1985–86 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team

The 1985–86 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1985-86 college basketball season. The Irish were led by head coach Digger Phelps, in his 15th season, and played their home games at the Athletic & Convocation Center in Notre Dame, Indiana. The Irish completed a perfect season at home (15–0). Notre Dame earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they were upset by Arkansas–Little Rock in the opening round.^[1]

1985–86 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball
NCAA tournament
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 11
AP	No. 10
Record	23–6
Head coach	Digger Phelps (15th season)
Home arena	Athletic & Convocation Center
Seasons ← 1984–85 1986–87 →

1985–86 NCAA Division I men's basketball independents standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 10 Notre Dame	-	–	-		–			23	–	6		.793
Chicago State	-	–	-		–			22	–	6		.786
Eastern Washington	-	–	-		–			20	–	8		.714
Texas–Pan American	-	–	-		–			20	–	8		.714
Marquette	-	–	-		–			19	–	11		.633
DePaul	-	–	-		–			18	–	13		.581
New Orleans	-	–	-		–			16	–	12		.571
Dayton	-	–	-		–			17	–	13		.567
Southwestern Louisiana	-	–	-		–			15	–	13		.536
Miami (Fla.)	-	–	-		–			14	–	14		.500
Tennessee State	-	–	-		–			14	–	14		.500
Utica	-	–	-		–			13	–	14		.481
Florida A&M	-	–	-		–			12	–	16		.429
Brooklyn	-	–	-		–			9	–	22		.290
U.S. International	-	–	-		–			8	–	20		.286
Texas–San Antonio	-	–	-		–			7	–	24		.226
Central Florida	-	–	-		–			6	–	22		.214
Rankings from AP Poll

The team finished with a 23–6 record and a No. 10 ranking in the final AP poll.

Roster

1985–86 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown G 4 David Rivers 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) So Jersey City, New Jersey F 15 Donald Royal 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr New Orleans, Louisiana F/C 41 Tim Kempton 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Sr Jamaica, New York Joseph Price 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr Marion, Indiana	Head coach Digger Phelps (Rider) Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Nov 22, 1985*	No. 12	Saint Joseph's (IN)	W 79–49	1–0	Athletic & Convocation Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
Nov 30, 1985*	No. 11	Butler	W 87–56	1–0	Athletic & Convocation Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
Dec 3, 1985*	No. 10	at No. 19 Indiana	L 67–82	1–1	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
Dec 7, 1985*	No. 10	Loyola–Chicago	W 71–58	2–1	Athletic & Convocation Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
Dec 9, 1985*	No. 17	Oregon	W 72–63	3–1	Athletic & Convocation Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
Dec 21, 1985*	No. 19	Valparaiso	W 98–54	4–1	Athletic & Convocation Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
Dec 30, 1985*	No. 17	Creighton	W 80–54	5–1	Athletic & Convocation Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
Jan 4, 1986*	No. 17	at La Salle	W 77–63	6–1	The Palestra  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jan 7, 1986*	No. 16	at Providence	W 78–72	7–1	Providence Civic Center  Providence, Rhode Island
Jan 11, 1986*	No. 16	at DePaul	W 70–54	8–1	Rosemont Horizon  Rosemont, Illinois
Jan 13, 1986*	No. 13	at BYU	L 76–80	8–2	Marriott Center  Provo, Utah
Jan 18, 1986*	No. 13	UCLA	W 74–64	9–2	Athletic & Convocation Center (11,345) Notre Dame, Indiana
Jan 20, 1986*	No. 16	Hofstra	W 91–67	10–2	Athletic & Convocation Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
Jan 22, 1986*	No. 16	American	W 67–56	11–2	Athletic & Convocation Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
Jan 26, 1986*	No. 16	at No. 1 North Carolina	L 61–73	11–3	Dean Smith Center  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Jan 29, 1986*	No. 14	Utah	W 94–64	12–3	Athletic & Convocation Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
Feb 1, 1986*	No. 14	Marquette	W 72–70	13–3	Athletic & Convocation Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
Feb 3, 1986*	No. 14	Maryland	W 69–62	14–3	Athletic & Convocation Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
Feb 5, 1986*	No. 14	at Dayton	L 65–67	14–4	University of Dayton Arena  Dayton, Ohio
Feb 8, 1986*	No. 14	at No. 8 Syracuse	W 85–81	15–4	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, New York
Feb 11, 1986*	No. 14	Fordham	W 81–58	16–4	Athletic & Convocation Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
Feb 16, 1986*	No. 14	at No. 2 Duke	L 74–75	16–5	Cameron Indoor Stadium  Durham, North Carolina
Feb 19, 1986*	No. 14	vs. Manhattan	W 102–47	17–5	Madison Square Garden  New York, New York
Feb 22, 1986*	No. 14	at Miami (FL)	W 126–73	18–5	Knight Center  Miami, Florida
Feb 25, 1986*	No. 12	DePaul	W 70–59	19–5	Athletic & Convocation Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
Mar 1, 1986*	No. 12	at Marquette	W 74–66	20–5	MECCA Arena  Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mar 3, 1986*	No. 12	at New Orleans	W 75–67	21–5	Lakefront Arena  New Orleans, Louisiana
Mar 8, 1986*	No. 12	Dayton	W 69–55	22–5	Athletic & Convocation Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
NCAA Tournament
Mar 14, 1986*	(3 MW) No. 10	vs. (14 MW) Arkansas–Little Rock First round	L 83–90	23–6	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome  Minneapolis, Minnesota
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll/UPI Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

^[2]

Rankings

Main article: 1985–86 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

^[3]