This Week: Notre Dame College men's basketball will travel to the Washington, D.C. area, this weekend, for two contests. On Dec. 16, at 2 p.m., the Falcons will play the University of the District of Columbia. NDC will be in Takoma Park, Md., on Dec. 18, for a 4 p.m. matchup against Washington Adventist University.

Records: NDC has an overall record of 3-5, while going 2-4 in the early portion of the Mountain East Conference schedule. UDC currently has a record of 4-5 and WAU has started the season 5-6.

Coaches Corner: Mark Richmond is in year five with the Falcons. He has a coaching record of 52-61 (41-47 MEC). Mike Riley has been with the University of the District of Columbia for 11 seasons now and Jerry McFarland is in his sixth season as head coach at Washington Adventist.

Rankings: Neither Notre Dame nor UDC are ranked in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II top 25 poll. WAU is not ranked in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) men's basketball top 25 poll.
 
Series History: Notre Dame has never played UDC's men's basketball program and the last time the Falcons matched up with Washington Adventist was the 2012-13 season. On Jan. 26, 2013, NDC fell by a score of 91-75. The Falcons then beat the Shock, in South Euclid, by a score of 95-73, on Feb. 13, 2013.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame went 1-1 last week, snapping a four-game losing streak with a 75-69 victory over West Virginia Wesleyan, on Dec. 9. Against W.Va. Wesleyan, Andre Harris had 16 points, on 7-of-9 shooting, with six rebounds and Joshua Dames made four 3-pointers in 13 minutes off the bench. The Falcons shot 52-percent from the field in that game. Last Wednesday, the Falcons fell to Davis & Elkins by a score of 102-79. Devin Haid led the team with 17 points and six rebounds against D&E and four players scored in double-digits.
 
NDC is scoring 80.4 points per game, while allowing an average of 84.8. The team is also grabbing rebounds at a high rate, ranking fourth in the conference with 41.1 total rebounds per game, 13.1 offensive rebounds per game and 28 defensive rebounds per game. The Falcons rank fourth in the conference with a 1.03 assist-to-turnover ratio and an average of 14.9 assists per game. On the defensive side, Notre Dame leads the MEC with 5.88 blocks per game, which is also third-best in the country, and NDC ranks third in the conference in steals per game (8) and is tied for third in opponent field goal percentage (42.5-percent).
 
Andre Harris and Devin Haid both lead the team with 12.9 points per game and Harris ranks third in the conference with a field goal percentage of 48.3-percent. Harris also leads the Falcons and the MEC in rebounds, with 8.4 per game, and he is third in the conference with 3.1 offensive rebounds per contest. In free throw percentage, Devin Haid (96.4-percent) and RJ Ogom (92.3-percent) rank one and two, respectively, in the MEC and third and 14th, respectively, in Division II. Haid is averaging 1.6 blocks per contest, rankings fourth in the MEC.
 
Noting the Firebirds: The University of the District of Columbia has won two of their three games this month, after starting the year at 2-4 in November. Last week, the Firebirds lost to St. Thomas Aquinas, 98-88, before beating Mercy, 76-60. Against St. Thomas Aquinas, UDC had four players reach double-digit scoring. In that contest, Hartnel Haye scored 22 points while Micah Campbell had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Against Mercy, Hartnel Haye had 17 points and 10 boards as four players reached double-digit scoring, again.
 
District of Columbia is only averaging 72.9 points, on average, but the defense has been very good. The Firebirds are second in the East Coast Conference by allowing just 75.9 points per contest. They lead the conference with an opponent field goal percentage, at 41.2-percent, and an opponent three-point percentage of 29.2-percent. UDC also ranks second in the ECC in blocks per game (4.44) and is third in steals per game (8.56). The team's three point defense (29.2-percent) ranks 28th in NCAA Division II and they force 17 turnovers per game, which is 29th in the country.
 
Individually, Eric Morgan Jr. leads the team and is top-ten in the ECC in scoring (13 points per game). Hartnel Haye brings down seven rebounds per contest, which ranks seventh in the conference. Haye also leads the ECC in free throw percentage, at 83.9-percent. Tevin Curtis leads the East Coast Conference in steals per game (2.3) and ranks fourth in both assists per game (4.3) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.4). Micah Campbell ranks third in blocked shots (1.6).

Noting the Shock: Washington Adventist has had a streaky season so far. They opened the season with a three-point loss against No. 11 (NAIA) St. Thomas University, after leading at the half by a score of 36-29. The Shock then went on a three-game winning streak, lost four in a row and then won two straight games. Their last game was Dec. 2, against No. 5 Georgetown College, a 90-70 loss. Against GC, Xzavaier Hawkins had 11 points and 10 rebounds, on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, and Michael Brown and James Lee each had 18 points.
 
The Shock score 74.5 points per game. They are second in the Continental Athletic Conference in both assists per game (14) and blocks per game (3.3). They also rank fifth in the CAC with a 45.5-percent field goal percentage and fifth in defensive rebounds, at 25.9 per game. The team brings down 36.1 total rebounds per game, which is sixth-best in the conference. On the defensive side, WAU is second in the conference in opponent field goal percentage (42.4-percent), second in points allowed (74.3 points per game), third in opponent three-point percentage (31.1-percent) and fifth in steals (7.6).
 
Tunde Scrivner leads the team with 12.9 points per game, shooting 43.8-percent, and Xzavaier Hawkins is at the top of the team with 7.1 rebounds per contest. Mohamed Bundu dishes out 3.1 assists per night and Derrick Hopkins steals the ball 1.9 times per game.