Notre Dame Vs. North Carolina In Elite Eight: 10 To 1

10 North Carolina has been installed as a 10-point favorite, somewhat understandable given that on March 11 the Tar Heels administered the worst defeat ever on a Mike Brey-coached team — 78-47 — in his 16 seasons at Notre Dame.

Yet keep this in mind … the previous worst margin of defeat under Brey was Feb. 7, 2015 at Duke (90-60) — and Notre Dame ended up winning their next meeting en route to the ACC Tournament championship. The Irish also have won three of their last four against the Tar Heels, including 8o-76 this January.

9 Three-pointers made by junior forward V.J. Beachem in 17 attempts during this year’s NCAA Tournament, all of them in clutch moments. He is 21 of 41 (51.2 percent) overall beyond the arc in his last seven games, and his 17.3 scoring average on 18-, 15- and 19-point efforts pace the team in its three contests during the tourney. Last year, Beachem totaled four points in four NCAA Tournament games.

8 Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams is aiming for his eighth Final Four in his career, with the first four coming at Kansas (1991, 1993, 2002 and 2003), and then three more with his alma mater (2005, 2008 and 2009), highlighted by national titles in ’05 and ’09. His seven current Final Fours are tied for fourth on the all-time men’s chart with Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Louisville’s Rick Pitino. UCLA’s John Wooden and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski are at the top with 12 apiece, while North Carolina’s Dean Smith had 11.

7 This is Notre Dame’s seventh appearance in an NCAA Tournament regional final, or Elite Eight: 1953, 1954, 1958, 1978, 1979, 2015 and now this season. Its sole victory was 84-64 versus DePaul in 1978 to advance to the Final Four for the only time in its history. Three victories were needed back then, as opposed to four now.

6 NCAA Tournament wins by Notre Dame the past two years (three apiece), the most in school history over that span. In Brey’s first 14 seasons from 2001-14, the Irish won only six (6-9 overall) while advancing to the Sweet 16 one time (2003).

5 Notre Dame players that average double-figure scoring: junior guard Demetrius Jackson (15.5), senior forward Zach Auguste (14.4), junior forward V.J. Beachem (11.9), junior guard Steve Vasturia (11.4) and sophomore forward Bonzie Colson (11.2). The only other year that was accomplished by the Fighting Irish was in 1976-77 — when the 22-6 unit in the Sweet 16 lost a 10-point halftime team lead and fell 79-77 to ... North Carolina, which would be the national runner-up with stars such as Phil Ford, Walter Davis and Mike O’Koren.

4 In our humble opinion, Brey would fall into our “Final Four” of best head coaches at the Power Five level who have not yet made a Final Four. Others would include Arizona’s Sean Miller (four Elite Eights and two Sweet 16s since 2008), Baylor’s Scott Drew (two Elite Eight appearances and a Sweet 16 since 2010) and Virginia Tony Bennett (two Sweet 16s, one at Washington State, and now an Elite Eight, since 2008).

3 Times Notre Dame and North Carolina have met in the NCAA Tournament, with the Tar Heels earning hard fought victories in all three:

• In 1977, North Carolina rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit in the second round (Sweet 16 back then) to win 79-77 on two free throws by guard Phil Ford with two seconds left on a foul that even Ford has admitted was debatable. Rich Branning’s half-court desperation shot on the final play for Notre Dame barely missed. The Tar Heels finished as the national runner-up to Marquette.

• In 1985, in another second-round game that was actually played at Notre Dame, the score was knotted at 58 with the Irish holding the ball for the final shot — when star guard David Rivers lost the handle, turned it over and the Tar Heels’ Kenny Smith, now of TBS fame, dunked off the fast break as the final seconds wound down for a 60-58 win.

• In 1987, after already upsetting No. 1 North Carolina earlier in the year, the third round game saw the Irish trail only 67-64 with two minutes left before falling 74-68. Freshman J.R. Reid had a monster performance by scoring 16 of the Tar Heels’ last 17 points to finish with 31 — while converting his last 10 field goals. Head coach Dean Smith’s team shot 72 percent from the floor in the second half.

2 Consecutive games Notre Dame dramatically rallied with 6-0 and 8-0 runs to close out a victory. In the second round, the Irish trailed Stephen F. Austin 75-70 with 1:36 left before winning 76-75. Against Wisconsin, they fell behind 56-53 with only 19 seconds remaining before posting the dramatic 61-56 conquest. The Irish are generally in their wheelhouse when in comeback mode:

• On Feb. 6, they trailed then-No. 2 North Carolina 43-32 early in the second half and had been down by 15 (37-22) before prevailing 80-76.

• Versus No. 13 Louisville Feb. 13, Notre Dame fell behind 53-42 with 14:57 left, but Brey’s troops won, 71-66.

• In the ACC Tournament against Duke March 10, the Blue Devils built a seemingly insurmountable 16-point lead (64-48) with 9:57 left, but the Irish won 84-79 in overtime.

• Against Michigan, Notre Dame trailed by as many as 13 (26-13) and were behind 41-29 at halftime before winning 70-63. The Irish had lost 13 straight NCAA Tournament games when trailing at halftime — until vanquishing the Wolverines. Michigan entered the game 18-1 this year when leading at halftime.

1 The Fighting Irish are one win away from:

• Tying their all-time NCAA Tournament record at 38-38. Notre Dame is the lone school among the top 10 in most tourney appearances (35) that is currently under .500.

• Becoming the first team in the program’s history to record four consecutive NCAA Tournament victories.

• Tying UCLA for sixth place in most all-time victories (1,820).