The Captains:
Seniors Colin Falls and Russell Carter and junior Rob Kurz were selected captains by a vote of their teammates. Kurz' selection marks the third time in four years that the Irish have had a junior serving as a team captain. Falls and Kurz started the year as Notre Dame's two captains, while Carter was recently voted as a captain by his teammates.

Twenty Something:
Russell Carter's 26-point performance against Villanova (Jan. 17) marked his eighth 20-plus point outing of the season and the sixth straight game that he had led the Irish in double figures. The 26 points at the time also were the most ever scored by Carter in a BIG EAST game. His 32-point outing against St. John's on Tuesday gave him nine 20-plus outings this season. The last Irish player with more 20-point outings in a single season was Chris Thomas in 2003-04 as he topped the 20-point mark on 16 occasions. He also was Notre Dame's leading scorer in 11 consecutive games that season.

Falls Returns:
After missing the Elon (Dec. 16) and Portland (Dec. 19) games with plantar faciitis, Colin Falls was back in the lineup against Army on Dec. 21. Falls missed the two contests after undergoing shock wave therapy on Dec. 8. The procedure was done to treat the plantar faciitis in his left foot. Against the Black Knights he tallied a season-high 24 points in just 18 minutes of action. Falls was 9-11 from the field (after hitting his first seven shots) and was 6-8 from three-point range. Prior to the Elon game on Dec. 16, Falls had played in all 99 games of his career and made 60 consecutive starts.

Early Start:
Notre Dame's season opener against IPFW marked the earliest start date ever in the 102-year history of the program. The earliest start date prior to this had been in 1998 when that Irish squad opened up the 1998-99 campaign with a 76-65 loss to Miami of Ohio on Nov. 13.

Irish in Season Openers:
Notre Dame owns an all-time record of 84-18 (.824) in season openers and have won all seven of its openers under head coach Mike Brey. Since the opening of the Joyce Center in 1968-69, Irish teams are 33-6 (.846) in home openers. The last time Notre Dame lost a season opener at home was to Miami of Ohio on November 13, 1998.

Irish Roll Under Brey In November:
Notre Dame completed the month of November with a 5-1 record. Under head coach Mike Brey, the Irish are 26-3 (.897) all-time in games played during the month of November. The three November losses have been to Creighton 80-75 in the championship game of the Guardians Classic on Nov. 26, 2002; to North Carolina State (61-48) at the John R. Wooden Tradition at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Nov. 26; and to Butler (71-69) on Nov. 13 in the first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

Irish Perfect In December:
Notre Dame's win against Stony Brook on Dec. 30 allowed the Irish to finish the month of December with a 7-0 record. Only once under Mike Brey have the Irish completed action in the month of December without a loss - Brey's 2002-03 squad finished 6-0.

The Irish All-Time:
The 2006-07 men's basketball campaign marks the 102nd season of basketball and 12th as a member of the BIG EAST Conference. In 101-plus seasons, Irish teams have posted a 1596-881 record for a .644 winning percentage. In BIG EAST play, Notre Dame owns a 94-96 (.495) record all-time in conference regular-season play.

Series Record vs. St. Villanova:
Villanova leads the all-time series 16-12. The two schools have played each other on 13 occasions as BIG EAST foes with the Wildcats winning 11 of those contests. Villanova had won eight straight over the Irish before Notre Dame notched its first victory (an 82-78 decision) on Jan. 10, 2004.

Always In It:
Since the 2005-06 campaign, Notre Dame's 18 losses have been by a combined 97 points for an average of 5.4 points per game. The 14 setbacks a year ago were by a total of 59 points (4.2 points). The only double-digit loss was to North Carolina State (61-47). The Irish suffered 10 BIG EAST losses during the regular season and those were by a combined 35 points (3.5).

