This Week: Notre Dame College men's basketball will be in the Murphy Gymnasium, on Wednesday, to play Glenville State University, with a tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The Falcons will then head back to West Virginia for a matchup with Concord University, on Dec. 3, at 4 p.m.

Records: NDC has an overall record of 2-3, while starting the season 1-1 in Mountain East Conference play. Glenville State has gotten off to a 2-3 start, and the Pioneers have gone 0-2 in the MEC. Concord is also 2-3, with an 0-2 record against MEC opponents.

Coaches Corner: Mark Richmond enters his fourth season as the head coach of the Falcons. He has an overall record of 34-46 with a 28-36 MEC mark. Justin Caldwell is now in his fifth season on the sideline at Glenville State. He has a coaching record of 48-55. Todd May enters his seventh year with Concord and holds a record of 85-81.

Rankings: None of these teams are ranked in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Top 25 Poll.

Series History: Since the 2013-14 season, Notre Dame has gone 10-9 against Concord and 9-9 versus Glenville State. The Falcons are 6-4 over their last 10 games against the Mountain Lions. NDC snapped a five-game losing streak against the Pioneers with a 104-94 double overtime win, on Jan. 29, 2022.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame was in action just one time last week before the Thanksgiving break. The Falcons played extremely well in the first half of the game against No. 5 ranked West Liberty, going to the locker room tied at 52 and shooting 59-percent from the field in the first 20 minutes. In the final 8:16 of the first stanza, NDC outscored WLU, 31-14. The Hilltoppers took off in the second half and would win 107-83. Jaedon Willis knocked down nine baskets and went 7-for-8 at the free throw line to lead the Falcons with 26 points. He scored 20 of the Falcons' 31 points in the second half. Andre Harris also had a solid day, with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists in 27 minutes of action.
 
As a team, the Falcons are fifth in the MEC with 84.2 points per game. They also lead the league with a 40.2-percent three-point percentage, while Glenville State and Concord are in the bottom three in that category. NDC shoots 46.2-percent from the field, which is fourth best in the conference.
 
Individually, Jaedon Willis now leads the MEC in scoring by averaging 24.6 points per game. He makes 2.4 threes per contest, which is tied for fifth in the MEC. Across Division II, he ranks seventh in points per game and 11th in total free throws made (39).
 
Noting the Pioneers: Glenville State is off to its first 0-2 start in MEC play since the 2017-18 season. GSU played two games last week, losing to Charleston (99-83) before beating Penn State Mont Alto (82-38). Against UC, the Pioneer starters scored just 27 points, but the bench totaled 56 points. Jordan Smith played 25 minutes off the bench and dropped 25 points after shooting 60-percent (9-for-15). Freddie Word (11 points, 8 rebounds) and Jacquez Yow (10 points) each scored in double-digits off the bench. Glenville State shot 50-percent from the field in the second half and was outscored by just four points (50-46) in the final 20 minutes against the Golden Eagles.
 
In Sunday's game, Glenville State took care of business against Penn St.-Mont Alto, winning by 44 points. Although the Pioneers shot just 42-percent from the field and 21-percent from three, they held Mont Alto to 30-percent shooting and a 16-percent mark from long range. Freddie Word started the game and led the team with 19 points and eight rebounds. Harrison Eghan added 12 points and 12 rebounds off the bench.
 
This season, Glenville State is allowing opponents to shoot 50-percent, which is 11th out of 12 teams in the conference and they rank last in the MEC by allowing teams to shoot 38.5-percent from behind the three-point arc. The Pioneers do lead the MEC in offensive rebounds per game (15.8) and turnover margin (plus-nine). GSU also ranks seventh in Division II in offensive rebounds per game, seventh in turnovers forced per game (21.6) and 13th with 11 steals per game.
 
The Pioneers have two players who rank in the top 15 in the conference in scoring, with Jordan Smith (15.2 ppg) in 11th and Freddie Word (15) in 13th. Word also ranks 3rd with 4.4 assists per game, 5th with 2.4 steals per game and 11th with 6.8 rebounds per game. Smith leads the MEC, and ranks fifth in the country, with three steals per game.
 
Noting the Mountain Lions: Concord has had a challenging non-conference schedule so far. They started the season playing No. 3 Indiana (Pa.), falling 77-60. However, they bounced back with big wins over Clarion and Bluefield State. Jumping into conference play has been a struggle for CU. Since joining the MEC for the 2013-14 season, Concord had never started 0-2 in conference play, until this season. They lost to Charleston, 82-77, and fell to West Virginia State, 85-80.
 
The Mountain Lions will be playing three games this week, as they started with a non-conference matchup with Ohio Dominican, on Monday. Concord won that game, 90-85, on the road, but had to go to double-overtime in order to get it done. The game was tied at 27 after one half, 61 after two and 74 at the end of the first overtime period. Concord shot 47-percent, getting contributions from Lual Rahama (17 points, 9 rebounds), Jordan Wooden (10 points, 11 rebounds), Kollin Tolbert (24 points, 6 rebounds) and JJ Harper (13 points, 6 rebounds). They received 43 points from the bench.
 
Concord's defense has been solid this season. They are at the top of the MEC by allowing opponents to shoot just 38.8-percent, on average, and rank sixth by allowing just 77.7 points per game. The Mountain Lions also lead the conference with 29.8 defensive rebounds and 44.3 total rebounds per game, along with ranking second with 3.83 blocks per game. CU is sixth in the country in rebounds per game.
 
Lual Rahama ranks eighth in the conference with 17.2 points per game and is seventh in field goal percentage (50.6-percent). He is also second in the league with 9.3 rebounds per game and ranks third with 6.8 defensive boards each night. JJ Harper blocks 1.5 shots per game, which is third highest in the MEC.