This week: Notre Dame College men's basketball will play one game this week, prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. The Falcons travel to West Liberty University to battle the No. 16 Hilltoppers, on November 26. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Records: Notre Dame is 1-4 (0-1 MEC) after playing three games in a six day span, last week. West Liberty holds a record of 4-1 (1-0 MEC) after two big wins last week.

Coaches Corner: Mark Richmond enters his first season as the head coach of NDC. Ben Howlett enters his third season with West Liberty holding a record of 58-10, overall, and 41-4 in the MEC.

Rankings: West Liberty is ranked 16th in the NABC poll.

Series History: The Falcons hold a 2-12 record against West Liberty since the 2013-14 season. NDC's second win against the Hilltoppers came in the 2019 MEC Championship game.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame was on a proverbial rollercoaster last week. NDC fell behind by as many as 14 points to Edinboro, on Monday, but came back to make it a one possession game. They would ultimately lose to the Fighting Scots, 70-66. Against Wright State Lake, on Wednesday, the Falcons led by 39 points at halftime and ended up scoring the second-most points in program history, winning 132-71. Against WSLU, eight players scored in double digits, the team broke a program record in assists with 32, while their 56 made shots and 63 rebounds were both second-most in program history. In the win, NDC shot 60-percent from the field and 42-percent from three. But, the Falcons ended the week with a loss at Wheeling, 89-58, on Saturday. A big takeaway from the last three games is that Bryce Douglas emerged as a boost off the bench. He averaged 13.3 points last week and in the Falcons' first win against Wright State Lake, Douglas scored 27 points, on 61-percent shooting, and recorded nine rebounds, six assists and two steals. Levi Frankland still leads the team with 17 points per game, Dae John Walker-Bey is averaging eight rebounds per game while Larenz Thurman is dishing out 3.6 assists per contest.

Noting the Hilltoppers: West Liberty was picked to top the conference, once again, in the MEC Preseason Poll. This season, the Hilltoppers have been ranked as high as fourth, nationally. They dropped in the rankings after their 98-83 loss to Daemen College, on November 16. Daemen was ranked No. 22 at the time. But, with the way Daemen is playing, that loss may turn out to be less stunning than it looked. The Wildcats are currently 7-1 and their only loss came to No. 1 Northwest Missouri State University. Regardless, WLU's offense is still very potent. They average 112.4 points per game and make 11.6 three pointers per game. The Hilltoppers' defense allows just 81 points per game and already has 71 steals through five contests. Dalton Bolon leads the squad, averaging 24 points, 6.4 rebounds and is shooting 59-percent from the field and 50-percent from three point range. Preston Boswell may fly under the radar with averages of 13.2 points, 3.2 assists and 2.4 steals, but he is shooting 62-percent, including 80-percent from three. Pat Robinson III averages 18 points, while coming off the bench. West Liberty has five players who average double-digit scoring. Ten WLU players are averaging more than 16 minutes played each game.