Key Runs:
Notre Dame used key second-half runs and exploded for 52 and 50 points respectively in the second 20-minute stanza of each game in wins over Maryland and Alabama.

vs. Maryland: The Irish scored 52 second-half points, outscoring the Terrapins 52-42. Trailing 44-37, Notre Dame used a 25-7 run in a span of five minutes and turned the seven-point deficit into an 11-point advantage in just over five minutes.

vs. Alabama: Notre Dame outscored the Crimson Tide 50-36 in the second half after the two teams were knotted 49-49 at the break. The Irish trailed by nine points with just over 11 minutes to play in the first half. Trailing 66-62 with 14:28 to play, Notre Dame took the lead for good at the 13:23 mark and used an 18-9 run to open up a 10-point advantage with five minutes remaining in the contest. Alabama cut the deficit to three (85-82) with 3:02 to play, but closed out the game with a 14-3 run and led by as many as 17 (99-82) with 19 second left in the contest.

Hard-NOSEd Player:
Junior Rob Kurz sustained a broken nose in practice on Nov. 5 after being elbowed accidently by teammate Luke Harangody. He underwent surgery on the morning of Nov. 6 at 10:30 a.m. and was in street clothes that evening sitting on the bench in the exhibition game against Bellarmine. He returned to practice on Nov. 8.

Keeping It Close:
In the 74 losses suffered by Irish teams in Mike Brey's six-plus seasons, only 18 have been by 10 or more points and have been by a combined 496 for an average of 6.7 points per game. Notre Dame's 18-point loss (66-48) to Georgetown was the largest under Brey.

Second Half Spurt:
Notre Dame has outscored its opponents 837-685 (41.9 to 34.3) in the second half of games this season. On four occasions this season, the Irish have topped the 50-point mark in the second half.

Over The Century Mark:
Notre Dame's 101-51 victory over Rider on Dec. 28 marked the seventh time in the Mike Brey era that an Irish team has topped the 100-point plateau. The last time Notre Dame scored 100-plus points was on Feb. 18, 2006 in a 102-91 victory at Seton Hall.

Going Overtime:
Notre Dame played five overtime games last season, matching the school record set during the 1955-56 campaign when that Irish team finished 1-4 in overtime contests. Three of those contests a year ago were decided in double overtime. The Irish were 0-5 in overtime games a year ago.

Seven Straight Postseason Appearances:
Since 2000, Notre Dame has appeared in either the NCAA or NIT tournaments over the last seven years. The Irish played in the 2000 NIT and then earned consecutive NCAA tournament berths - 2001, '02, '03, followed by NIT appearances in '04, '05 and '06. This is the longest stretch of postseason appearances for Irish teams since making eight straight from 1983-90 (NIT in 1983 and '84 and NCAA from 1985-90).

Big Luke=Big Numbers:
After 20 games, freshman Luke Harangody is fourth on the team in scoring (11.1) and second in rebounding (5.4). He has scored in double figures in 14 games and was the first Notre Dame freshman since Troy Murphy in 1998-99 to begin his rookie season scoring in double figures in five straight games. Murphy began his career by scoring in double figures in 12 consecutive outings. Harangody recorded the first double-double of his career, and the first by an Irish freshman since Torin Francis in November of 2002, when he scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds the loss to Butler. In back-to-back games against Lafayette and The Citadel, he produced consecutive 18-point outings. Harangody registered his second double-double of the season against Elon as he finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds and versus Army (10 points and career-high 12 rebounds) and Rider (18 points, 10 rebounds), he posted back-to-back double-doubles for the first time in his career. Harangody is shooting 51.3 percent from the field (82-160) and 82.9 percent (58-70) from the free-throw line and has earned BIG EAST Rookie of the Week honors three times this season.

Outscoring The Opponent:
In the 74-50 win over The Citadel on Nov. 19, Notre Dame held a 40-12 advantage at the break as the Irish limited the Bulldogs to just 21.7 percent shooting in the half (5-23). The 12 points were the fewest allowed by a Notre Dame team under Mike Brey in six-plus seasons. Luke Harangody came off the bench and scored 16 first-half points (7-9 from the field and 2-2 from the free-throw line) in 11 minutes, not only averaging 1.5 points per minute, but also outscoring the entire Citadel squad in the first 20 minutes of the contest.

