No. 24 Notre Dame opens ACC play at Pitt

PITTSBURGH -- Both struggled through average nights earlier this month during a non-league loss to No. 15 Purdue, but both have been around the college basketball block to know this: For seniors, for captains, average nights simply are not allowed come conference play.

V.J. Beachem and Steve Vasturia and No. 24 Notre Dame (11-2) open Atlantic Coast Conference play Saturday afternoon with a visit to Pittsburgh (11-2).

"This is when the real stuff starts," said Vasturia, who will make consecutive start No. 95 at the Petersen Events Center. "This is where we've got to lock in. We know what the ACC schedule is like."

Beachem and Vasturia have seen each end of the conference spectrum. Outside of Virginia (29-7) and Duke (26-10), no ACC program has enjoyed as much success the previous two conference seasons than Notre Dame (25-11). But prior to that magical run (32-6, 14-4 ACC) through 2014-15, Beachem and Vasturia were frazzled freshmen tossed into a near-impossible situation on a Fighting Irish team that staggered to a 6-12 showing its first run through ACC play in 2013-14.

Beachem laughed at the memory of trying to compete that year with the league's elite without any reference point or compass or idea. He was a scrawny kid then; he's now a seasoned senior.

"We've been through a lot of ups and downs," he said. "It's taught us a lot. Now we've got to share that knowledge and get these guys ready."

Both Notre Dame seniors approach their final ACC runs in an all-business, confident manner. What happened last week won't matter. Neither will what might happen next week. All that does is the here and now. Stay in today and don't get caught pondering the yesterdays and tomorrows.

"You take it day by day and game by game, cherish every practice and every game and only worry about the moment," Beachem said. "You try to get one win, then move on to the next one.

"You don't look back or forward."

Pittsburgh enters league play with two players -- Jamel Artis (20.8) and Michael Young (22.8) -- scoring at a high clip. Though Panthers coach Kevin Stallings is new to the league, Irish coach Mike Brey knows him well. Their paths occasionally crossed the previous 17 seasons when Stallings was at Vanderbilt.

"He's an offensive guy," Brey said. "He's really had Artis and Young exploding offensively. They can really score it. Our defense will really be challenged.

"Those dudes are men."

Notre Dame starts league play on the road for a second consecutive season. The Fighting Irish never really had a chance last January, opening at perennial league power Virginia. But the way Notre Dame played earlier this month in a "neutral site" loss to top-ranked Villanova gives the Irish and their head coach confidence heading into their first true road game.

"There will be another level of edge there," Brey said. "We've played well in those atmospheres."

Now it's time to play well in the ACC, something that won't be very easy in a league touted as the most difficult in the country.

"This is going to be the hardest thing we ever did with the depth of this league, but I like the group that we have doing it," Brey said. "It would be a heck of a New Year's Eve if we were on a one-game (league) win streak."