3-pt FG, 81.0% FT

Rutgers: 6’6” senior Ron Harper Jr. - 15.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.1 steals, 43.3% FG, 39.0% 3-pt FG, 79.5% FT; 6’4” redshirt senior Geo Baker - 12.4 points, 3.8 assists, 2.0 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 40.0% FG, 32.9% 3-pt FG, 74.5% FT; 6’11” sophomore Cliff Omoruyi - 11.8 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, 61.8% FG, 16.7% 3-pt FG, 60.4% FT; 6’6” junior Paul Mulcahy - 9.0 points, 5.3 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 44.5% FG, 34.3% 3-pt FG, 77.6% FT; 6’7” senior Caleb McConnell - 6.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.2 steals, 2.1 assists, 37.2% FG, 25.0% 3-pt FG, 66.0% FT; 6’6” sophomore Aundre Hyatt - 4.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, 36.3% FG, 28.3% 3-pt FG, 63.4% FT; 6’8” Jaden Jones - 3.6 points, 1.2 rebounds, 36.4% FG, 23.3% 3-pt FG, 70.0% FT; 6’7” sophomore Mawot Mag - 3.0 points, 1.9 rebounds, 42.5% FG, 26.7 3-pt FG, 69.6% FT; 6’10 sophomore Dean Reiber - 3.0 points, 1.2 rebounds, 53.1% FG, 58.3% 3-pt FG, 58.3% FT; 6’8” senior Ralph Gonzales-Agee - 1.9 points, 1.1 rebounds, 46.2% FG, 64.3% FT; 6’8” sophomore Oskar Palmquist - 1.5 points, 41.2% FG, 45.5% 3-pt FG, 50.0% FT; 6’2” freshman Jalen Miller - 0.7 points, 35.3% FG, 75.0% FT

GAME PREVIEW

STORY STREAM

Key stat for each team tonight:

Rutgers is 11-0 when holding high major opponents to 65 or fewer points and 2-10 when they don’t.

Notre Dame is 14-1 when they make at least 10 three-pointers in a game and 8-9 when they don’t.

It’s go time!!!

Join us in the comment section during the game.

Let’s Go!