Hot Shooting:
Notre Dame is shooting 47.6 percent from the field (559-1168) and 39.7 percent from three-point range (184-464). The Irish have shot better than 50.0 percent from the field in 10 games this season - (54.0 percent (34-63) vs. IPFW, 58.3 percent (35-60) against Lafayette, 54.5 percent (31-55) vs. Lehigh, 57.1 percent (32-56) against Winston-Salem St., 51.6 percent (32-62) vs. Alabama, 52.5 (31-59) vs. Army, vs. Rider, 51.5 percent (34-66) vs. Stony Brook, 50.9 (27-53) against West Virginia, 53.5 percent (23-43) and vs. Seton Hall, 53.4 percent (31-58). In the Lafayette game, Notre Dame shot a blistering 72.0 percent (18-25) in the second half, the highest field-goal percentage ever by an Irish team in a half under head coach Mike Brey. Prior to its game against The Citadel, Notre Dame had not shot below 48.0 percent in a game as the Irish also connected on 48.1 percent (25-52) in their loss to Butler. Notre Dame shot a season-low 30.8 percent against Georgetown in its 66-48 loss.

Board Dominance:
Not known in recent years to be a dominant rebounding team, Notre Dame has been exceptional on the boards this season and is currently outrebounding its opponent 38.7 to 31.1 for a +7.6 advantage (11th nationally). The Irish outrebounded each of its first seven opponents - IPFW (54-28), Butler (29-24), Lafayette (35-23), The Citadel (40-34), Lehigh (32-24), Winston-Salem St. (46-25) and Maryland (40-37) before being outrebounded 45-32 against Alabama. Notre Dame has outrebounded 15 of its 20 opponents.

BIG EAST Breakdown:
Notre Dame will play DePaul, USF and Villanova twice as part of its 16-game BIG EAST schedule. As was the case in 2005-06, each team will face 10 opponents once and three opponents twice (both home and away), but will not play two teams. The Irish will play home games against Louisville, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall and West Virginia and will face Cincinnati, Georgetown, Rutgers, St. John's and Syracuse on the road. The two schools Notre Dame will not play during the upcoming campaign are Connecticut and Pittsburgh.

Russellmania:
Russell Carter scored in double figures in the first 18 games of the season before seeing his double-figure scoring streak come to end last Sunday against South Florida as he finished with nine points. He leads the team in scoring with an 18.7 scoring average and has scored 20-plus points in nine contests. His most recent was a 32-point outing against St. John's - the highest single-game performance for him in a BIG EAST game. He had 26 points against Villanova on Jan. 17 and in the previous outing versus Seton Hall on Jan. 14, Carter scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and second of his career. He had a then career-high 28-point effort against Portland on Dec. 19. His 12-point effort against Army on Dec. 21 snapped a three-game streak in which he had registered 20-plus points (the second time in his career that he has done that). In the three games (Alabama, Elon and Portland) in which he posted 20-plus point efforts, he averaged 25.3 points - the highest three-game scoring average and most points (76) in his career.

Lafayette Brings Out Best in Kurz:
Two of junior forward Rob Kurz' best games have come against Lafayette, ironically, the alma mater of both of his parents. In the 2005 season opener, Kurz scored a career-high 18 points on 8-10 shooting from the field (1-1 from three-point range and 1-1 from the line) and grabbed eight rebounds in 25 minutes of action. In Notre Dame's win on Nov. 14 versus the Leopards, he scored 16 points and again hauled in eight boards as he shot 7-10 from the field and 2-2 from three-point range. In the two games, he shot 75.0 percent (15-20) from the field and was perfect from three-point range (3-3).

Double The Pleasure:
Rob Kurz' 21 points and 10 rebounds against South Florida (Jan. 21) was his seventh double-double of the season. He posted three consecutive double-doubles for the first time in his career against Alabama, Elon and Portland and has grabbed 10-plus rebounds in seven contests. Luke Harangody is second on the team with four doubles, including one in each of the games against Army and Rider.

BIG EAST Formula For Success Under Brey:
Since his arrival at Notre Dame, Mike Brey has led Notre Dame to a 59-44 (.573) record in BIG EAST regular-season games and a 2-6 mark in tournament play for an overall record of 61-50 (.550) against league foes. In Brey's first season, the Irish posted their first-ever winning record in BIG EAST play and won the BIG EAST West Division title with an 11-5 mark. Prior to Brey's arrival at Notre Dame, Irish teams had a 35-53 (.398) regular-season record since joining the league in 1995-96.

