Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM DECEMBER 2023 41 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ible in a box score, such as help-side defense and secondary (hockey) assists. Her basketball IQ is off the charts, and it allows her to affect every game. "For the rest of the games she won't be with us, just doing those little things that she does that don't really fill up the stat sheet," Westbeld said. That's been Ivey's message to every- one. Sophomore combo guard Cassan- dre Prosper started in place of Citron against Illinois. She had only 4 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist in 21 minutes, but she was a lengthy presence on de- fense and avoided being a ball-stopper on offense. So p h o m o re g u a rd K K B ra n s fo rd played 29 minutes off the bench. She scored 11 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and dished out 4 assists without turn- ing the ball over. The only other ro- tational player Ivey used as a reserve against the Illini was senior center Nat Marshall, who scored 2 points and se- cured 3 rebounds in 26 minutes. Fresh- man guard Emma Risch played a mere three minutes. Notre Dame is not built to go deep off the bench. The Irish are currently missing not just two of the team's best guards but two of the better guards in all of college basketball in Citron and Miles. It's going to take a total team effort to get through the games when they're both unavailable. "Everyone has to do more," Ivey said. "I've asked everyone to elevate what they've brought. Sony — we obviously know the stats, the percentages and what she does defensively — but she does a lot of things that don't show up on the stat sheet. "So playing smarter. I've asked every- one to elevate every aspect of their game on offense and defense." T h a t's n o t a p ro b l e m fo r f re s h - man point guard Hannah Hidalgo. It shouldn't have taken this long to state the obvious, but without Citron — and maybe even with her — Notre Dame goes as Hidalgo goes. Through four games, Hidalgo led the Irish in points (25.5), steals (6.8) and assists (5.5) per game. She ranked second with 5.3 rebounds. It was always the plan for Hidalgo to run the point without Miles healthy enough to start the season, but Ivey never expected Hidalgo to be burdened by the absence of Citron. It was a tough blow, for sure, but it's not something Hidalgo is shying away from. She's wired the right way. When things get tough, Hidalgo gets tougher. "Hannah is being Hannah," Ivey said. "She plays with no fear. She's growing every game, just doing a little bit more, a little bit better. I love her pace, her defense. There are some things we're watching and working through, just running the team and different small things. "But I think she's doing a phenom- enal job of embracing the role being a bit bigger." ✦ 2023-24 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Time/Result Nov. 6 vs. South Carolina^ L, 100-71 Nov. 12 at NJIT W, 104-57 Nov. 15 Northwestern W, 110-52 Nov. 18 vs. Illinois# W, 79-68 Nov. 21 Chicago State W, 113-35 Nov. 24 at Ball State (ESPN+) 5 p.m. Nov. 29 at Tennessee% (ESPN2) 5 p.m. Dec. 6 Lafayette (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Dec. 17 Purdue (ACCN) 12 p.m. Dec. 21 Western Michigan (ACCN) 6 p.m. Dec. 31 at Syracuse (ACCN) 2 p.m. Jan. 4 at Pittsburgh* (ACCN) 6 p.m. Jan. 7 North Carolina* (ESPN2) 5 p.m. Jan. 11 Boston College* (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Jan. 14 Miami* (CW) 12 p.m. Jan. 18 at Virginia* (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Jan. 21 at Wake Forest* (ACCNX) 2 p.m. Jan. 25 Syracuse* (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Jan. 27 at Connecticut (FOX) 8 p.m. Feb. 1 at Georgia Tech* (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Feb. 4 Pittsburgh* (ACCN) 2 p.m. Feb. 8 at Louisville* (ESPN) 6 p.m. Feb. 11 at Florida State* (ACCN) 12 p.m. Feb. 15 NC State* (ACCN) 6 p.m. Feb. 19 at Duke* (ESPN2) 7 p.m. Feb. 22 Clemson* (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Feb. 25 at Boston College* (ACCN) 12 p.m. Feb. 29 Virginia Tech* (ESPN) 7 p.m. Mar. 3 Louisville* (ESPN) 2 p.m. Mar. 6-10 ACC Tournament$ TBD ^ at Paris, France; # Citi Shamrock Classic at Washington, D.C.; % ACC/SEC Challenge; * ACC game; $ at Greensboro, N.C. DATE SET FOR MUFFET MCGRAW STATUE UNVEILING When you win national championships at Notre Dame, you get immortalized in the form of a statue. That's long been the unwritten rule for the Fighting Irish football program. Now, it pertains to women's basketball. Former Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw will have her statue unveiled before the Irish take on Purdue in Purcell Pavilion Dec. 17. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. ET. The statue will go up outside the main entrance to the Joyce Center on the south side of the arena. McGraw, 67, won two national titles as the head coach in South Bend, one in 2001 and another in 2018. Longevity was the name of McGraw's game. Her tenure spanned 33 seasons from 1987-2020. In that lengthy time frame, Notre Dame won 848 games and held onto a streak of 24 consecutive NCAA Tourna- ment appearances. There were nine trips to the Final Four mixed into that run. The 13th female coach to ever be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, McGraw notched 936 career vic- tories, which ranks seventh all time on the women's side. She was the fourth-fastest coach in NCAA women's basketball history to reach 900. She had 174 wins over ranked op- ponents and led the Irish to 14 regular-season conference championships and 11 conference tournament titles. "I'm just so happy for her," current Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said. "It's some- thing that we all as former players wanted for her. The way that they're honoring her with a statue is just unbelievable. It's well deserved." — Tyler Horka McGraw, the former longtime Notre Dame women's basketball coach, will have a statue unveiled outside Purcell Pavilion before the Purdue game Nov. 17. PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER