Alabama A&M @ Notre Dame preview

Notre Dame already has faced a pair of top-10 opponents as well as two of the storied programs in college basketball, but it gets a breather of sorts in its final non-conference game of the season. Returning from a one-week break, the Fighting Irish look to build momentum for the Atlantic Coast Conference slate against visiting Alabama A&M on Sunday afternoon.

Notre Dame is coming off a 62-60 loss to in-state rival Indiana in the Crossroads Classic last Saturday, a game in which it trailed by as many as 17 points before failing to hold a five-point edge down the stretch. "Sometimes you don't deserve to win it when you've played defense for only 15 minutes," coach Mike Brey lamented after his team fell to 2-3 in December. It will be the inaugural meeting between Alabama A&M and the Fighting Irish, who own a 48-5 record under Brey in matchups against first-time opponents. The Bulldogs of the Southwestern Athletic Conference have dropped all seven road games, including to UAB, Cincinnati and Clemson by an average of 30 points.

TV: Noon ET, No TV

ABOUT ALABAMA A&M (3-7): The Bulldogs are coming off a season-high output in a 92-80 victory over North Alabama, a game in which coach Dylan Howard started five true freshmen for the first time. The top first-year player is 6-1 guard Cameron Alford, who played scholastically in Indiana at Brownsburg High and leads Alabama A&M in scoring (14.9 points) and rebounding (5.2). Alford poured in a season-high 26 points in the last game and has scored in double figures in all but one contest.

ABOUT NOTRE DAME (8-4): The Fighting Irish had trouble getting untracked offensively due to their struggles from long-range against Indiana, connecting on only 6 of their 27 attempts after back-to-back games in which they launched 39 3-point attempts in each and converted on 35. Senior forward John Mooney, the nation's second-leading rebounder at 13.1 per game, heads four players in double figures with an average of 14.8 points. Sixth man Dane Goodwin (12.0) is second in scoring after averaging 19.3 points in the last three games.

TIP-INS

1. Mooney has registered nine double-doubles this season, including six in a row.

2. Alabama A&M freshman G Garrett Hicks is averaging 12.7 points in his last three games.

3. Notre Dame commits a nation-low 9.7 turnovers and senior G T.J. Gibbs ranks seventh in Division I with a 3.62 assist-to-turnover ratio.

PREDICTION: Notre Dame 88, Alabama A&M 58