256 And Counting:
Heading into today's game against Villanova, Notre Dame has hit at least one three-pointer in 256 straight games, a mark that dates back to the 1998-99 campaign. The last time an Irish team failed to hit a three-pointer was a 101-70 loss to Connecticut at the Hartford Civic Center on Jan. 12, 1999 as Notre Dame finished 0-7 from beyond the arc in the game. The 2005-06 Irish squad set the single-season record with 288 three-pointers.

Spreading the Wealth:
Notre Dame is averaging 18.6 assists per game (seventh nationally) and had a season-high 28 against Lafayette with 35 baskets coming off of 28 assists. This year, Notre Dame owns a 0.66 assist-to-basket ratio (371 assists on 559 baskets). Seven players have 20-plus assists and six players have 30 or more.

Who's It Going To Be This Time:
Through 20 games, five different players have led the Irish in scoring this season. Russell Carter has led the Irish in the scoring column on 12 occasions and Rob Kurz four times. Both Luke Harangody and Colin Falls have been the top scorers twice, while Kyle McAlarney led the Irish on one occasion.

Action Jackson:
Tory Jackson has responded well to his role as Notre Dame's starting point guard. Jackson earned his first career start against Stony Brook on Dec. 30 and finished with three points, two rebounds, two assists and three steals. Against Louisville, he scored a career-high 14 points (5-8 from the field), in addition to matching his career-high with five rebounds and five assists and making two steals while playing 37 minutes. And while he did not score in the West Virginia game, Jackson did dish off a six assists and made three steals - including one with 1:32 to play after the Mountaineers had cut the deficit to 55-53. He scored nine points and dished off a career-high eight assists against Villanova and also had eight assists while playing a personal-best 39 minutes against St. John's. Jackson reached double figures for the third time this season against South Florida as he finished with 11 points.

Home Sweet Home:
Since the inaugural season in 1968-69 at the Joyce Center, Notre Dame owns a 470-142 record all-time for a .768 winning percentage. The Irish are 85-28 (.752) at the Joyce Center during Mike Brey's six-plus seasons, and since the 1996-97 campaign, they own a 133-43 mark for a .756 winning percentage. Notre Dame's 13 wins at home this season marks the ninth time in 10 years that the Irish won 10 or more home games. The Irish played their 600th game at the Joyce Center on Nov. 27, 2006 versus Lehigh.

Almost Perfect:
Rob Kurz leads the team in free-throw percentage as he is shooting 84.1 percent from the charity stripe (116-138). He missed two free throws in the Elon game which ended a string of 30 consecutive made. Prior to that, he had not missed an attempt since his last attempt of the first half against Lehigh. In the win over the Leopards, he was 10-10 from the line in the second half and followed that up by going 8-8 versus Winston-Salem St. and was 4-4 from the line in both games against Maryland and Alabama. He is one of Notre Dame's best free-throw shooter in the last five minutes of the game having converted 21 of 24 attempts.

Welcome To The Club:
Senior Colin Falls became the 46th player in Notre Dame history to score 1,000 points with his 13-point outing against Winston-Salem St. on Nov. 29. Falls has 1,157 career points for a 10.6 career scoring average. He has played in 109 career outings and started 78.

Free Falls-ing:
In 109 career outings, 284 of Colin Falls' 345 career field goals have come from three-point range which translates into an 82.3 percentage. Last season, he set the school record for three-point field goals made with 102 and is the only player in Notre Dame history with 90-plus three-pointers in two seasons (he also had 93 as a sophomore in 2004-05). During his career, he has connected on 284-of-715 three-point field goal attempts for a 39.7 percent accuracy from the field. Falls needs 19 three-point field goals this season to eclipse Chris Thomas' career mark of 302 he set from 2001-05.

