This Week: Notre Dame College men's basketball plays one game this week, hitting the road to play No. 3 West Liberty University, on Nov. 21. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Records: NDC enters the week with a 2-1 record, overall, and a 1-0 Mountain East Conference record after defeating Wheeling University, 79-66, last Saturday. West Liberty has not played a conference game yet, but currently hold a 4-0 record.
 
Coaches Corner: Mark Richmond enters year five on the sideline for the Falcons. He has a coaching record of 51-57 (40-43 MEC). Ben Howlett will be coaching on the West Liberty sideline in his seventh season. He has a coaching record of 165-25.
 
Rankings: West Liberty is currently No. 3 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches top 25 Division II poll. The Hilltoppers are at the top of the Atlantic Region in the Division II College Sports Communicators regional poll.
 
Series History: Notre Dame holds a 3-20 record all-time against West Liberty. The Falcons defeated the Hilltoppers when WLU was ranked No. 1 in Jan. 2014 and when they were ranked the No. 7 in Nov. 2021. NDC also took down West Liberty for the Mountain East Conference Championship in March 2019.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame will be playing its second top-5 ranked opponent already this season, when they travel to West Liberty. The Falcons started the season with a win over Pitt-Johnstown, 89-76, and a loss to No. 4 Indiana (Pa.), 75-67. In the Falcons home opener on Saturday, NDC defeated Wheeling, 79-66.
 
In the matchup with Wheeling, Notre Dame jumped out to a 20-point lead (33-13), less than 12 minutes into the game. WU would close the gap to 12, 43-31, by halftime, but the Falcons never allowed Wheeling to tie or take the lead the entire game. NDC shot 50-percent from the field in the first half and 40-percent in the second half. Notre Dame had eight blocks in a game for the first time since 2017 and that led to many transition baskets, especially in the first half. The Falcons had 17 fast break points, to Wheeling's two.
 
Notre Dame is scoring 78.3 points per game, while shooting 41-percent from the field. The Falcons are leading the Mountain East Conference in free throw percentage, at 78.6-percent, and are second in assist-to-turnover ratio, at 1.24. The team is also first in the conference in offensive rebounding average (15.3) and is third in team rebounding average (44). On the defensive side, the Falcons have been solid. They are currently leading the conference in opponent field goal percentage (.369) and blocked shots per game (5.7), while ranking second in opponent three-point percentage (.272) and third in opponent points per game (72.3).
 
NDC has three players in the top seven of the MEC in scoring. Devin Haid and RJ Ogom (16.3 points per game) are tied for fifth and Gbolahan Adio (15.3) is seventh. Andre Harris leads the conference with 11 rebounds per game, while Ogom is tied for sixth with seven per contest. Ogom is also third in the league in field goal percentage (.500) and fifth in free throw percentage (.944). Devin Haid ranks sixth in field goal percentage (.471), while Gbolahan Adio is seventh in field goal percentage (.462). Haid has started the season 12-for-12 from the free throw line, and is one of three players in the MEC with a perfect free throw percentage. Three Falcons (RJ Ogom – 2.3, Andre Harris – 1.3 and Devin Haid - 1) rank in the top nine in blocks per game.

Noting the Hilltoppers: So far this second, West Liberty has scored over 100 points in three of its four games. The Hilltoppers' first three games were at home, as the university hosted the Crossover Challenge for two games to start the season before hosting Chestnut Hill, on Nov. 15.
 
In their first road matchup of the season, against Salem University on Nov. 18, the Hilltoppers only led by three points at the half (49-46). Both teams shot 55-percent (18-for-33) in the first 20 minutes. But, WLU locked in and scored 62 points in the second half, while allowing just 36, in a 111-82 victory. West Liberty made seven three pointers and shot 51-percent from the field in the second stanza, while holding Salem to 37-percent shooting.
 
Early in the season, West Liberty leads the conference in points per game (104.8), field goal percentage (.489), turnover margin average (plus-15.8), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.38), assists per game (25), steals per game (15.8), opponent points per game (66.5) and opponent three-point percentage (.254). The Hilltoppers also rank fourth in opponent field goal percentage (.405), fourth in free throw percentage (.740), fifth in three-point percentage (.336) and fifth in rebounds per game (40.5).
 
Eight players are averaging over nine points per game. John Korte leads the Hilltoppers with 14.3 points per game, in his first season since transferring from Wheeling. Dante Spadafora is shooting 55-percent from three, which ranks second in the MEC. Spadafora (2.8 three-pointers per game), Christian Montague (2.3) and Chaz Hinds (2.3) are all in the top-9 in the conference in threes made per contest. Montague is second in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.6) and tied for second in assists per game (5.8). Alek West leads the MEC in assist-to-turnover ratio (8.5) and is sixth in assists per game (4.3). Dante Spadafora (3 steals per game) and Christian Montague (2.5) are one and two in steals per game.