Notre Dame Preview & the End of the Big10/ACC Challenge

November 28, 2022: It was announced today (November 28) that ESPN is canceling the Big10/ACC Challenge going forward and this will be its last year. The conference challenge will be replaced by the SEC/ACC challenge next year and we suspect we will see some iteration of the Big10/Big12 challenge as its replacement. Anyway, Michigan State will head into South Bend to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in an interesting matchup.

Notre Dame is 5-1 but has looked shaky and not very dominant despite playing lesser competition. They are led by 4 fifth year starters and an athletic heralded freshman in JJ Starling. Per usual, Notre Dame is a good offense ranking #28 in KenPom with decent shooting and turnover percentage. However, they are an unmitigated disaster on defense ranking #168 in overall defense where the only bright spot is good defensive rebounding.

It appears that the Spartans will be without Jaden Akins again as well as Malik Hall who still has a few weeks left to recover from the stress reaction in his foot. Expect to see MSU try to get out and run and build upon their shooting success against a poor defensive team. We wouldn't expect a lot of offensive rebounding against Notre Dame but perhaps they haven't yet been challenged by a team like MSU. Finally, if Michigan State gets a lead, will they be able to hold it without any late game heroics?

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