Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com JANUARY 2020 49 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 18 shooting from the floor, while Gil- bert scored all 15 of her points in the second half. Peoples had nine points, 14 rebounds, six assists and only one turnover. In addition to not finding the three- point shooters — Minnesota was 12 of 32 beyond the arc — Notre Dame was only 1 of 7 from deep range, a glaring 36-3 disparity in points. A week later, DePaul would outscore Notre Dame 48-12 from three-point range. "We just have to figure out how we're going to score, because we're not a great defensive team," McGraw summarized. "Going into the season we knew we weren't going to be able to score, so we worked a lot on our defense — and we haven't been able to play great defense." Offensively, the combination of no true low-post presence has helped defenses stretch out and emphasize guarding the arc, posing another quandary. "The only thing worse than us scoring the ball is trying to score the ball with 10 seconds left on the shot clock, so I don't think slowing down is the answer for this team," McGraw said. "Offensive rebounding is prob- ably what we need to do more of, because I think we're getting really good shots. We're just not making them." The reset button couldn't come at a better time to mentally and physi- cally decompress. Other than an ex- hibition contest with Guelph Dec. 21, there is an 18-day lapse between the end of the non-conference season (Dec. 11) and the league opener. The 18-game ACC schedule be- gins by hosting Clemson Dec. 29. Headlining the ACC this year are Louisville, Florida State and North Carolina State, ranked Nos. 7, 8 and 9 nationally in the Associated Press poll heading into the Dec. 14 week- end, while Miami was No. 25. With Vaughn hopefully available by the Clemson game, a top five or six placement in the 15-team ACC is achievable. An 11-7 league mark and a good ACC Tournament showing could put the Irish into the NCAA Tournament conversation, but far more relevant is daily, weekly incre- mental progress as a unit. In addition to defense, two other stats bear out the main shortcom- ings. Through 12 games among 348 Division I teams, Notre Dame ranked 335th in three-pointers made (3.3, at a 23.1 percent clip), and 318th in rebound margin at minus-7.9 per contest. Despite scoring 94 points while playing DePaul's frenetic pace, the Irish also committed 27 turnovers (many on in-bound passes). They did win the rebounding battle 42-36, but could not keep up with the Blue De- mons' prolific shooting beyond the arc. ✦ Three-Point Play 1. Taking Charge — Literally Graduate student point guard Marta Sniezek took only 41 shots (converted 19) during the 5-7 start, but the value she brings on both ends of the court make it virtually impossible to take her off the floor. In the three contests prior to the break she played all 40 minutes against Minnesota and UConn, and 38:37 versus DePaul, against whom she dished out 12 assists. Her 70 assists are more than any other three players combined on the roster. Especially noteworthy is she has taken 15 charges in 12 games — easily on pace to shatter the unof- ficial single-season program record of 19 held by Kristina "Koko" Nelson for the 2018 national champs. Yet with Sniezek's tenacity, one can't help but hold your breath at the many hard spills she takes, whether diving for loose balls or taking charges (not always called her way, either), especially on a team that is currently so depth challenged. 2. Chairwoman Of The Boards Freshman Anaya Peoples is the next option behind Sniezek at point guard, yet where she has particu- larly excelled is as a rebounder despite her 5-10 height. She has a will and instinct for the basketball that cannot be taught, plus deceptive strength, much like No. 1 WNBA pick Jackie Young, who left Notre Dame last spring as a junior. Such versatility is not common. Peoples leads the team in rebounding with 8.3 per game. In three games at the Cancun Challenge over Thanksgiving break she averaged 8.7 boards per contest (to go with a 17.3 scoring average). Most recently she posted double-doubles against top competition such as UConn (17 points and 11 rebounds) and DePaul (22 points and 15 rebounds). Seven of the caroms against the Blue Demons came on offense, with several resulting in put-back baskets. Inch for inch, she might be as impressive and gritty a rebounder as there has been in head coach Muffet McGraw's 33 seasons with the Irish. 3. Pivotal Addition In The Post The hope is that junior 6-3 forward Mikayla Vaughn, who suffered a knee sprain in the season opener at Fordham Nov. 5 that was projected to sideline her about six weeks, can return for the ACC opener versus Clemson Dec. 29. Her health is pivotal to allow freshman forward Sam Brunelle to play more of a stretch-four role in the perimeter, which could then aid the three-point shooting as well as provide more low-post scoring and back-door feeds from Vaughn. The overall rebounding and interior defense also should be appreciably upgraded. — Lou Somogyi 2019-20 NOTRE DAME WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Nov. 5 at Fordham W, 60-55 Nov. 8 Loyola Maryland W, 84-60 Nov. 11 Tennessee L, 74-63 Nov. 14 Michigan State L, 72-69 Nov. 20 Toledo W, 54-51 Nov. 23 at Michigan W, 76-72 Nov. 28 vs. Florida Gulf Coast^ L, 69-60 Nov. 29 vs. South Dakota State^ L, 65-59 Nov. 30 vs. South Florida^ W, 67-51 Dec. 4 Minnesota% L, 75-67 Dec. 8 at Connecticut L, 81-57 Dec. 11 DePaul L, 105-94 Dec. 21 Guelph& 1 p.m. Dec. 29 Clemson* (RSN) 4 p.m. Jan. 2 at Pittsburgh* (ACCNE) 7 p.m. Jan. 5 at Syracuse* (ACCN) 4 p.m. Jan. 9 Boston College* (ACCNE) 7 p.m. Jan. 12 NC State* (ACCN) 4 p.m. Jan. 16 at Duke* (ACCN) 8 p.m. Jan. 19 Miami* (ESPN2/ACCN) 1 p.m. Jan. 26 at Virginia* (ACCNE) 12:30 p.m. Jan. 30 Louisville* (ESPN/2) 7 p.m. Feb. 2 at Georgia Tech* (ACCN) 2 p.m. Feb. 6 at Wake Forest* (ACCNE) 7 p.m. Feb. 9 Pittsburgh* (ACCN) 4 p.m. Feb. 13 at Boston College* (ACCNE) 7 p.m. Feb. 16 at Louisville* (ACCN) 3 p.m. Feb. 20 Virginia Tech* (RSN) 8 p.m. Feb. 23 Syracuse* (ACCN) 12 p.m. Feb. 27 North Carolina* (ACCNE) 7 p.m. Mar. 1 at Florida State* ( ESPN2/ACCN) 2 p.m. Mar. 4-8 ACC Tournament$ (ACCN) TBA ^ Cancun Challenge at Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya in Cancun, Mexico; & Exhibition; % ACC/Big Ten Challenge; * ACC game; $ at Greensboro, N.C; ACCN — ACC Network; BTN — Big Ten Network; RSN — Regional Sports Networks; ACCNE — ACC Network Extra