Matchup of the Night: Notre Dame's furious offense key to making history, again

Entering this year's edition of the NCAA tournament, Notre Dame was a popular pick to be a high seed that would bow out early.

The Irish hadn't advanced to the tournament's second weekend since 2003, and even that was their only trip to the Sweet Sixteen in the last 27 years. While the university's achievements on the football field are well documented, the basketball program hasn't enjoyed the same success. 

The Irish are through to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1979, looking to advance to the Final Four for just the second time in the history of the program.

The reward for their success thus far is they get to play the David to Kentucky's Goliath.

The Wildcats took a 44-18 lead into the half of their Sweet Sixteen matchup with West Virginia. After Kentucky extended its lead early in the second half, the oddsmakers at Sportsbook.ag released an opening line for the ensuing matchup with Notre Dame, installing the Wildcats as 10.5-point favorites.

At 37-0, Kentucky is making history. It's getting harder and harder to envision a scenario in which the Wildcats lose a game, but Notre Dame has some history in that department.

Image courtesy Associated Press.

The Irish broke the longest winning streak in men's Division I history when UCLA made the trip out to South Bend on Jan. 19, 1974 having won 88 consecutive games.

Entering that game, Bruins great Bill Walton hadn't lost a game since his junior year of high school. It appeared that would remain true even late in the game, as UCLA led 70-59 with less than four minutes to play before the Irish closed the game on a 12-0 run to win 71-70.

"We thought we could win," Basketball Hall of Famer Adrian Dantley, who was a member of that 1974 Notre Dame team, told Paul Dykewicz of The Wall Street Journal. "They had a couple of turnovers. We didn't quit and the ball bounced our way."

Notre Dame will need similar good fortune on Saturday if it hopes to get past this daunting Kentucky team. The Wildcats limited West Virginia to 39 points Thursday night - the fewest a team has scored in a Sweet Sixteen matchup in the shot-clock era.

As impressive as that performance by Kentucky was, it didn't faze the Irish, who believe they will bring something to the table the Wildcats haven't seen yet this season.

"We're playing with a lot of confidence right now," Jerian Grant told reporters after tallying nine points and 11 assists in an 81-70 Sweet Sixteen victory over Wichita State. "(Kentucky plays) in the SEC, and I don't know what type of offenses that are really in the SEC, but I feel like we have one of the top ones in the country, so they're definitely going to have to defend us."

The Notre Dame offense certainly played like one of the top units in the country in the second half of Thursday night's win over Wichita State.

Notre Dame's stellar play at the offensive end extended beyond just those 20 minutes. The Irish scored an otherworldly 2.22 points per possession on their first nine possessions of that game in running out to a 20-7 lead.

Four Notre Dame players finished with between 15 and 20 points Thursday night, shooting 55.6 percent from the field as a team. 

"No one plays offense like that, and when we get it into that gear, it's really scary," head coach Mike Brey told reporters Thursday night. "And it's demoralizing, to have to chase us around."

Wichita State isn't Kentucky, but the Shockers do play sound defense, and entered that game with the country's 16th-most efficient defense. If Notre Dame can recapture that offensive magic Saturday night, nothing short of Kentucky's best will be good enough to stop them.

Notre Dame and Kentucky will throw it up at 8:49 p.m. ET on TBS.