This Week: Notre Dame College men's basketball starts a new week with a pair of Mountain East Conference matchups, beginning with a trip to Davis & Elkins College, on Dec. 6, with a tip-off time of 7:30 p.m. The Falcons will be back home on Dec. 9, for a 4 p.m. start against West Virginia Wesleyan College. After this week, the Falcons will not play another conference game until Jan. 10.

Records: NDC enters this week with a record of 2-4, overall, and a 1-3 MEC mark. Davis & Elkins is sitting in third place in the Mountain East Conference standings with a 3-1 conference record. The Senators have started the year 5-3, overall. W.Va. Wesleyan won its season opener, against Edinboro, but have lost seven straight. At the moment, the Bobcats are 1-7 (0-4 MEC).

Coaches Corner: Mark Richmond is in year five with the Falcons. He has a coaching record of 51-60 (40-46 MEC). Daniel Mondragon is also in his fifth season with Davis & Elkins, while Derek Sloan is in year three at the helm of the WVWC program.

Rankings: None of these teams are in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II top 25 poll. Davis & Elkins is in eighth place in the Atlantic Region of the Division II College Sports Communicators regional poll.
 
Series History: Notre Dame has gone 6-1 against D&E since the two teams first met in Dec. 2019. The Falcons had won the first six matchups, before falling to the Senators last season. In the first six meetings, NDC never scored fewer than 74 points in a game versus Davis & Elkins. Notre Dame holds a 12-7 all-time record against W.Va. Wesleyan. The Falcons have won the last five meetings, including two last season - a 91-47 win at home and 69-63 victory on the road.

Noting the Falcons: Last week, Notre Dame played an overtime game for the first time since Jan. 29, 2022 and then played back-to-back overtime games for the first time since Nov. 10 and 11, 2017. They fell to Glenville State, 88-87, and Concord, 93-83. The Falcons had four players total double-digit points against Glenville, including Andre Harris and Gbolahan Adio. Harris posted a career-high 22 points and four steals, to go along with 11 rebounds and Adio added 17 points and had career-highs in rebounds (8) and assists (6). Against Concord, Notre Dame's Devin Haid led the team with 20 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.

Notre Dame currently ranks fourth in the MEC with an average of 81.5 points per game and the Falcons are second-best with a free throw percentage of 77.3-percent. On the defensive side, NDC is fourth in the conference in opponent field goal percentage at 41-percent and fifth in opponent three point percentage, at 31.7-percent. The Falcons still lead the MEC with 6.5 blocks per game, nearly one block better than any other team, and rank second in the NCAA Division II in that category. Notre Dame rebounds the ball well, ranking second in the MEC, and sixth in the country, with 45 total rebounds per game, second in the MEC, and 15th in D2, in offensive rebounds per game (14.8) and third in the MEC, and 11th in the nation, in defensive rebounds per game (30.2). NDC is also fourth in the conference in steals per game (7.17).

Individually, Devin Haid and RJ Ogom both average 14 points per game, which is eighth best in the conference. Andre Harris leads the league with 9.5 boards each night, which is also 27th in the country. Harris ranks sixth in the conference in field goal percentage, shooting 44-percent. Shooting free throws, Devin Haid (95-percent) and RJ Ogom (93.5) are second and third in the MEC, respectively, and 10th and 16th in Division II. Three players rank in the top-8 in the MEC in blocks per game, with Haid averaging 1.7, Harris averaging 1.5 and RJ Ogom averaging 1.3.
 
Noting the Senators: D&E played very well against both Wheeling and No. 2 West Liberty, last week. Versus Wheeling, the Senators beat the Cardinals, 81-60. The Senators lost to No. 2 West Liberty by just six points, 91-85. Sam Rolle IV led the team in scoring in both games, putting up 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists against Wheeling and then posting 18 points and five assists versus West Liberty. Clarens Pierre had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds against West Liberty and the Senators outscored WLU, 43-41, in the second half.

As a team, Davis & Elkins scores just 80 points per game, but they only allow 73.6 points per game, which is fourth lowest in the conference. They shoot 45-percent from the field and, on defense, lead the MEC with an opponent field goal percentage of 38.7-percent. The Senators are top three in the MEC in three-point percentage on offense, at 35.8-percent, and they are third in the conference on the defensive end, holding teams to a 30.2-percent three-point percentage. On the boards, D&E has a plus-six rebounding margin, which is second in the conference. They dish out an average of 15 assists, which is third highest in the MEC.

Sam Rolle is currently fifth in the MEC in scoring average, at 15.1 per game. Tristan Starks has shot the ball well from long range, ranking second in the conference in three point percentage (46.7) and second in three-pointers made per game (2.6). Rolle is second in the league, and 18th in the country, in assists per game (5.6) and fourth in the MEC in assist-to-turnover ratio (2). Charleston Ponds (6.8 per game) and Clarens Pierre (6.6) are eighth and tenth, respectively, in rebounds per game in the MEC. Pierre also averages two blocks per game, which is third best in the MEC, and 20th in D2.
 
Noting the Bobcats: Like Davis & Elkins, WVWC also played Wheeling and West Liberty last week, but allowed over 100 points to each. The Bobcats fell on the road to West Liberty, 125-69, and then came home and lost by a score of 102-92, against Wheeling. Against the WLU Hilltoppers, W.Va. Wesleyan allowed 77 points in the second half. Maxwell Harris totaled 14 points and six rebounds off the bench to lead the Wesleyan versus WLU. Alex Mirhosseini had 22 points and six assists to lead WVWC against Wheeling, as five Bobcats scored in double-digits in that game.

West Virginia Wesleyan is sixth in the conference in points per game, with an average of 81.1, which is the most the team has averaged in at least six seasons. But, they allow 99.4 points and have given up at least 90 points in six games. The team is also fourth in the conference field goal percentage, at 44.1-percent, they make eight threes per game, which ranks fifth in the MEC, and they shoot the three at 36-percent, which is the second highest in the conference. At the free throw line, WVWC leads the MEC with a percentage of 77.6-percent.

Individually, Dieker Padrino is third in the MEC with 16.3 points per game and he leads the league in three point percentage (.469) and threes made per game (2.9). Padrino also ranks sixth in steals per game (1.8). Maxwell Harris ranks fifth with 7.1 rebounds per contest and Alex Mirhosseini is sixth in assists per game, at 3.8.