This Week: Notre Dame College men's basketball gets back on the road for a Wednesday night matchup with Frostburg State University, in Maryland, on Jan. 17. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The NDC Falcons come home for a game against Fairmont State University, on Jan. 20 at 4 p.m.
Records: NDC has an overall record of 6-7, and a conference mark of 2-6. Frostburg State opens the week with a 2-12 record, overall, while going 2-6 against MEC opponents. Fairmont State holds a record of 10-4 (4-4 MEC).
Coaches Corner: Mark Richmond is in year five with the NDC Falcons and has a coaching record of 55-63 (41-49 MEC). Zack Thomsen is in his first season coaching at Frostburg State, while Tim Koenig has been at Fairmont for five seasons and has a record of 95-32 (65-25 MEC).
Rankings: None of these teams are receiving votes in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II poll. In the Division II College Sports Communicators Regional Poll, Fairmont State is ninth in the Atlantic Region.
Series History: Frostburg State joined the Mountain East Conference prior to the 2019-20 season and since that time, Notre Dame holds a 6-2 record versus the Bobcats. The NDC Falcons have won five consecutive matchups against the FSU Bobcats, averaging 84.4 points in those wins. NDC has put together a 6-18 record against Fairmont State and the FSU Falcons have won three consecutive matchups. However, Notre Dame won four straight home games in this series from the 2018-19 season until the 2021-22 campaign.
Noting the NDC Falcons: Notre Dame started the second half of conference play with a couple of tough matchups, losing to West Virginia State (73-66) and Charleston (98-79).
Devin Haid and
Andre Harris stood out in both games. Haid scored 19 points against WV State and 17 against Charleston. He also stole the ball four times against UC. Harris added 13 versus West Virginia State and 17 against Charleston.
Notre Dame scores just 82.1 points per game, but ranks fourth in the league at 45.2-percent shooting, and they dish out 14.9 assists per game, which ranks fourth. On the defensive side of the court, NDC holds opponents to 43.8-percent shooting, which is fifth-best in the conference. The NDC Falcons are sixth in the conference in rebounds per game, with 38.3, they block 5.15 shots per game, ranking third in the MEC, and post 8.4 steals per game, which ranks fourth.
Devin Haid has moved into the top 10 in the conference in scoring, with 14.5 points per game.
Andre Harris, who is 15th in the MEC in points per game, at 13.1, is also fourth in rebounding, with 6.9. Harris (47.2-percent) and Haid (46.8) are seventh and eighth, respectively, in field goal percentage, while Haid (93.6-percent) and
RJ Ogom (93.2-percent) are first and second in the MEC in free throw percentage. Haid is also fourth in steals, with 1.8, and sixth in blocked shots, with 2.5 per game, and 11th in assists, with 2.5 per game.
In NCAA Division II rankings, the Falcons are ninth in blocks per game (5.2) and 20th in fastbreak points (16.5). Haid ranks third in the country in free throw percentage and Ogom ranks fifth.
Noting the Bobcats: After being blown out 126-79 against No. 25 West Liberty, on Jan. 10, FSU picked up an important 104-99 win over Wheeling, to move into a tie eighth place in the MEC. Against Wheeling, four players scored in double-digits and three of them scored at least 20. Logan Lewis posted 22, on 8-of-12 shooting, JayShaun Freeman put up 21 and Malcolm Day added 20. The FSU Bobcats shot 52-percent from the field and made 13 threes.
Frostburg is last in the MEC in offense, averaging 74.4 point per game. They rank fifth in steals, with 7.36, but overall, the defense has been struggling. They have allowed teams to shoot 48.1-percent from the field and 38.7-percent from three, near the bottom in each category.
Logan Lewis leads the team, and ranks 12th in the MEC, with a scoring average of 13.6, while Koby Baptiste is ninth in the conference, with 6.2 rebounds per game. Lewis shoots 47.4 percent, which is sixth-best in the league.
Noting the FSU Falcons: Fairmont State scored 84 points in both games last week. Last Wednesday, the FSU Falcons snuck past Wheeling, 84-82, before losing to West Liberty, 101-84. In the win over Wheeling, Tommy Williams led the team with 22 points and David Jolinder added 19, on 8-of-12 shooting. In total, four players scored in double-digits. It was not an easy win, however, as Wheeling went on an 11-4 run over the last two minutes of the game and closed the gap to one point.
In Mountain East Conference ranks, Fairmont State is fourth in scoring (84.2 points per game), third in field goal percentage (45.4-percent), second in three pointers made per game (10.4), second in both turnover margin (plus-3.29) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.26). Fairmont ranks third in the MEC in assists per game (15.9) and steals per game (8.57). The FSU defense has been allowing teams to shoot the ball at a high percentage, ranking eighth in opponent field goal percentage (44.6-percent) and 10th in opponent three-point percentage (38.6-percent).
Fairmont has two players ranking in the top seven in scoring. Zyon Dobbs ranks sixth, with 15.4 points per game, and David Jolinder is seventh with 14.8. Seth Younkin leads the conference with 7.9 rebounds per game, whil;e Tommy Williams leads the conference with 3.1 three-pointers made per game and he is third with a three-point percentage at 44-percent. Dobbs (4.3) and Cameron Whiteside (3.7) are fourth and fifth in assists in the conference. Cameron Whiteside (1.6), Tommy Williams (1.5) and Jaidyn West (1.4) are sixth, seventh and ninth, respectively, in steals per game.
The team ranks 17th in three pointers made per game in Division II with 10.4. Tommy Williams is 15th in D2 with 3.14 three pointers made contest.
