Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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48 NOV. 30, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA Y ou can look at Notre Dame's non-con- ference schedule and pity the Fighting Irish for what they've got to go through before getting into the meat of Atlantic Coast Conference play, which represents a gauntlet of its own. Or you can look at games against Southern Cal, Texas and Connecticut — all preseason top-five programs — through the lens of Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey, the crafter of such a collection of massive matchups not meant for the faint of heart. She's as giddy as ever to get going against the game's elite. "These are the types of teams we want to compare ourselves to," Ivey said. "We want to get these types of matchups so we can see where we're at and what we need to work on. And we also want to compete against the best." Between tipping off on the road at No. 3 USC Nov. 23 and hosting No. 2 UConn at Purcell Pavilion Dec. 12, exactly one week before welcoming No. 4 Texas to South Bend, Notre Dame will have played three potential Final Four foes in addition to Power Four programs in TCU and Utah at the 2024 Cayman Islands Classic during Thanksgiving weekend — plus Syracuse in the Irish's ACC opener Dec. 8, which just so happens to be a road game three days after the tilt with Texas. Who knows what Notre Dame's re- cord will be at that point after the Irish got off to an easy 4-0 start with an aver- age margin of victory of 42.5 points per game. Whatever it is, Ivey's team will have earned it. This late-November, early-Decem- ber swing that includes three national title contenders, two Big 12 opponents on foreign soil and a conference game that counts just as much as any tipoff in Feb- ruary is quite the litmus test. There won't be any other team in America as battle- tested as Notre Dame come January. "We want to create this non-confer- ence schedule," Ivey said. "They under- stand this stretch was intentional." It won't be talent that trips Notre Dame up in the next few weeks. Ivey has plenty of that. What she's low on is numbers; only seven Irish play- ers suited up in the win over Lafayette Nov. 17, for instance. One of those was former walk-on Sarah Cernugel, who only logged 4:49 of time on the floor. Those half a dozen other players, though? They all scored at least 9 points in a 91-55 victory. Notre Dame set a school record with 15 three-pointers. Four players had multiple makes from deep, led by sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo with 5. Graduate student guard Olivia Miles had 4, as well as sopho- more guard Emma Risch, and sophomore forward Cassandre Prosper made 2. In the paint, freshman center Kate Koval cleaned up with 19 rebounds and 7 blocks to go along with 11 points and 4 assists. It's become quite clear from the start that even at 6-5, she doesn't have many limitations to her game, if any. With a handful of players already missing time this season, Koval has jumped right in and gotten acclimated via baptism by fire. She's more ready for teams like UConn and Texas because she's been a starter than she would have been coming off the bench in those de- but appearances. "It's unfortunate that that's the way I get to get used to the college game," Koval said. "I'm definitely working on my con- ditioning, and I'm missing my post play- ers with me. I need all of them back." Notre Dame needs them back to have its best shot of taking down the top-tier teams on the horizon. And for the sake of the Irish's legs; the conditioning Koval alluded to is no joke. She shouldn't have needed to play 34 minutes at Lafayette, but she did. All four starters were over 31:58, with Hidalgo leading the way at 36:35 — in a 36-point blowout. But even without the likes of forwards Liza Karlen and Maddy Westbeld, it seems the Irish still have a shot at beat- ing anybody if they stay healthy from here and stay out of foul trouble. That's more than many teams can say with a full complement of players. "It's definitely a huge measuring stick of where we are right now and how we're playing and how we're going to be able to match up against some of the best of the best," Ivey said. ✦ Notre Dame's Schedule Heats Up As Weather Cools Down WOMEN'S B A S K E T B A L L No. 6 Notre Dame Knocks Off No. 3 USC Notre Dame had the two best players on the floor in Los Angeles Nov. 23. As a result, the No. 6 Fight- ing Irish (5-0) came away with a 74-61 victory over No. 3 USC (4-1). Sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo had 24 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals, while gradu- ate student guard Olivia Miles had 20 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals. They joined forces to outshine USC superstar sophomore guard JuJu Watkins, who had 24 points on 10-of-25 shooting. The Irish won in a hostile environment despite putting just seven players on the floor for the second time in as many games. A six-player regular rotation was all they needed, though, thanks to Hidalgo, Miles, and stifling individual and team defense. They proved that in a wire-to-wire win; Notre Dame led for 37:49. USC did not lead for a single second. The Irish's defense was stifling for long stretches, holding USC to just 10 points in the first quarter. Notre Dame built a 10-point lead after the first frame and with- stood a few Trojan runs, eventually extending the advantage to as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter. — Tyler Horka Sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo and the Irish got off to a 4-0 start with an average margin of victory of 42.5 points per game. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS