Notre Dame @ Virginia preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 16, 2019 ) Notre Dame 54, Virginia 60

Virginia and Notre Dame engaged in a bit of role reversal over the weekend, as the defensive-minded Cavaliers lost despite a season-best offensive output while the Fighting Irish prevailed despite getting held 15 points below their season scoring average. Notre Dame will likely have to find a way to win another low-scoring battle Tuesday when it travels to Virginia to halt the Cavaliers' dominance in the series.

The Irish start four seniors and coach Mike Brey believes that experience has started to pay dividends for his team recently, as it has won four straight after seniors Rex Pflueger (18 points) and John Mooney (16 points and 11 rebounds) guided Notre Dame to a 61-57 victory at Clemson on Sunday. "I was waiting for them in December and early January to show the mettle they've had in these last seven games. We do have very good senior leadership," Brey said. The Cavaliers' vaunted defense seemingly had no answers for No. 5 Louisville - giving up nearly 30 points more than its season average - but still gave the Cardinals all they could handle with a spectacular offensive display in Saturday's 80-73 road setback. "Our guys hung in there, and usually our defense keeps us in there. Well, this time our offense had to keep us in there. … I think we (took a step forward) today," coach Tony Bennett said.

TIME: 9 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN2

ABOUT NOTRE DAME (15-8, 6-6 ACC): Mooney (16.5 points) ranks second in Division I in rebounding (13.0) and double-doubles (19); Sunday's effort allowed him to become only the ninth player in school history to amass 40 career double-doubles. Pflueger (5.8) bounced back from a three-point performance Wednesday against Pittsburgh by reaching his season-high point total despite taking only eight shots (making six) against Clemson, including a 4-for-4 effort beyond the arc. T.J. Gibbs (14.1 points) extended his double-figure scoring streak to 11 games after contributing 10 points Saturday; the 6-3 senior guard is tied for first in the ACC in 3-point percentage (50) and ranks second in field-goal percentage (54.4) during league action.

ABOUT VIRGINIA (15-7, 7-5): The Cavaliers entered Saturday averaging about 56 points, but starting guards Tomas Woldetensae (career-high 27 points, 10-of-13 shooting) and Kihei Clark (career-high 23; 8-of-13) nearly hit that mark on their own; Woldetensae created the most chaos, finishing 7-of-10 beyond the arc. "That's one of the best shooting performances I've seen. … It's just tough to guard when a guy gets that hot. We put multiple defenders on him, and Kihei stepped up when we tried to double (Woldetensae)," Louisville coach Chris Mack said. Woldetensae is 34-of-75 from 3-point range since misfiring on 18 of his first 21 and has also scored at least 20 points in two of his last four games after reaching double figures only once in his first 17 outings.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Virginia has won three straight meetings and leads the overall series 13-2.

2. Gibbs has converted at least half of his field-goal attempts in 10 of his last 11 outings.

3. The Cavaliers got two points from their reserves Saturday and have received no more than five bench points in any of the last four games.

PREDICTION: Virginia 59, Notre Dame 55