This Week: Notre Dame College men's basketball is playing one game this week, when they take on Wheeling University, on Nov. 18, at 4 p.m. The game represents NDC's home opener and the first Mountain East Conference game of the season.
Records: NDC is 1-1 after two solid performances at the Tip-Off Classic in Pennsylvania. The Falcons defeated Pitt-Johnstown, 89-76, and then put up a strong fight against No. 4 Indiana (Pa.) in a 75-67 loss. Wheeling is 1-2, after falling to both Seton Hill (97-96) and Shippensburg (85-68) at the West Liberty Classic before defeating D'Youville in New York, by a score of 82-76.
Coaches Corner: Mark Richmond enters year five on the sideline for the Falcons. He has a coaching record of 50-57 (39-43 MEC). Chris Richardson is in his fourth season at the helm of the Wheeling program. He has led the Cardinals to a record of 23-57 (17-43 MEC).
Rankings: Neither of these teams are ranked in the National Basketball Association of America top 25 poll.
Series History: Since the MEC began in 2013, NDC and Wheeling have gone back-and-forth in their all-time series. After the Cardinals won nine of the first 11 games in this series, NDC has won the last seven matchups and have come away victorious in nine of the last ten against WU. Last season, the Falcons swept the season series with a 91-71 win at home and an 85-81 victory on the road.
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame enters conference play for the first time after being placed seventh in the MEC preseason poll.
Last weekend, the Falcons made a statement with an 89-76 victory over Pitt-Johnstown. UPJ was coming off of a 20-win season and a trip to the NCAA D2 Tournament in 2022-23, but the Falcons held them to 36 points and 33-percent shooting in the second half. The Falcons had three players (
Gbolahan Adio,
Devin Haid and
RJ Ogom) who scored at least 20 points in the same game for the first time since Feb. 22, 2020. Adio was the star last Friday, when he scored a career-high 33 points, on 13-of-19 shooting. The next day, NDC fell in a close matchup against No. 4 ranked Indiana (Pa.) on the Crimson Hawks' home court.
Early in the season, the Falcons have four players who are averaging double-digit scoring.
Gbolahan Adio is putting up 21.5 points per game,
Devin Haid is averaging 16 points per game,
RJ Ogom has put up 14.5 per game and
Andre Harris is averaging 13.5. Harris, who put up a double-double of 20 points and 14 rebounds against IUP is averaging a double-double (13.5 ppg, 10.5 rpg).
Noting the Cardinals: Wheeling is also playing its first MEC contest of the year, after being picked ninth in the conference preseason poll.
The Cardinals traveled to West Liberty last weekend for two games against PSAC opponents. They lost in overtime, 97-96, to Seton Hill. In that game, a dunk by Wheeling's Caleb Murray with less than one second left at the end of regulation, tied the game at 85. In OT, WU led 96-95, with seven seconds left. But, Drew Green was fouled while shooting a three with seven seconds left and made two of his three free throws to give SHU the win. Wheeling then lost the next day to Shippensburg, 85-68.
Last Tuesday, the Cardinals traveled to D'Youville and won, 82-76. WU had four players (Sean Ealy, William Gabbert, Trey Stoffer and Marcus Johnson) reach double-digit points. Sean Ealy led the way with 17 off the bench. D'Youville connected on just four field goals in the first half of the game, but made 15 free throws to help them get to 24 points before halftime. However, the Cardinals allowed 52 points in the second half.
Wheeling currently has five players averaging double-digit points. Marcus Johnson (17.7), William Gabbert (13), Caleb Murray (11), Trey Stoffer (10) and Sean Ealy (10) have all shown the ability to score.
