Mount St. Mary's @ Notre Dame preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 9, 2014 ) Mount St. Mary's 67, Notre Dame 93

Notre Dame opens its home regular-season schedule Monday when Mount St. Mary's of the Northeast Conference comes to town for a regional matchup of the 2017 Maui Jim Maui Invitational. The No. 14 Fighting Irish endured a sloppy first half before taking charge in the opening 72-58 victory over DePaul on Saturday, while the Mountaineers were handed an 80-59 loss to Marquette in their first game of the Maui Invitational.

Hot 3-point shooting spurred the Irish to their 18th straight season-opening victory under coach Mike Brey, with Notre Dame nailing 9-of-12 3-pointers in the second half, including eight in a row at one point to pull away from DePaul. "There's a mental toughness, and a belief about this nucleus that they're going to find a way to do it," Brey told reporters. "We kept digging in and guarding. And then eventually we got a heck of a run. I didn't know we hit eight threes in a row." While ACC Preseason Player of the Year Bonzie Colson notched the 24th double-double of his career with 18 points and 13 rebounds, it was fellow Irish senior Matt Farrell that led the 3-point barrage as he matched his career high with five. Jamion Christian's Mountaineers do not have the firepower to keep up and Mount St. Mary's is only 1-28 all-time against ranked opponents, with its victory at No. 21 Georgia Tech on Dec. 18, 1995.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ACC Network Extra

ABOUT MOUNT ST. MARY's (0-1): Senior guard Junior Robinson, who averaged 14.1 points per game last season, stepped up in the opener and finished with 20 points for his 13th career game with 20 or more. The Mountaineers will need his leadership as three freshmen made their debuts in the starting lineup against Marquette, with Donald Carey contributing 11 points and three assists, Jonah Antonio posting eight points, five rebounds and three steals and Bobby Planutis producing five points and four rebounds. The last time the Mountaineers had three freshmen in the starting lineup was when Robinson, Charles Glover and Chris Wray started Feb. 26, 2015.

ABOUT NOTRE DAME (1-0): Along with Colson and Farrell, sophomore guard T.J. Gibbs also came up big against DePaul as the sophomore logged a career-high 38 minutes and led all scorers with a career-high 21 points while not being charged with a turnover. Notre Dame finished with only nine turnovers, only three coming in the second half. Freshman D.J. Harvey played 16 minutes in his debut, totaling seven points and three rebounds off the bench.

TIP-INS


1. These teams have met twice before with Notre Dame winning both previous meetings with Brey as coach, including 93-67 in 2014.

2. Notre Dame has made at least one 3-pointer in 617 straight games dating back to the 1998-99 campaign.

3. The Irish went 16-2 at home last season.

PREDICTION: Notre Dame 82, Mount St. Mary's 50