A 'secret' scrimmage? Notre Dame men's basketball ready for more than just practice

SOUTH BEND — For the better part of the last 19 weeks — give or take a few for summer vacation — it's been a basketball grind for the Notre Dame men’s program.

It’s reached the point to do something different.

“We are absolutely ready to play someone else,” said sophomore forward Kebba Njie. “We’ve been playing against each other for a while now. It’s going to be exciting to go out and play against somebody else.”

That opportunity for Notre Dame arrives Sunday at noon in Cincinnati against Xavier, but don’t tell anyone. You can’t tell anyone. For the second straight season and the third time since 2018, Notre Dame is using one of its two October exhibition slots for a “secret scrimmage” against another Division I team.

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No fans can attend. No media can attend. No highlights can be distributed. No statistics can be shown. Nobody outside of players and personnel from the two participating programs can watch. There was a time when nobody could even acknowledge the game was even happening. Everything was off the record. Thus, the “secret” in secret scrimmage.

Xavier went 27-10 overall and 15-5 in the Big East last season. Like Notre Dame, but not as dramatically, Xavier is in a rebuilding year. CBS Sports picked the Musketeers seventh in the 11-team Big East. It picked the Irish last in the 15-team Atlantic Coast Conference.

Notre Dame and Xavier last met in the 2012 NCAA tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina, a 67-63 Irish loss (the Jerian Grant free-throw violation game). The teams last met in the regular season in 1995.

Sunday’s scrimmage is one of at least 50 this preseason between Division I teams. Duke plays Villanova. Maryland and Virginia meet. Michigan visits Marquette. Xavier will also face Kent State later in preseason. Dayton and Ohio State meet Sunday in a game open to the public to promote mental health awareness.

Notre Dame and Xavier originally agreed to meet in Indianapolis. Plans were in place to play in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, home to the NBA’s Indiana Pacers. Both schools reportedly signed off on it. The Pacers reportedly signed off on it. Word then was handed down from the NBA that college programs cannot hold scrimmages in NBA facilities, a rule that was enacted during the global pandemic.

Cincinnati and Notre Dame secretly scrimmaged at Gainbridge in 2018.

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Notre Dame and Xavier worked to find another neutral site but couldn’t. Notre Dame didn’t want to hold a scrimmage at home. That would defeat the purpose of using the opportunity as a dry run for its road game protocol — traveling, staying in a hotel, the pre-game routine, etc.

Xavier’s Cintas Center it is.

It may be a “secret,” but Micah Shrewsberry’s preparation level isn’t. Don’t tell the first-year Irish head coach that Sunday’s only an exhibition.

“We’re getting ready to play a scrimmage and I’m preparing like it’s the national championship game,” Shrewsberry said Thursday during his team’s media day. “No matter if it’s Niagara, Auburn, Duke (or Xavier), they all get the same preparation for me and our team. I want them to focus that same exact way.”

Sunday’s game was supposed to be special for Notre Dame senior power forward Matt Zona. One of Zona’s closest friends is Xavier forward Zach Freemantle. The two were classmates and teammates at Bergen Catholic (N.J.) High School. They often talked about playing against one another in college, preferably in the NCAA tournament.

Zona could start Sunday’s scrimmage, but Freemantle is sidelined indefinitely with a left foot injury.

“It’s been tough for him (but) I’m really pumped to see him,” Zona said.

And pumped to play someone else. To see what the starting lineup looks like, what the rotation looks like. What the Irish look like and what someone else looks like.

“We’ve been going at it since the middle of June,” Zona said. “It will be nice to put on the jerseys and go against someone else. We’re going to find out about ourselves.”

Notre Dame’s lone home exhibition is Nov. 1 against Hanover (Ind.) College, Shrewsberry's alma mater. The season opener is Nov. 6 at home against Niagara.

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact: (574) 235-6153.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame men's basketball heads to Xavier Sunday for secret scrimmage