Notre Dame vs Kentucky: 2021-22 college basketball preview, TV schedule

Notre Dame and Kentucky meet in South Bend on Saturday afternoon. Can the Irish finally get a huge win, or will Kentucky keep rolling with another victory?

TV Schedule: Saturday, December 11, 4:15 PM EST. ESPN

Arena: Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Indiana.

Records: Notre Dame (3-4), Kentucky (7-1)

With college football games being done for a little while the college basketball world will be getting more attention than it rightfully deserves being on the main stage. The Saturday slate this weekend features some intriguing matchups with one of those matchups being Notre Dame vs Kentucky.

Right now this matchup between the two programs is heading in opposite directions based off the games so far this season. This is the second game of the three-game series that the two schools agreed to play overall. Notre Dame came out with the victory last year on the road inside Rupp Arena hanging on 64-63 against the Wildcats. The Irish had a 22 point halftime lead and were able to hang on for the victory.

The Kentucky Wildcats come into Saturday as the 24th best scoring team in the country averaging 82.6 ppg, while giving up an average of 60.9 to their opponents. These numbers can be looked at and be deceiving as they currently have the 339th strength of schedule through the year so far. Notre Dame on the other side is averaging 69.0 ppg which comes it at 243rd and giving up an average of 66.7 to their opponents. The Irish strength of schedule sits at 62nd best in the country.

Notre Dame is currently sitting at 3-4 on the season. It has not gone as planned for Coach Brey and the players so far this season. There were high hopes for this team with what they brought back, plus what they added to the roster. It just has not clicked just yet this year. Will it click? Time will tell.

Maybe Saturday is the day things start turning around for Notre Dame with a highly ranked team like the Kentucky Wildcats coming to town. This is the first time that Notre Dame has played a home game in almost a month with their last home game taking place on November 16th in their win over High Point.

If the Irish have any plans to knock off the Wildcats they have to play a whole lot better than they have been playing lately on both ends of the floor. The Irish in their last five games are 1-4 with the only win coming against Division II Chaminade in the Maui Invitational. In their latest game, they were out hustled all night long by Boston College in a 73-57 loss in Chestnut Hill.

Two bright spots for Notre Dame so far on the roster are senior guard Dane Goodwin and freshman guard Blake Wesley. Goodwin has been the most steady player from the start of the year until now. The senior guard has reached double figures in all games so far this season.

A lot of people expected Blake Wesley to be a key piece for Notre Dame this year but not sure if anybody saw it coming this fast. The South Bend native in Wesley has been the best player on the floor for the Irish other than Goodwin. Wesley has been the leading scorer multiple games this year against CSUN and Illinois. He recently made his first career start last Friday against Boston College and most likely will still there moving forward.

Kentucky unlike Notre Dame finds themselves coming into this matchup winners of seven in a row with their lone loss coming in their season opener against Duke in New York. The Wildcats other than Duke have not played the toughest schedule so far as mentioned earlier, but they have not slipped up like in years past. Have to give them credit for taking care of business with racking up victories over teams they should be winning against in the early part of the year.

John Calipari’s teams are usually very young with a bunch of highly ranked players who are just out of high school. Trust me, the Wildcats still have a ton of young talent on their roster but it is mixed with more of a veteran group now.

Calipari took a different route diving into the transfer portal this past offseason. Kentucky was able to land forward Oscar Tshiebwe from West Virginia who brings toughness and grit down in the paint, sharpshooter Kellan Grady from Davidson who can hurt you from all over the court, and former Georgia guard Sahvir Wheeler, who is a big-time player when it comes to assists in his career. The other key transfer player was former Iowa standout in CJ Fredrick. In his two years at Iowa Fredrick shot 46.6% from 3-point range. Unfortunately for Fredrick and the Wildcats he had to undergo surgery on his hamstring and is most likely done for the whole year.

One non-upperclassman for Kentucky that is having a very good start to his career in Lexington by no surprise is freshman sensation TyTy Washington. In seven games he is averaging 14.9 ppg, 5.1 rebs, and 2.9 assists. Washington had a rough shooting night to start off his college career against Duke going 3 for 14 (21.4%) from the floor but ever since has scored in double figures and shot at least 46% in the past seven games. Being surrounded by veterans isn’t a bad thing for TyTy Washington either. The veteran presence around him probably helps him realize that he does not have to try and force things to do too much on the floor.

Am I expecting a game like the one when these two teams met in the Elite Eight back in 2015 where it went down to the wire? No, but I do think it is a very competitive game in South Bend. Can Notre Dame pull off the upset? They have not played a complete game all year to this point, so will need to play a whole lot better on both ends of the floor and keep the Wildcats off the boards.

Notre Dame is very desperate for a big win. They need a win like this before facing off against Indiana next weekend in Indianapolis. What is crazy and great about basketball is any team can beat anybody at any time. It really just has to be their night on the court. Call me crazy but I think Saturday will be Notre Dame’s night.

Prediction: Notre Dame 76, Kentucky 75