The Thanksgiving period was a mixed bag for Niele Ivey’s Notre Dame Women’s Basketball team. The Irish visited LA the weekend before the holiday where they ran Southern Cal off the court in the biggest game of the season to date. Unfortunately, the good vibes lasted less than a week. ND spent Thanksgiving in the Cayman Islands where they blew halftime leads in back-to-back games against TCU and Utah. After the nightmare trip to the Caribbean, the Irish bounced back with home win in overtime against previously undefeated #4 Texas. Using the graph below, we seem to be at “We’re So Back” after it was “so over” just a few days prior. Thankfully, the Irish kept the good vibes going by blowing out Syracuse in The Dome to open ACC play on Sunday. The roller coaster ride continues as another huge game lurks around the corner. Undefeated #2 UConn will visit Purcell on Thursday night.

Showing Out in LA

The weekend before Thanksgiving saw Los Angeles turn into the center of the women’s hoops universe. On Saturday, USC hosted Notre Dame before South Carolina visited UCLA the following day. Snoop Dogg, Michael B. Jordan, and Jason Sudekis were among the Hollywood stars in attendance at the Galen Center for the SC-ND tilt. They were joined by with a number of WNBA players (2x Olympic Gold Medalist Jackie Young was one), coaches, and front office staffers. In what will hopefully continue the rest of the season, the Irish were at their best when the lights were brightest.

Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles thoroughly outplayed their All-American counterpart Juju Watkins. Inside, Kate Koval and Liatu King held projected top-5 WNBA draft pick Kiki Iriafen to 5/15 shooting. The Irish led by over 20 before some late consolation buckets dropped the final margin to 13. Despite the late Trojans run, the 74-61 road win for ND was the most impressive result of the season by anyone in the country. That changed 24 hours later when UCLA knocked off the other USC the next day to end their unbeaten streak at 43 games. While the two Irish point guards drew headlines for their offense, Sonia Citron’s defense on Watkins was probably more important. The senior guard struggled to find her shot, but she was the primary defender on Watkins every possession the two shared the floor. Citron’s D held Watkins to 10-25 shooting (four of the made FGs were during garbage time) and had two steals and committed just two fouls.

This above play was one of Citron’s two blocks, but the one below just went down as a Watkins missed FG without assigning credit to Citron. She simply played excellent defense on one of the top players in the nation for four quarters. It’s more than fair to cut her a bit of slack for an off-day shooting.

Struggles in the Caymans

Due to these two games airing on something called FloHoops and not wanting to spend $30 to watch two basketball games during a busy holiday weekend, the viewing of the contests against TCU and Utah was mostly limited to watching back highlights, reading recaps, and combing through the box scores. This was definitely for the best. Against TCU, the Irish led most of the way, but went ice cold in the fourth quarter and were outscored 31-12 in the final period. ND was completely outplayed inside throughout the game. While she was excellent against Southern Cal, center Kate Koval had her first game where she was out of her depth. The freshman fouled out with zero points on 0-9 shooting. The 18 year old’s struggles in this game weren’t too surprising considering she was primarily matched up against Sedona Prince who is in her seventh season of college basketball. This was Koval’s sixth game as a college player. Unfortunately Liatu King, the other healthy Irish post player, also struggled shooting 2/9. Although they’d managed without her previously, the Irish really missed having Liza Karlen available to match up with Prince.

Against Utah, turnovers, partially due to some questionable refereeing, were to blame for the second loss of the trip. The Irish finished with 22 turnovers and just 12 assists. Having two dynamic guards like Miles and Hidalgo will generally lead to higher than average turnover numbers. Both guards will try to make jaw-dropping plays, and they don’t always pull them off. The referees were a big part of the turnovers as ND was whistled for thirteen (13) offensive fouls. You can judge them below, but a few of these are laughably soft.

Despite the unfavorable whistle, the Irish should still be able to out-talent a solid but not exceptional team like Utah. Lyne Roberts, the Utes’ coach entering the season, left to take the LA Sparks job the week before the game, so it’s not like Utah has had a smooth ride this season. Once again, Koval struggled shooting 0/3 from the field with seven turnovers. King and Hidalgo also forced a number of shots, and although each scored 16 points, they came on 32 FGA with 8 combined turnovers. It was a trip to forget so maybe it was for the best so few people were able to watch. Fortunately, the rest of the ND’s games will be played in the USA, in full sized gyms, and are televised on actual TV networks (the winter break trip to Clemson that will be televised on the CW may have the makings of a trap game, however).

