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

1985–86 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball
1985–86 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball
NCAA Tournament
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 10
AP	No. 10
Record	23–6
Head coach	Digger Phelps (15th season);
Home arena	Joyce 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 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 Joyce Center in Notre Dame, Indiana. Notre Dame earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament where they were upset by Arkansas–Little Rock in the opening round. The team finished with a 23–6 record and a No. 10 rankings in both major polls.

Roster

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

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
NCAA Tournament
Mar 14, 1986*	(3 MW) No. 10	vs. (14 MW) 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.

^[1]

Rankings

^[2]

References

^ "2019-20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Notre Dame Athletics. p. 120. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
^ *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 932–933. ISBN 0-345-51392-4.

[1] "2019-20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Notre Dame Athletics. p. 120. Retrieved February 26, 2022.

[ESPN-2] *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 932–933. ISBN 0-345-51392-4.

[1]

[2]

v t e Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball
Venues	Notre Dame Fieldhouse (1898–1968) Joyce Center (1968–present)
Rivalries	UCLA
Culture & lore	Notre Dame Leprechaun Crossroads Classic
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1907 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearance in italics