The University of Minnesota Duluth will tip its 2014-15 campaign starting this Saturday in Notre Dame, Indiana for a road exhibition with the Fighting Irish of the University of Notre Dame. The Bulldogs will then travel down I-35 to take on the defending National Invitational Tournament (NIT) champions of the University of Minnesota.

Head coach Matt Bowen's UMD squad will have a new look coming off a 2013-14 campaign that saw the team go 12-15 overall and 10-12 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. While UMD returns three starters from a season ago, the team brings in many new faces that should make an impact impact.

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• The Bulldogs were tabbed with a fourth-place finish in the NSIC North in the conference coaches poll released earlier this month.
• Senior center Brett Ervin was tabbed a "Player to Watch" in the NSIC this season. Ervin, who was named the North Division's Preseason Player of the Year last season, received a medical redshirt in 2013-14 after a preseason knee injury knocked him out of action a year ago. He was named an All-NSIC Second Team selection following the 2012-13 season, when he led the NSIC shooting 46.6 percent from beyond the arc.
• Senior guard Reece Zoelle and small forward Kristofer Jackson round out the senior class for UMD. Zoelle averaged 16.1 points per game for the Bulldogs a season ago as one of UMD's three go-to shooters. Jackson, hampered by leg injuries throughout 2013-14, will look for a return to form that saw him set a Bulldog record for blocks in a single game in last year's season opener.
• Junior transfers Taylor Lavery, Pierre Newton, and Brendon Pineda are all expected to make an impact immediately for the Bulldogs.
SCOUTING THE FIGHTING IRISH (Saturday, Nov 1, 2:00 p.m. EST) - Live Stats | Live Video (free) | Live Audio (free)
• Notre Dame (2013: 15-17, 6-12 BIG EAST) was picked for a seventh place finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference media poll released earlier this week with senior guard Jerian Grant selected to the Preseason All-ACC team for the second straight season. Head coach Mike Brey is in his 15th season with Fighting Irish. This will be the first ever meeting between UMD and Notre Dame in hoops, though the Bulldogs knocked off UND 3-0 on Oct. 12 in men's hockey earlier this season.
• Grant, a Second Team player in the BIG EAST last season, played in all 35 games and leading the Irish in scoring at 13.3 PPG and assists and 5.5 per game. He led the Irish in scoring 14 times a season ago.
• UND returns three more starters from a season ago in sophomore guard Steve Vasturia, senior swingman Pat Connaughton, and junior forward Zach Auguste. Connaughton leads returners in rebounds with 7.1 per game.

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• Minnesota (2013: 25-13, 8-10 Big Ten) was 20-3 at "The Barn" a season ago. Head coach Richard Pitino is in his second season with the Gophers, who take on the Bulldogs for the first time in nearly 60 years. Like with Notre Dame, UMD took on Minnesota earlier this season in the Ice Breaker men's hockey tournament as well as splitting a series in Duluth between the women's hockey teams.
• The Gophers return four starters: senior guards Andre Hollins and DeAndre Mathieu, junior forward Joey King, and senior center Elliot Eliason. Minnesota boasts a five-member senior class. Hollins led the Gophers in scoring a season ago with 13.6 PPG, while Mathieu led the team with a 51.1 percent shooting average. Eliason is the Gophers' returning rebounder from a season ago with 6.6 per game.
• Sophomore Daquien McNeil and freshman Nate Mason led their respective teams in scoring in Minnesota's season-opening Marron vs. Gold "First Look Scrimmage" earlier this week.

BULLDOG 'BYTE
"We're jumping up a level, playing a team in the Big 10, the Horizon League, the ACC. Those are the who's who of college basketball as far as conferences are concerned. Our athletic director Josh Berlo, being a former Golden Domer, was able to provide us the foot-in-the-door to get that game at Notre Dame. That will be a fun experience for our kids to travel there and play someone that you see on TV all the time. To go down to The Barn and play Coach [Richard] Pitino's team that won the NIT Championship -- he has an up-and-coming really strong program; they're running, they're pressing, highly athletic - something we may not see a whole lot in the NSIC. It's a great experience, and an opportunity for us to measure where we're at against the greatest talent that we can find." - coach Matt Bowen on opening the season with tough exhibition contests

UMD and UND will open the season Saturday afternoon at the Purcell Pavillion in Notre Dame at 2:00 p.m. ET.