Given their losing record and so-so power ranking, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame are more concerned about qualifying for the 18-team ACC tournament than the 68 team’s NCAA tournament.
The last three teams in the ACC position do not qualify for the annual collection for the league’s automatic NCAA -KAJ.
When the visit Virginia Tech (10-13, 5-7 ACC) and Notre Dame (10-12, 4-7) prepare for Saturday’s Matinee in South Bend, Ind., At least one head coach feels better about their team than their record can suggest.
Virginia Tech’s Mike Young, who recently passed the 400 victory, hoped to be able to build on last week’s victories in Florida State and Virginia with a home victory over SMU. Hokies came up shortly 81-75 on Wednesday, but Young had nothing but praise for his guys.
“They play really hard and they try to do everything we give them to put ourselves to win every night,” Young said. “I know this: I have a good team. I have a team that gets better and better here. … I’m proud of our gang. I really am.”
It probably helped to see the fifth-year-old great man Mylyjael Poteat deliver 15 points and 10 returns against SMU to record his first double double since March 19, 2022. He also had a career-high-binding five assists.
Poteat rose on one night when leading goal scores and rebounder Tobi Lawal (12.8 points per match, 6.7 returns) had a free night. He finished with nine points while he went 0 out of 5 from 3-point interval.
Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry saw his team absorbing a couple of single-digit losses in Miami and Florida State since last Saturday. The Fighting Irish has played only three of its last ten matches on its own court, but is allowed to play six of their last nine regular seasonal games at home.
Notre Dame hopes to see the return of point guard Matt Allocco (wrist), who set out Tuesday’s loss in Florida State. Alocco has an average of 9.4 points and 3.0 assists, while they shot 47.3 percent from 3-point intervals and his production was missed in a 67-60 loss to Florida State.
“They had to play on the road and then travel back in a close, hard -fought game where guys play a lot of minutes,” said Shrewsberry. “We were at Miami and guys were beaten. It’s just a brief turn to come back and get ready.
Without Alocco, Shrewsberry gave the beginner Sir Mohammed his first start. He played a career pile of 25 minutes but missed all seven shots and ended with one point, four returns and three assists.
The Irish Markus Burton has an average of 22.0 points since returning from a knee injury in early January, while Tae Davis gets 15.5 points in the season, and Braeden Shrewsberry adds 14.3.
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