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BOSTON – The Northeastern men's basketball team is set to take on No. 3 seed Notre Dame in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday in what promises to be a fascinating matchup.
 
The Fighting Irish sailed to a 29-5 overall record this season, capturing the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championship with big wins over Miami, Duke and North Carolina. In the ACC championship game, Notre Dame went on a 26-3 second-half run to defeat UNC, 90-82. All five Irish starters scored in double digits to help ND secure the title.
 
Notre Dame boasts an impressive offense, averaging 78.8 points per game, which ranks 11th in the nation. The team shoots 51 percent from the field, good for second in the country (Northeastern is close behind at 48.6 percent, ranked 12th).
 
The highly-efficient offense is powered by senior guard Jerian Grant, MVP of the ACC Tournament. The Naismith Award semifinalist is averaging 16.8 points per game and is ranked seventh nationally in assists at 6.6 per game. Senior guard/forward Pat Connaughton is averaging 12.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game and shoots 43.6 percent from beyond the arc. A total of four Notre Dame players have scoring averages in double digits.
 
Defensively, the Irish allow 65.6 points per game, good for 146th in the nation. They are also in the bottom-third among all teams in rebounding, grabbing 32.8 boards per game.
 
Although Notre Dame has made the NCAA tournament a total of 33 times, the team has won just two tournament games since 2003. The deepest tournament run by the Irish featured a Final Four appearance in 1978.
 
Head coach Mike Brey has led Notre Dame to the NCAA Tournament nine times with a 6-9 record in those appearances. Before that, Brey led Delaware to two tournament appearances, losing in the first round both times. Brey has an overall record of 428-215 in 20 years of coaching.
 
Northeastern and Notre Dame had three common opponents early this season. Both teams defeated Navy and Florida State, but Notre Dame beat Massachusetts while NU fell short of a victory over the Minutemen.
 
The No. 14 seed Huskies (23-11) will look to steal a win from the Fighting Irish this Thursday at 12:15 p.m. on CBS.