WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – SMU head coach Rhonda Rompola was on the court during the first of the only two meetings the Mustangs and Irish have had. But she doesn’t remember much about the game in South Bend on Jan. 17, 1982.

“I had a double-double? That was a while ago, wasn’t it?” Rompola said, laughing.

Rompola had 25 points, 10 rebounds and four steals for SMU that afternoon, but SMU lost the contest 76-60.

SMU won the only other time the teams met, beating the Irish 64-63 at Moody Coliseum on Jan. 15, 1984.

No current player on either team was alive the last time SMU and Notre Dame played.

Not-so-kind MackeyMackey Arena has not been kind to the Notre Dame basketball team. The Irish are 1-9 all-time at the site, with the first win actually coming this season. Notre Dame excised some demons with its 61-48 victory over Purdue on Dec. 8.

Notre Dame lost the only NCAA tournament game it played at Mackey, falling in 2006 to Boston College.

Ticket distributionSMU was unable to sellout its allotment of 100 tickets for Sunday’s game. The athletic department will have to cover the cost of however many tickets go unsold.

Why the difficulty in selling tickets to the first NCAA trip in almost a decade? A location far away from Dallas and a game on Easter Sunday.

Odds and endsSunday’s game will be the first time Notre Dame plays a Conference USA school since 2001. The Irish fell at Rice, 72-61…Rompola’s husband, UNC Greensboro head coach Mike Dement, is in town for the game and attended Saturday’s open practice…Sunday’s game will air on ESPN as part of the network’s ‘wrap around’ coverage, meaning viewers will be shuttled between SMU/Notre Dame along with other games going on. An uninterrupted feed will air on ESPN U.