Since losing back-to-back games on Nov. 29 and Nov. 30, the Notre Dame women’s basketball team has not lost, winning 13 straight games. This week, they have a chance to move to 10-0 in ACC play for the first time since the 2015-16 season, when they went undefeated in conference play.
Photo via Notre Dame Athletics
Following a road win against Virginia Tech on Jan. 23, the Irish continued their road trip for another week, as they head to Louisville on Sunday.
Despite missing Jan. 16th’s matchup against Georgia Tech, Hannah Hidalgo returned to the lineup on Thursday against the Hokies, finishing with 30 points on 10-16 shooting. It's her 11th straight game scoring 23 points or more with the Irish winning every one of those matchups.
Outside of Hidalgo, it was a rough shooting night for the Irish against Virginia Tech from other star players such as Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron. Miles, despite finishing with 15 points, shot 5-14 from the field, knocking down just one of her six attempted threes. On top of this, the senior guard turned the ball over five times as the Irish finished with 19 on the night.
Citron, who has had up-and-down performances through the month of January, shot 2-7 with her two makes being threes, as she finished with eight points and five assists. Over her last three games, she is shooting 8-27 from the field.
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The Notre Dame defense was too much for the Virginia Tech offense, who had three players in double figures. Regardless, the Hokies shot 37.9% from the field compared to Notre Dame's 50.9% clip. While it was a slow night, players like senior forwards Liza Karlen and Liatu King stepped up, combining for 18 points, 17 rebounds, and six steals.
Even on an "off-night", the Irish still picked up a road win against a solid team by 16 points. There are things you want to see cleaned up, but at the end of the day, this team has so much depth that a majority of teams in college basketball can't compete with.
The month of January came to a close for the Irish on Thursday, but the page turns to February on Sunday as Notre Dame travels to Louisville for a meeting with the Cardinals (14-6, 7-2 ACC).
They suffered an embarrassing 30-point loss to NC State back on Dec. 15 that moved them to 6-5, and 0-4 against ranked opponents. They would then go on to win seven straight games before losing to Virginia Tech on Jan. 19. Now that they’ve catapulted themselves into fourth place in the ACC at 8-2 in the conference, and are looking to pick up the biggest win of their season on Sunday.
While they aren’t as dominant on the offensive side of the ball as the Hokies, Louisville is still a top-10 offense in the ACC averaging 73 PPG with an average margin of 6.5 PPG. Led by freshman guard Tajianna Roberts, who is averaging 12.6 PPG with double figures in eight of her last nine games, the Cardinals will look to get active from deep. Roberts however has been struggling in her last four games from three, shooting just 1-19 from the perimeter.
Roberts is one of five players on the Louisville roster to average one or more steals per game, as she is averaging 1.8 per game, the highest on the team. The Cardinals rank sixth in the ACC in steals, averaging 9.45 per game, which is more than two steals less than the Irish who average 11.53 per game, the most in the conference. One of those players is senior guard Jayda Curry.
Curry, in her second year with the Cardinals, was a big part of the Louisville hot stretch that it’s entered since knocking off Memphis back on Dec. 21. Over the last nine games where the Cardinals have gone 8-1, Curry is averaging 13.6 PPG. She isn’t afraid to shoot the ball, averaging 11.8 shots per game over that stretch, knocking down an average of four of those per game. She is however entering this matchup with the Irish coming off her best shooting performance of the season from deep, where she knocked down five of 12 attempts.
Before we make it to Sunday for the Notre Dame women’s team to tipoff, the men’s side has an opportunity to get hot succeeding their history-making win this past Saturday against Virginia.
After picking up a win in Charlottesville, Virginia for the first time in program history, Notre Dame got back to .500, knocking off Georgia Tech in Purcell Pavilion, 71-68. Now, the Irish will turn their attention to Miami, as they travel to take on the Hurricanes on Saturday.
Photo via Notre Dame Athletics
Since their previous matchup against Georgia Tech in their second ACC matchup of the season, the Fighting Irish have been searching for better days. Following that 11-point loss on Dec. 31, the Irish had lost five of their last seven games, pushing them to 3-5 in conference play.
There were plenty of bright spots in the victory over Virginia on Jan. 25, including Markus Burton’s fourth straight game with 20 or more points. However, one of the most positive notes from Burton was having zero turnovers in 30 minutes of play. It’s just the second time in Burton’s career that he finished a game with zero turnovers, with the last coming against Pittsburgh during his freshman season.
Burton followed up one of the best performances of his young career with a 26-point outing, shooting 9-17 from the field, including four made threes. He continues to be the catalyst of this team, as the Irish have won two straight with an opportunity to get above .500 against the Hurricanes. With a win, the Irish would move to 5-5 in conference play, pushing them up to eighth place in the ACC.
Following just the third home game of the month of January, Notre Dame will head south for its next two meetings, first going to Miami to take on the Hurricanes.
It has not been the season the Hurricanes were hoping for after long-time head coach Jim Larrañaga announced his retirement on Dec. 26 after a 4-8 start. They enter this one with just one win since Nov. 17 which came against the Presbyterian Blue Hose on Dec. 15. Their most recent loss to California in overtime stretched the losing streak to nine games, with losses coming by an average of 17.7 points.
The Hurricanes are led by senior guard Matthew Cleveland, who is averaging 15.1 PPG on 51.7% shooting. The Atlanta product is averaging 28 PPG over the last three games and has shot 54% over that span.
There are plenty of hoops to catch for Notre Dame athletics and a real chance for all parties involved to make some noise as we close out January and enter the month of February.
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