Bouncing Back Against Two Shades of Orange

Having another top-5 matchup to prepare for right after the rough holiday trip was probably a blessing in disguise for the Irish. Texas visited South Bend as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge last Thursday. The Longhorns are led by Madison Booker, a big sophomore point guard with a similar build to USC’s Juju Watkins. Also, as someone that appreciates cross gender player comps, I think it’s great that she wears number 35 and has a jump shot resembling that of former Longhorn Kevin Durant. Instead of just having Citron deal with the preseason All-American, the Irish played primarily zone defense for the first time this season. This decision from Ivey was probably an attempt to blunt the Longhorn size advantage inside and keep King and Koval out of foul trouble. The zone worked well as Texas shot just 37% from the field although they did grab 19 offensive boards. As usual, the backcourt led the way offensively for the Irish. Hidalgo scored 30 and Citron and Miles added 18 each. Hidalgo’s circus assist to Miles following one of her four steals was the highlight of the night. Feel free to watch it a few times.

For better or worse, the last sequence of regulation sums up ND’s season so far. With the game tied and the final seconds ticking off the clock, Miles drove and hit an absurd running layup for what should have been the game winner. After the inbounds, Liatu King “fouled” Rori Harmon 80 feet from the basket with a second left to give Texas a chance to force OT.

The foul was probably the wrong call, but King shouldn’t put herself in position for the ref to make it in the first place. There’s no need to contest an 80 foot heave! Just run away! Led by their guards, the Irish are good enough to beat anyone in the country. They have also been their own worst enemy at times but have also dealt with some bad injury luck. Hopefully the subsequent 12-2 run in OT to secure an 80-70 win, keyed by this audacious Hidalgo transition 3, is a sign of things to come.

In a return to normalcy, Sunday’s ACC opener at Syracuse went mostly as expected. While this season’s Orange team is significantly worse than previous vintages, the Irish did lose twice to ‘Cuse last year so revenge may have been on the mind. After a slow, turnover filled start (eight in the first seven minutes, a bit of a concern after the Utah debacle), the Irish used a huge third quarter to blow the game open. All three of the starting guards had 20-point double-doubles. Citron led all scorers with 25 points on 10/15 shooting from the field and 4/6 from deep. As usual, she filled up the rest of the stat sheet with 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. Miles finished two assists away from a triple double. Hidalgo scored her 1000th point becoming the fastest to accomplish the feat in program history. Let’s hope they can keep it going this week.

The Old Foe on Deck

Through the first month of the season, there are some patterns emerging for ND. Bright lights, a national broadcast, and a full house are better for the Irish than a game in sleepy high school gym broadcast on a streaming service with no subscribers. This should bode well for the sold out UConn game on Thursday night. Senior Paige Bueckers, a 6’0 wing that will likely be the #1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, is the player to watch for the Huskies. She is an incredible player, but she’s also the type of player Citron defends exceptionally well. In last season’s matchup, Citron was Paige’s primary defender and held her to 5-17 shooting. Senior Kaitlyn Chen generally handles lead ball handling duties and plays as a “pass-first” point guard. I’d expect Hidalgo to guard her most of the game with Miles tracking sophomore shooting guard Ashlynn Shade.

Inside, UConn features a number of talented freshmen and sophomores. Sarah Strong, a 6’2 freshman, is second behind Bueckers in scoring.  She plays as a stretch four and take just over five threes per game. Liatu King will probably draw this matchup, and her mobility should help here. Sophomore Ice Brady and freshman Jana El Alfy round out the interior rotation with Brady starting and El Alfy coming off the bench. Koval should guard whoever of these two is on the floor. One big question mark for UConn is the health of senior Azzi Fudd. She returned from a serious knee injury suffered in November 2023. Fudd left Saturday’s win overt Louisville, holding her knee after an awkward fall. Thankfully, she appears to have avoided a serious injury, but the latest reports indicate she’ll probably be out at least a week.

Like USC, this is a decent matchup for the Irish on paper. With Citron, ND has the right type of player to defend Bueckers. Notre Dame is still a bit thin inside, but while the Husky post players are good, they are probably a step below USC’s Kiki Iriaften and Rayah Marshall. King and Koval had little issues shutting down the USC bigs although Strong’s outside shooting presents a slightly different test. This may make a zone defense less effective as well. Last season’s game, a 15-point Irish win in Storrs, also bodes well for ND. Hidalgo dominated scoring 34 points with 10 rebounds and six assists (interestingly, this was one of the few games last year she didn’t record a steal). With Bueckers struggling, Aaliyah Edwards was UConn’s best player against ND, but she’s since joined the Washington Mystics. Of course, ND’s Maddy Westbeld was a big part of last year’s game, but she’s yet to make her season debut after offseason surgery.

The biggest x-factor for this season’s edition of the rivalry might be that this season’s ND team is battle tested while UConn is not. The Irish have already faced two top-5 opponents in marquee games this year. UConn hasn’t played a cupcake schedule thus far since Louisville, UNC, and Ole Miss have all been ranked for most of the season. That said, their trip to Purcell Pavilion will be the Huskies’ first true road game and their first time facing a Final Four caliber opponent. I wouldn’t expect Bueckers to be fazed by the bright stage, but that may not be the case for their freshman and sophomores. With Fudd also missing, I’ll predict a close win for the Irish and a sad trip home for Geno. The game tips on Thursday, December 12th at 7:00 ET on ESPN.