No. 23 Virginia (4-2, 0-0 ACC) at Notre Dame (3-4, 0-1)

6 p.m., ACC Network

Hoping to bounce back from a rough outing against No. 1 Gonzaga, the Cavaliers open up ACC play on Wednesday night in South Bend. They had their original ACC opener against Wake Forest postponed when both programs were having issues with COVID-19, so UVa will open later than expected.

The Irish, meanwhile, are 3-4 on the season and their games to date can basically be broken down into two categories: Games against overmatched opponents that Notre Dame won and games against good teams that were all losses. The trio of wins against Detroit Mercy, a 1-6 Kentucky team, and Bellarmine don’t move the needle much. And the four losses have mostly come against good competition. Notre Dame has lost three games against Big Ten foes Michigan State, Ohio State, and Purdue and also fell to Duke in the ACC opener earlier this month.

Virginia has dominated the series since the Irish joined the ACC in the 2013-2014 season. The Cavaliers are 9-1 against Notre Dame in ACC meetings, with the lone loss coming in the 2017 ACC Tournament quarterfinals. UVa hung on for an ugly 50-49 overtime win over Notre Dame at home last year and was slated to face the Irish in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals in March, before the event was called off and the season ended just hours before that matchup could take place.

Notre Dame ranks 89th in KenPom, which puts the Irish 13th among the ACC’s 15 teams. To this point in the season, they have been solid on one end of the floor and not so sound on the other end.

They rank 26th nationally in tempo-adjusted offensive efficiency and average 74.4 points per contest. Notre Dame has a team of sharp-shooters and fantastic outside shooting and made free throws have kept the Irish in many games. They rank 14th nationally in 3-point percentage, making 40.9 percent of their tries. It’s fair to say that Notre Dame is the classic “live by the three, die by the three” team this year. Shots from beyond the arc account for 44 percent of Notre Dame’s attempts overall, which is the 51st-highest ratio of threes to field goal attempts in the nation.

The Irish don’t get to the line a lot but they have been excellent on the attempts that have had to this point, making 82.2 percent of their tries from the charity stripe, fifth-best nationally. Notre Dame’s offense doesn’t create much around the rim and has not performed well on the offensive glass.

On defense, the Irish have been much more pedestrian. Ranking 187th in defensive efficiency, they have allowed every opponent but Kentucky to score 70 points or more, and 75 points or more in all of their losses. While the Irish shoot the ball well from the outside, they also allow opponents to do the same: Against Notre Dame, teams are shooting 40.3 percent from beyond the arc. The Irish also struggle to take the ball away, ranking 331st nationally in turnover rate. Not coincidentally, while they allow a lot of 3 they don’t foul often and opponents rarely head to the line. The Irish rank third nationally in free-throw rate allowed to opponents, 15 percentage points ahead of the national average.

Notre Dame gets almost all of its offense from the backcourt, led by veteran guard Prentiss Hubb. Leading the team in minutes played, Hubb has gone from a role player to a star in the course of his career in South Bend. He is averaging 16.4 points and a team-high four assists per game. Fellow guard Dane Goodwin is coming off of a monster game against Bellarmine, when he scored 27 points and grabbed seven boards. Goodwin is just behind Hubb in scoring with 16.1 points per game, and is a dead-eye shooter from deep, making 44 percent of his 3s. The Irish were also boosted in the offseason with the addition of guard Trey Wertz, a transfer from Santa Clara that UVa was interested in as well. Another great outside shooter at 46.7 percent, Wertz is averaging 12.7 points per game in his first season with the Irish.

Notre Dame has an excellent stretch-forward in Nate Laszewski, a position that often gives the pack-line defense problems. Laszewski, a junior, has been a great all-around contributor, averaging 14.6 points and 8.4 boards per game. The 6-foot-10 forward is more than capable of stepping out and knocking down a 3, making just over 57 percent of his tries while taking three per game. Notre Dame’s more traditional big is 6-foot-11 Juwan Durham, who has been a solid role player this season. Durham is averaging 6.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, playing just under 24 minutes per contest.