Notre Dame gets set to take on West Virginia
Notre Dame is looking to make its third consecutive trip to the Sweet 16 but they have to get past a pesky West Virginia team first.
Saturday at KeyBank Center, Notre Dame will take the floor going up against a West Virginia team that wreaks havoc on the defensive end.
Junior point guard Matt Farrell will be one of the primary players in charge of breaking the vaunted West Virginia press.
In the last game, Farrell missed a jumper and a free throw in the final moments something he criticized hard on himself, but as he said, that’s just the way he plays.
“I’m going to be really hard on myself, how hard I work and the energy and the passion that I play with is something I’ve always had so yeah, maybe I need to be but doesn’t matter that’s the way I want to be, that’s how you get better,” said Farrell.
“We have a group that’s really hard on themselves, you’ve heard me say that, and I think he was too hard on himself and maybe it affected him I don’t know. He just needs to get on to the next one and guard on the other end. The standards for him are very high I think missing the free throw was the kicker, that was where he was ready to go over in the falls in a barrel,” noted Mike Brey, Notre Dame Men’s Basketball Head Coach.
Going up against the West Virginia press is no easy task.
The Mountaineers force the most turnovers per game in the country but the Irish have faced plenty of these teams during ACC play
“I think it’s going to be a challenge that we’ve seen in prior games, for example, Florida State, Louisville how they defend so, I think playing those games in the ACC the best conference in the country helps us with games like this,” said Bonzie Colson, Irish junior forward.
Farrell adds, “What they do is tough, they cause havoc, it’s reckless. We got to be tough and strong with the ball like I said we’re going to turn the ball over, we’re not perfect they’re good at what they do. We need to be able to look up the floor and have five guys that are receivers and we need to be mentally tough, which is something we’ve been able to do in the past.”
“They’re really good at what they do, they make you play a different way and so we’re really good with the ball, something’s got to give,” said Brey.
The Vegas odds-makers have Notre Dame as a two-and-a-half-point underdog but this team has been an underdog for the last three years and right now, they’re the only team in the country who has advanced to the last two Elite Eights.
Irish and Mountaineers get set to battle at 12:10 p.m.