No. 17 Duke looks to end struggles against No. 14 Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Two teams seemingly headed in opposite Atlantic Coast Conference directions meet Monday at sold-out Purcell Pavilion when No. 21 Duke visits No. 20 Notre Dame.

The same about both could be said a week ago, although the directions would have been decidedly different.

Duke (16-5, 4-4) had just lost a home game to Tobacco Road rival North Carolina State, which won in Cameron Indoor Stadium for the first time since 1995. With no pure point guard to settle everything down, no set rotation, no direction with head coach Mike Krzyzewski still sidelined after back surgery, the Blue Devils were a mess.

The head coach called a meeting at his house following the home loss in which he banished the players from their locker room.

The sense of urgency in Durham had hit Def-Con 1.

Not so with the Fighting Irish (17-5, 6-3), who were coming off their first-ever league win over Syracuse. This seemingly was the year that Notre Dame finally would solve the Virginia puzzle before going back out on the road, a place where it had its first three league games, and notching another league win.

The Irish had this.

How quickly everything changes in league play.

Notre Dame has lost two in a row and three of four following Saturday's last-second meltdown at Georgia Tech, which came on the heels of a 17-point loss to then-No. 12 Virginia.

Hours later, Duke regained some much-needed swagger following a monster 36-point effort -- 30 in the second half -- from sophomore Luke Kennard, who connected on the game-winning 3-pointer with 6.6 seconds remaining at Wake Forest. Just when many thought the Blue Devils were done, they delivered. Duke erased a 10-point deficit with less than four minutes left.

It was Duke's first league road win after three losses.

"As a team, we've just got to keep going," guard Grayson Allen said after Saturday's win. "We're a group of talented guys and we're good, but we've just got to come together and be a good team. It's having that belief, and I think we showed that belief."

Now it's the Irish turn to wonder how good they can be. Notre Dame returned to practice Sunday searching for answers, and a way out. Quickly. Win or lose, it has been quick to turn the proverbial page all season. Now they must do it on their only Saturday-Monday league swing against a team that believes.

"We're excited about that quick turnaround," said senior swingman V.J. Beachem. "Just gotta respond and be ready to go."

The good news for a Notre Dame team that could use some? The Irish get to do it against the Blue Devils, a team they've owned since joining the ACC.

Notre Dame has won five of the first six meetings as conference colleagues. The Irish have won twice at Purcell Pavilion. They won last season for the first time in school history at Cameron Indoor Stadium. They won the previous two years in the ACC tournament, first in Greensboro in 2015 and then in Washington in overtime last March.

And now they need to win Monday. Badly.

"We gotta bounce back," said point guard Matt Farrell. "We're going to come out harder than we ever have. We need to get that one."