Toledo @ Notre Dame preview

Winning without its best player should serve Notre Dame well in future games, including Thursday's tilt against visiting Toledo. Juwan Durham stepped up in a big way Monday as the Fighting Irish, who will face the Rockets in the fifth of six straight home games, had to do without leading scorer and ACC Player of the Week John Mooney.

Mooney was forced to miss the game against Presbyterian with a stomach flu but thanks to Durham, Nate Laszewski and Rex Pflueger, the Fighting Irish were able to survive some tense moments against the Blue Hose. Durham did his best Mooney impression in the 63-53 victory, notching 11 points and 15 rebounds while also blocking four shots. "With a group that's growing and trying to get confident, you look for some things to hang our hat on," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey told the media. "They cut it to two and I thought we could be trouble. Guys had to make more plays and they did." The Rockets have had three different leading scorers during their three-game winning streak - all against teams that Notre Dame also beat in the Men Against Breast Cancer Invitational.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ACC Network

ABOUT TOLEDO (3-1): Spencer Littleson and Keshaun Saunders will try to punish the Fighting Irish from deep as the duo has been the driving force behind Toledo being one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the country. Saunders, a freshman from Canada, has wasted no time showing his talents by averaging 13 points and shooting nearly 60 percent from deep while Littleson's 3-point shooting has improved from 26.3 percent as a freshman to 41.7 percent last season to 54.5 percent clip this season for coach Tod Kowalczyk. Marreon Jackson, who has a pair of career-high 27-point games this season, and Luke Knapke have also been solid from beyond the arc for Toledo, combining to make 17-of-42.

ABOUT NOTRE DAME (4-1): Laszewski and Pflueger won't win many games on their own seeing as they average fewer than seven points, but showed they can make a difference in a pinch. Pflueger posted a season high in points (13) and assists (six) while Laszewski did the same with 11 points while posting his fourth game with six or more rebounds this season. "We miss John out there," Pflueger, a senior guard, told the media of Mooney. "We were confident in our guys to come out. We picked it up toward the end, especially with our defense."

TIP-INS

1. Mooney was tied for third in the nation entering Wednesday with 12.5 rebounds per game.

2. The Rockets ranked second in the nation in 3-point shooting (47.3 percent) and was 19th with 10.8 treys per game.

3. Notre Dame has had 15 or more assists in four out of five games and was 21st in the nation in total assists (83).

PREDICTION: Notre Dame 79, Toledo 75