Notre Dame men’s basketball 2023 Legends Classic vs Auburn in Brooklyn

2023 Legends Classic

Semifinals

∎ WHO: Notre Dame (1-1) vs. Auburn (1-1)

∎ WHERE: Barclays Center (17,732), New York

∎WHEN: Thursday at 9 p.m. (approximately).

∎ TV: ESPN2.

∎RADIO: WSBT (960 AM).

∎ ONLINE: Follow every Notre Dame game with live updates from Tribune beat writer Tom Noie at X (formerly Twitter) at twitter.com/tnoieNDI

∎NOTING: Southeastern Conference first team all-league preseason forward Johni Broome scored 18 points with 11 rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 24 minutes and guard KD Johnson added 13 points, three assists and two rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench in Auburn’s 86-71 victory Friday over Southeastern Louisiana. The Tigers shot 41.4 percent from the field, 34.4 percent from 3 and 85 percent from the foul line. They scored 36 points in the paint and had 46 points off the bench. … Auburn opened with an 88-82 loss to No. 15 Baylor in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. … Picked sixth in the 14-team SEC in this season’s media poll, Auburn returned two starters off last year’s team that finished 21-13 overall, 10-8 and seventh place in the SEC. The roster features four junior college transfers and four traditional college transfers. It also carries three graduate students and three seniors. … Auburn returned 62 percent of its scoring from last season; Notre Dame returned 1.6 percent. … Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl has won SEC coach of the year three times and is 188-112 in 10 seasons with the Tigers, 650-257 in 29 seasons overall. Pearl has coached one game against Notre Dame − the first round of the 2003 NCAA tournament at the old RCA Dome in Indianapolis. Milwaukee, a No. 12 seed, had a chance to beat No. 5 Notre Dame, but a Dylan Page layup rolled around and out at the buzzer as the Irish prevailed, 70-69. Irish guard Chris Thomas had 27 points, eight rebounds and three assists while power forward Torin Francis added 23 points and 14 rebounds. … Irish assistant coach Ryan Owens played for Pearl at Southern Indiana (1997-99). … Notre Dame and Auburn have never met. … The Irish are 47-67 all-time against the SEC, 12-13 since 2000. … Thursday’s game follows the opener between Oklahoma State and St. Bonaventure in the two-day/two-game event. The championship game is Friday at 7 p.m. (ESPN2); the third-place game is at 4:30 (ESPNU). … Notre Dame captured the 2016 Legends Classic championship after victories over Colorado and Northwestern. The Irish are 4-0 all-time in the Classic, which started in 2007. … Notre Dame is 9-4 all-time at Barclays Center. … The Irish start a stretch of five of seven away from home, where they were 0-13 last season. … The last time Notre Dame won away from home, it beat an SEC team — Alabama — in the first round of the 2022 NCAA tournament in San Diego.

Notre Dame basketball coach speak

“We’ve got to find a way to start better. We’ve got to fix that part of it, or I’ve got to start a different way, play some different dudes. I’m not against that. If a guy’s not getting the job done, they’re not going to play. We’ve got to find some guys who are going to get the job done. Right now, we don’t have enough guys doing it, but we’ll get them there. We know it.” — Irish coach Micah Shrewsberry