This Week: Notre Dame College men's basketball looks to secure the No. 5 seed in the Mountain East Conference Tournament. The Falcons travel to No. 2 West Liberty University for a 7:30 p.m. start on Feb. 23. NDC closes out the regular season at home against Alderson Broaddus on Feb. 26. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Spectator Reminder: There will be no reserved seating or advance ticket sales for the game on Saturday. Masks are required.

Records: Notre Dame has an overall record of 15-11 and they hold a 12-8 MEC mark. West Liberty is currently 24-2 with an 18-2 MEC record and Alderson Broaddus enters the week with a 11-14 overall record and they are 8-12 in conference play.

Coaches Corner: Mark Richmond is in his third season as the head coach of the Falcons. He has an overall record of 32-40 and has gone 27-31 in conference play. Ben Howlett is now in his fifth season at the helm of West Liberty with a coaching record of 123-20. Stephen Dye is in his third season at Alderson Broaddus. He is 26-44 with the Battlers.

Rankings: West Liberty is ranked No. 2 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Top 25 Poll. In the regional rankings, WLU is first in the Atlantic Region.
 
Series History: Notre Dame is 3-16 all-time against the Hilltoppers since the 2013-14 campaign. Against Alderson Broaddus, the Falcons are 1-2 since the Battlers joined the conference in 2020-21.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame went up against a couple teams who were fighting for the second spot in the conference last week. The Falcons went on the road and battled Charleston on Wednesday. NDC led 40-36 at halftime and were shooting 57-percent from the floor and 50-percent from three in the first half. Charleston scored 49 second half points and won 85-78. Jaedon Willis shot the ball at 67-percent and led the team with 24 points. At home, on Saturday, NDC fell to West Virginia State 95-77. For the second consecutive game, Willis made eight shots and led the team with 27 points.

Jaedon Willis is now fourth in the conference in scoring with 21 points each game. He is only 0.3 points away from holding the second highest average in the conference. Willis is 11^th in the country with 546 total points. He also ranks in the top six in the MEC in three-point percentage (38.8-percent) and free throw percentage (83.5-percent). He leads the conference with 3.1 threes made per game and is 15^th in the nation in total three pointers made at 80. Michael Sampson ranks sixth in the MEC with his average of eight rebounds. He is also fifth in the conference with two steals per game.

NDC has been outstanding on the defensive side of the floor. They have been holding teams to 78.5 points per game (3^rd in the MEC), 45.8-percent field goal percentage (tied-4th), plus-0.81 turnover margin (4^th) and 6.58 steals per game (5^th). On the offensive side, the Falcons are shooting the ball at 36.6-percent from three-point range and 74.1-percent from the free throw line, both are in the top-five of the MEC. Notre Dame is fifth in the conference with almost 15 assists per contest.

Noting the Hilltoppers: West Liberty has scored over 100 points in four consecutive games. The Hilltoppers blew out Frostburg State last Wednesday, scoring 51 first half points and 63 second half points. They shot 60-percent as a team in the second half. Five players scored in double-digits, including two off the bench. Pat Robinson made nine shots and totaled 21 points. The Hilltoppers then snuck past Fairmont State in overtime, 110-107. WLU scored 58 first half points and FSU responded with 51 second half points. Robinson put up 25 points and the MEC Player of the Week Bryce Butler added 30 points on 74-percent shooting from the field.

West Liberty has two players who rank in the top 10 in the MEC in scoring. Pat Robinson (20.5) is fifth and Bryce Butler (17.9) is tenth. Butler is also third in the conference, and 18th in the country, in field percentage at 62.3-percent and seventh in the MEC with 7.3 rebounds per game. Christian Montague leads the MEC, and is eighth in D2, with a 3.3 assist/turnover ratio and Pat Robinson ranks third in the MEC with a 2.5 assist/turnover ratio. Robinson grabs 2.2 steals per contest, which is second in the MEC. He is 12^th in the nation with 57 total steals.

West Liberty has the top offense by more than 10 points per game in the conference, averaging 100.3 points per contest. That average also leads NCAA Division II. They rank second in field goal percentage at 51.1-percent and lead the league in three-point percentage at 38.7-percent. The Hilltoppers already have over 1,000 team rebounds (1,008) and lead the conference by averaging 38.8 per game, including 13.4 offensive boards each game. The Hilltoppers dish out an MEC-high 20.5 assists per game, lead the country with 533 total assists and have a 1.68 assist/turnover ratio, which is third-best in D2. WLU is fifth in the league on the other end of the floor, allowing 79.3 points per game. They lead the conference with a plus-7 turnover margin, 3.88 blocked shots per game and 11.04 steals per game.
 
Noting the Battlers: Alderson Broaddus has lost four consecutive games, immediately following their first three-game win streak of the year. AB played three games last week, beginning with a non-conference tilt against Salem. The Battlers fell behind by double-digits early in the second half and had trouble working back into the game. Jalen Collins led the team with 17 points and was the only player on the team to make more then four shots from the field. In the second game of the week, AB fell behind 54-41 at halftime against West Virginia State and lost 100-84. Vincent Smalls had 21 points off the bench on 9-of-12 shooting. Last Saturday, AB was outscored by Charleston 48-24 in the first 20 minutes and, despite a strong second half, lost 86-73. KJ Walker and John Grayson combined for 28 points and seven steals.

KJ Walker (54.2-percent) and Jalen Collins (50.2-percent) are both ranked in the top 10 in field goal percentage. Walker is also second in the MEC with a 2.6 assist/turnover ratio and third with 4.9 assists per game. John Grayson leads the league with 1.5 blocks per game.

Alderson Broaddus has a 48.1-percent team field goal percentage, which is fourth in the league. They also block 3.3 shots per contest, which is third best in the MEC.