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Irish Ready To ‘Go For It’ With 2020-21 Schedule

2020-21 Notre Dame Men’s Basketball Schedule

The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball program has released its full schedule for the 2020-21 season. The COVID-19 virus outbreak delayed the start of the season and has limited teams across the country to 27 games. Glenn and Stacey Murphy Head Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Brey and his staff have compiled a schedule that features 25 games against Power Conference teams, including 20 Atlantic Coast Conference contests and 10 games against teams that appear in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25. 

“My feeling is, your schedule strategy for your (NCAA) resume – that is all out the window,” Brey said during a media zoom call on Monday, November 9. 

“Let’s play. Let’s get our kids playing and hopefully we can play most of the 27 games. We want to go for it and schedule big and exciting games for our kids.”

With the release of the ACC schedule and Notre Dame’s non-conference slate, it is definitely ‘mission accomplished’ for Coach Brey and his staff. The Irish will face six teams ranked in the AP top 25 before the calendar turns to 2021, with five of those teams among the nation’s top 15 teams. 

Notre Dame will start the season at No. 13 Michigan State Saturday, November 28, renewing a historical rivalry with the Spartans that dates back to 1908. Western Michigan will visit Purcell Pavilion on December 2 for the 2020-21 home opener before the Irish face No. 12 Tennessee on December 4, No. 23 Ohio State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, travel to No. 10 Kentucky in Rupp Arena on December 12 and then return home for the ACC opener with No. 9 Duke. 

“You don’t throw these kinds of games on the board in the non-league unless you think you have a group that you can have some fun with,” Brey said. 

“We wouldn’t schedule like this unless you saw, at the end of last year, the lightbulb go on for some of our young players, especially our juniors.”

The challenging slate does not end with the ACC opener against the Blue Devils. Notre Dame will still take its yearly trip to Indianapolis to face Purdue in the Crossroads Classic (December 19) before its first ACC road game December 22 at Syracuse. The calendar year will end at home for the Irish on December 29 against No. 4 Virginia. 

The ACC slate continues through the rest of the season, highlighted by a return trip to the fourth-ranked Cavaliers in January, along with a trip to Chapel Hill to face No. 16 North Carolina. 

The Irish also will step out of conference for a road trip to Howard on January 18, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It is set up to be a memorable trip to one of the nation’s top HBCUs in Washington, D.C.,  just days before the 2021 inauguration of president-elect Joe Biden. 

Notre Dame’s repeat ACC opponents this season will be Duke, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Miami, Virginia and Virginia Tech. Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Syracuse and Louisville represent the away-game-only conference opponents, while Wake Forest, Clemson, NC State and Florida State are set as home-game-only foes. 

Attendance policies, game start times and network designations are all still in development and will be released at a later date. 

2020-21 Notre Dame Men’s Basketball Schedule (as of November 10, 2020)

DATE

DAY

TIME (ALL ET)

OPPONENT

CITY

SITE

NETWORK

11/28

SAT

TBA

at Michigan State

East Lansing, MI

Breslin Center

TBA

12/2

WED

TBA

Western Michigan

Notre Dame, IN

Purcell Pavilion

TBA

12/4

FRI

TBA

Tennessee

Notre Dame, IN

Purcell Pavilion

TBA

12/8

TUE

TBA

&

Ohio State

Notre Dame, IN

Purcell Pavilion

TBA

12/12

SAT

TBA

at Kentucky

Lexington, KY

Rupp Arena

TBA

12/16

WED

TBA

*

Duke

Notre Dame, IN

Purcell Pavilion

TBA

12/19

SAT

TBA

^

vs. Purdue

Indianapolis, IN

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

TBA

12/22

TUE

TBA

*

at Syracuse

Syracuse, NY

Carrier Dome

TBA

12/29 or 30

TBA

TBA

*

Virginia

Notre Dame, IN

Purcell Pavilion

TBA

1/2

SAT

TBA

*

at Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA

Petersen Events Center

TBA

1/5 or 6

TBA

TBA

*

Georgia Tech

Notre Dame, IN

Purcell Pavilion

TBA

1/10

SUN

TBA

*

at Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, VA

Cassell Coliseum

TBA

1/12 or 13

TBA

TBA

*

at Virginia

Charlottesville, VA

John Paul Jones Arena

TBA

1/16

SAT

TBA

*

Boston College

Notre Dame, IN

Purcell Pavilion

TBA

1/18

MON

TBA

at Howard

Washington, DC

Burr Gymnasium

TBA

1/24

SUN

TBA

*

at Miami

Coral Gables, FL

Watsco Center

TBA

1/26 or 27

TBA

TBA

*

Virginia Tech

Notre Dame, IN

Purcell Pavilion

TBA

1/30

SAT

TBA

*

at North Carolina

Chapel Hill, NC

Dean Smith Center

TBA

2/2 or 3

TBA

TBA

*

Wake Forest

Notre Dame, IN

Purcell Pavilion

TBA

2/6

SAT

TBA

*

at Georgia Tech

Atlanta, GA

McCamish Pavilion

TBA

2/9 or 10

TBA

TBA

*

at Duke

Durham, NC

Cameron Indoor Stadium

TBA

2/14

SUN

TBA

*

Miami

Notre Dame, IN

Purcell Pavilion

TBA

2/16 or 17

TBA

TBA

*

Clemson

Notre Dame, IN

Purcell Pavilion

TBA

2/23 or 24

TBA

TBA

*

at Louisville

Louisville, KY

KFC Yum! Center

TBA

2/27

SAT

TBA

*

at Boston College

Chestnut Hill, MA

Conte Forum

TBA

3/2 or 3

TBA

TBA

*

NC State

Notre Dame, IN

Purcell Pavilion

TBA

3/6

SAT

TBA

*

Florida State

Notre Dame, IN

Purcell Pavilion

TBA

& – ACC/Big Ten Challenge

^ – Crossroads Classic

* – Atlantic Coast Conference Game