LOUSIVLLE, Ky.—The Bellarmine Knights will be looking for victory number two when they take on Notre Dame Wednesday at noon in Purcell Pavilion of the Joyce Center, but frankly the Knights will simply be happy to be playing after seeing four consecutive games canceled.
 
Bellarmine and Notre Dame made a late addition to the schedule on Monday afternoon after both teams had lost games slated for this week.
 
Bellarmine, which notched its first Division I victory in a road win at Howard University on Dec. 6, dropped its Freedom Hall debut Dec. 9 when the Knights fell 77-68 to Chattanooga, who drained 17 3-pointers in the game.
 
The Scott Davenport-led Knights have been idle since facing Chattanooga and come into Wednesday's contest with a 1-2 record. Bellarmine played its inaugural game as a DI member in vaunted Cameron Indoor Stadium against then-No. 6 Duke, falling 76-54 to the Blue Devils.
 
Through the first three games, three Knights have averaged in double digits with Dylan Penn (15.7), Pedro Bradshaw (15.0), and Ethan Claycomb (11.3) emerging as the scoring leaders. Sophomore Alec Pfriem, bolstered by a 14-point, 14-rebound performance against Howard, is the Bellarmine rebounding leader at 8.3 per contest.
 
Bellarmine anticipates that senior captain CJ Fleming will make his season debut on Wednesday.  The point guard and top-returning 3-point shooter for the Knights missed the season's first three games after averaging 9.6 points per game a year ago.
 
Notre Dame dipped to 2-4 on the season after falling 88-78 to Purdue in its last outing, which came Saturday afternoon at The Crossroads Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
 
The Boilermakers came away with the win despite the Irish knocking down 16 treys in the game and junior Trey Wertz leading Notre Dame with a career-high 27 points and racking up five assists.
 
The Notre Dame schedule has been a virtual who's who of college basketball so far this season.  The Irish opened the season at perennial power Michigan State, falling by 10 to the Spartans.  Notre Dame then rebounded by turning back Detroit Mercy 78-70 but was clipped 90-85 by Ohio State in the Big 10/ACC Challenge.  The Irish then recorded a rare victory at Rupp Arena by sliding past the host Kentucky Wildcats 64-63 on Dec. 12.
 
Bellarmine and Notre Dame have one common opponent in the early going with both teams falling to Duke.  The Blue Devils defeated Bellarmine 84-63 in the Knights' DI debut at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Dec. 4.  The ACC powerhouse also notched a double-digit win over Notre Dame, taking a 75-65 decision in Purcell Pavilion on Dec. 16.
 
Notre Dame features a balanced scoring attack with five players averaging in double digits. The Irish also have an experience club, starting five juniors in their last outing against Purdue.  Of particular concern to the Knights will be the outside shooting of Notre Dame.  In its two losses, Bellarmine has been susceptible to the deep ball, and the Irish come in ranked 12th in the nation in 3-point shooting at 41.1 percent.
 
Wentz, a transfer from Santa Clara, has been particularly dangerous since the becoming eligible after the NCAA's blanket transfer waiver.  In his three games with Notre Dame, the 6-5 guard is averaging 18 points a game and has connected on six of 11 3-pointers (54.5%). Prentiss Hubb, meanwhile, has canned 17 of his 46 triples and is putting up 16.2 points per game.
 
There will be no television or webstreaming of the game, but Knights fans can tune into the call by Doug Ormay and Mark Bugg on 93.9 The Ville. 
 
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