Exhibition This one doesn’t count for Notre Dame men's basketball in terms of records, but in the end, everyone wins. ☘ RADIO: WSBT (960 AM). ☘ TICKETS: Available. ☘ ONLINE: Follow every Notre Dame game with live updates from Tribune beat writer Tom Noie at X (formerly Twitter) at twitter.com/tnoieNDI. Three questions about Notre Dame ☘ Where does the scoring/playmaking/difference-making help come from this season besides sophomore sensation Markus Burton? ☘ Notre Dame carries a full roster of scholarship players (13) for the first time since 2012-13. What does the rotation look like for coach Micah Shrewsberry’s second season? ☘ How does this group play faster/better on offense but still maintain its defensive identity? Scouting the Mastodons Purdue Fort Wayne changed its name from IPFW in 2016. ... The Mastodons have been Division I since 2001-02 but have never played in an NCAA Tournament. ... Fort Wayne and Milwaukee were both picked this preseason to win the 11-team Horizon League. Milwaukee received 15 first-place votes in the preseason poll; Fort Wayne received 14. ... The Mastodons went 23-13 overall, 11-9 and tied for seventh in the Horizon League last season. They were 11-5 at home last season. ... Fort Wayne will play non-conference road games this season against UCF, Michigan and Penn State. By the numbers 2: Returning guards Rasheed Bello and Jalen Jackson each earned preseason first team All-Horizon League honors for 2024-25. 4: Fort Wayne returns four starters off last year’s team that fielded only two different starting lineups. Four players started at least 35 of the 36 games and three started all 36. 11: The Mastodons ranked 11th nationally last season in turnovers forced (16.14 per game). 26.2: Number of 3-point attempts per game Fort Wayne averaged last season, which ranked 29th nationally. 35: National ranking for scoring offense last season (80.2 ppg.) Keep an eye on ... Bello and Jackson deservedly get much of the guard attention as first team all-league guys, but don’t sleep on Quinton Morton-Robinson. The 5-foot-8, 155-pound graduate student from Radford, Virginia led the Horizon League in 3-point percentage last season (.404). He made 103 3s, second in the league to only Oakland’s Jack Gohlke of NCAA tournament fame. QMR started all 36 games, shot .864 from the foul line and averaged 13.0 points in 29.4 minutes last season. Quoting the Mastodons “All the guys coming back know what the standard is. They know how to get to that high level. We just have to apply it.” -Sophomore guard Corey Hadnot II Series history Notre Dame leads 7-0. The teams first met in 2002 and last played in 2016, both at Purcell Pavilion. The Irish are 1-0 at Memorial Coliseum with a 65-63 win on December 18, 2005. It’s the only non-home game for Notre Dame in the series. Scouting the Irish Notre Dame has not lost an exhibition game since the start of the 1999-2000 season, at home to Marathon Oil 105-81. ... The Irish treated this like a regular-season road game and bussed to Fort Wayne on Tuesday so it could work through its road game routine. ... Notre Dame and Xavier took part in a “secret” scrimmage Saturday at Purcell Pavilion. ... Irish forward Tae Davis closed last season by scoring double figures in seven straight games. ... The Irish were 2-10 away from home last season with wins at Georgia Tech and Louisville. By the numbers 6: Notre Dame’s roster has six new faces – three graduate transfers (guard Matt Allocco and forwards Burke Chebuhar and Nikita Konstantynovskyi) and three freshmen (guards Cole Certa and Sir Mohammed and forward Garrett Sundra). 10: The Irish were picked 10th in the 18-team Atlantic Coast Conference in the preseason media vote. 67.2: Average points per game allowed last season by Notre Dame, which ranked 49th nationally. 78: Number of 3-pointers made last season by now sophomore guard Braeden Shrewsberry, which ranked second nationally for all freshmen. 85.6: Percentage of scoring Notre Dame returns this season, first in the ACC. Keep an eye on ... Junior PF Kebba Njie, who led the Irish in rebounding last season (5.4 rpg.) but averaged only 4.3 points and shot .374 percent from the floor in 24.3 minutes. Notre Dame needs more post production this season. Njie gets the first chance at it. Quoting the Irish “We have a confident group. We have a tough group. We have a group that’s together. When you add all those things in the mix, that adds up to some good stuff that can happen.” Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry Up next Notre Dame opens the 2024-25 regular season at home on Wednesday, November 6 against Stonehill (7 p.m., ACC Network Extra). It’s the first of two straight and four of five at Purcell Pavilion, where Notre Dame went 9-8 last season. Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on Twitter: @tnoieNDI Featured Weekly Ad