Miami @ Notre Dame preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 6, 2019 ) Notre Dame 47, Miami-Florida 62

Two teams coming off inspiring victories hope to continue their surge of emotion when visiting Miami (Fla.) takes on Notre Dame in an ACC showdown Sunday. The Hurricanes have won three straight after beating Virginia Tech 102-95 in triple-overtime on Wednesday while Notre Dame earned its fifth victory in seven games Monday when it rallied from 15 points down in the second half to top North Carolina 77-76.

“I thought we looked flat-out exhausted, and maybe we probably were,” Fighting Irish coach Mike Brey told reporters. “But we found a little something to finish, and I thought our defense was fabulous the last six, seven minutes, and then we had a number of different guys that wanted to take big shots.” Notre Dame is led by senior forward John Mooney, who boasts an ACC-high 21 double-doubles, and the Irish entered Saturday leading the nation in least fouls per game (12.5) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.72). Miami was 2-9 over an 11-game stretch before a pair of 17-point wins against Boston College and Wake Forest, followed up by freshman guard Isaiah Wong’s season-high 27-point performance in the triumph at Virginia Tech. “Very happy and grateful that we were able to pull it out,” Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga told reporters. “We’ve now won three in a row. This is the healthiest we’ve been since Dec. 31 when we played at Clemson and won on the road.”

TIME: 6 p.m. ET. TV: ACC Network

ABOUT MIAMI (14-12, 6-10 ACC): Wong did not score in double figures in his first 18 games of the season but has accomplished the feat in the last eight contests while averaging 17.5 in the process. Junior guard Chris Lykes has averaged 17.3 points the last three games to boost his season mark to a team-high 15.5 while senior backcourt mate Dejan Vasiljevic is next at 13.5, but he's managed just 8.0 per contest over the last three. Junior guard Kameron McGusty had 21 points in the win at Virginia Tech to push his average to 13.4 and Florida transfer Keith Stone scored 12 to go along with 18 rebounds in the latest win.

ABOUT NOTRE DAME (16-10, 7-8): Sophomore guard Prentiss Hubb, a high school teammate of Lykes in Washington D.C., had 20 points and eight assists to lead the way Monday before sophomore Nate Laszewski drained a 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left to win it. Mooney averages 16.2 points and entered Saturday second in the nation in rebounds (12.7) while senior guard T.J. Gibbs (13.2 points) scored 14 versus North Carolina after managing six combined in the previous two. Senior forward Juwan Durham averages 8.3 points on 57.5 percent shooting from the field and ranks third in the ACC in blocked shots per game (2.2).

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Miami’s 7-foot junior C Rodney Miller Jr. is 12-for-19 from the field and averaging 9.7 points along with 7.3 rebounds during the win streak.

2. Mooney is one of three ACC players with consecutive seasons of 20 or more double-doubles in the last 25 years, joining Tim Duncan and Shelden Williams.

3. The Hurricanes have won four of the last five meetings to take the lead in the all-time series 12-11.

PREDICTION: Notre Dame 76, Miami 72