1/30/2016 basketball Edit

ESPN’s College GameDay To Broadcast From Notre Dame On Feb. 6

Jordan Wells • InsideNDSports

Staff

For the second time in four seasons, ESPN’s College GameDay is coming to Notre Dame — for hoops.

The popular ESPN show will broadcast live from South Bend Feb. 6, when the 25th-ranked Irish host second-ranked North Carolina in a primetime ACC matchup.

Notre Dame has appeared in four total GameDay contests since the show began in 2005.

Similar in format to the popular football show, ESPN’s GameDay program features host Rece Davis alongside college basketball analysts Jay Bilas, Jay Williams and Seth Greenburg.

For fans who want to attend the broadcast, doors will open to the public at Purcell Pavilion at 9 a.m. ET. Sporadic SportsCenter segments will air until the hour-long show begins from 11 a.m. to noon.

GameDay has been to Notre Dame twice since the show began in January 2005 — on Feb. 24, 2009 for a contest versus UConn, and on Feb. 9, 2013 for the Irish’s home game against Louisville. The matchup against the Cardinals produced the famed marathon contest, a 104-101 victory for Notre Dame in five overtimes.

This year, the show has already traveled to Michigan State for the Spartans home game against Maryland Jan. 23, and spent today [Jan. 30] at Kansas for the Jayhawks contest against Kentucky.

In total, Notre Dame has participated in three prior GameDay games, also playing at Syracuse on Feb. 5, 2005. Its opponent North Carolina has played in 11, including five since the 2011-12 season.

Tickets for the game against the Tar Heels are already sold out. It will be broadcast live on ESPN with a tipoff set for 7 p.m. ET.

The popular analytics website Kenpom.com projects an 85-82 win in favor of North Carolina, giving the Irish a 41 percent chance to pull off the home upset on GameDay.

Prior to the Feb. 6 matchup, Notre Dame hosts Wake Forest tomorrow [Jan. 31] at 1 p.m. ET and travels to Miami Feb. 3. North Carolina hosts Boston College today then hits the road for a game at Louisville Feb. 1.

Notre Dame sits at 14-6 overall on the season and 5-3 in the ACC. North Carolina is 18-2 and 7-0 in the ACC prior to today’s game against the Eagles.