Notre Dame has one more test before turning its attention to the No. 1 team in the country.
The Fighting Irish (3-0) will tip off against South Carolina State (3-0) on Wednesday evening in South Bend, Ind. It will mark two games in three days for Notre Dame, which then has a five-day break before facing top-ranked Florida on Nov. 17 in the Players Era Festival.
Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry is not satisfied despite his team’s unbeaten start. Following a 24-point win over Eastern Illinois on Monday, he said he still wants to see more.
Shrewsberry admitted that it might sound strange to harp on making improvements after such a decisive victory.
“There’s things that we want to keep working on, we’ve got to keep better at,” Shrewsberry said. “As coaches, we’re all so negative all the time, and sometimes you leave a game and you’re like, ‘Man, that didn’t feel good.’ And then you look (at the box score) — we forced 23 turnovers, we got 17 steals. But I still think we could be better defensively. …
“Winning is hard, and we’re always going to celebrate winning. But it gives us a good chance to know that we’ve still got room to grow as a group.”
Brady Koehler leads Notre Dame with 15.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Braeden Shrewsberry is next with 14.7 points per game, and Ethan Roberts ranks third with 14.3 points.
Logan Duncomb will look to stay hot for the Fighting Irish after scoring 20 points on perfect 9-for-9 shooting in his last game. Duncomb said Notre Dame’s depth is a strength.
“Our team is so good that it can be anyone’s night, any night,” Duncomb said. “I expected this to come eventually. We’ve been playing well together, so I wasn’t worried about it.”
South Carolina State also is perfect on the season after posting wins against NAIA member Morris, South Carolina Upstate and Chicago State. The Bulldogs will play the third game of a five-game road swing, with more challenging games awaiting in December.
“Playing teams such as Notre Dame, Wichita State, West Virginia and South Carolina will test us and help us grow as a team,” head coach Erik Martin said in a preseason news release. “Our goal is to continue improving throughout the season, compete at a high level every night and be playing our best basketball when conference play and the MEAC tournament arrive.”
Noah Treadwell leads South Carolina State with 15.7 points per game, Teon Tindal averages 9.7 ppg and Mitchell Taylor is next at 9.0 ppg.