Another Way To Get His Three Points:
While connecting from beyond the arc has been the conventional way of scoring three points for Colin Falls, the senior guard has had a penchant the last there seasons for getting fouled shooting a three-pointer and going to the free-throw line for three attempts. As a sophomore, he was fouled a total of 16 times while shooting from beyond the arc and converted on 43-48 (.896) of his free-throw attempts. A year ago, Falls was fouled eight times and converted 19-25 (.760), including a first-ever four-point play versus Georgetown in the regular-season meeting between the two schools that sent the game into overtime. This year, he has been fouled seven times (once verus Butler, West Virginia and Seton Hall and twice against Lehigh and Alabama) and has connected on 14-17 attempts. In his career he is 76-89 (.854) from the line after getting fouled while shooting a three-pointer. In the Seton Hall game, Falls was fouled after making a three-pointer and converted the free throw for the four-point play.

Road Warriors:
In Mike Brey's six-plus seasons, his Irish teams have compiled a road record of 49-47 (.510) that includes a 32-34 mark (.485) in true road games and a 17-13 (.552) record in neutral site contests.

The Phonz Returns:
Former Irish great LaPhonso Ellis (1988-92) returns to be the color analyst for Notre Dame basketball games on the radio, teaming with play-by-play analyst Jack Nolan in 2005-06. Nolan was the color analyst for a number of year on the network, but assumes the play-by-play duties this year. Ellis, who ranks 13th all-time in career scoring and third in rebounding (1,075), will do a select number of games this season.

Frontcourt Efficiency:
Notre Dame's backcourt has long been a staple of Mike Brey's offense, but this year, the Irish frontcourt is putting up impressive numbers of its own. Between its four frontline players, Notre Dame is shooting 53.0 percent from the field (240-453). Zach Hillesland is shooting 61.5 shooting percentage as he has connected on 40-65; Luke Zeller is shooting 54.7 percent as he has made 41-75 from the field; Rob Kurz has made 77 of his 153 shot attempts for a 50.3 percent accuracy and Luke Harangody has connected on 82-160 from the field, good for 51.3 percent.

Home Grown:
There are two Indiana natives on this year's Irish roster, and coincidentally, both are named Luke - sophomore forward Luke Zeller and freshman forward Luke Harangody. Zeller hails from the southern part of the state in Washington, while Harangody's hometown of Schererville is the western end. The last time a Notre Dame roster had more than one scholarship player from the state of Indiana was in 1993-94 - Joe and Jon Ross (Wabash) and Jason Williams (Indianapolis).

There's a New Guy In Town:
There's a new face along the Irish sidelines this season. Gene Cross, a 1994 graduate of Illinois, joins the Notre Dame basketball staff after spending the 2005-06 campaign at Virginia. A 10-year veteran of the collegiate ranks, he spent three years (2002-05) on Dave Leitao's staff at DePaul before moving to Virginia when Leitao became the Cavaliers' head coach. He also spent six years on the staff at University of Illinois-Chicago (1996-02).

Philly Family Connection:
Junior Rob Kurz' sister Laura is a junior on the Villanova women's basketball team (she is sitting out this season after transferring from Duke). Sophomore Ryan Ayers' father Randy is currently an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic. He formerly was the head coach at Ohio State and with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Men In Black:
Against Seton Hall on Feb. 18, 2006, Notre Dame wore black uniforms with kelly green and white trim, marking the first time in school history that any Irish athletic team had worn black uniforms. Since that time the Irish have worn the black uniforms on seven occasions and a 4-5 all-time. Notre Dame wore black for the first time this season in the Dec. 3 win over Maryland.

Like Father, Like Son:
The last name of freshman walk-on Tim Andree should be familiar to the Irish basketball faithful. His father Tim was a four-year monogram winner and played basketball for the Irish from 1979-83. It marks the first father-son basketball duo at Notre Dame since Kevin Hawkins (1978-81) was a walk-on member, following in his father Tom's (1956-59) footsteps.

Irish Sign Four:
Irish head coach Mike Brey signed four high school prep players to national letters of intent during the November early signing period. Set to enroll at Notre Dame in the fall of 2007 are forward Tim Abromaitis (Farmington, Conn.), guard Tyrone Nash (Queens, N.Y.), guard Ty Proffitt (London, Ky.) and forward Carleton Scott (San Antonio, Texas).