The expectations just spiked a little bit more for the Notre Dame women’s basketball team.
And the target on their backs got a little bit bigger.
In Monday’s night’s sold-out ACC showdown at Purcell Pavilion (6 EST on ESPN), the Irish (22-2, 13-0 ACC) will take the court as the nation’s No. 1 team against No. 11 Duke (20-5, 11-2), having moved to the top spot in the AP poll earlier in the day for the first time since Jan. 21, 2019.
Current Irish head coach Niele Ivey was in her final year as associate head coach to Hall-of-Famer Muffett McGraw that season. Ivey spent the next season (2020) coaching in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies before succeeding McGraw for the 2020-21 season.
The Irish have won 17 games in a row since dropping back-to-back late-November games in the Cayman Islands to current No. 10 TCU and unranked Utah.
The Irish were No. 2 in last week’s AP poll and No. 3 the week before. They have wins over three of the other four Top 5 teams in this week’s poll — in No. 2 Texas (26-2), No. 4 USC (23-2) and No. 5 UConn (24-3).
USC knocked fellow Big Ten power UCLA (24-1) out of the No. 1 spot with a 71-60 upset on Thursday night. The Bruins survived a scare Sunday night at home from Michigan State (75-69).
Notre Dame also owns a win over another top 10 team, No. 9 North Carolina, on the road (76-66) on Jan. 5.
The Irish finish this week on the road, first Thursday night at Miami (13-12, 3-11) and then Sunday at No. 13 NC State (20-5, 12-2).
The Irish come into Monday’s game with Duke as the nation’s No. 1 3-point-shooting team (.423). They also ranked in the top 10 nationally in Division I, notably, in field-goal percentage (2nd, .504), scoring offense (4th, 87.6), rebound margin (5th, +10.6) and blocked shots per game (7th, 5.7).
Defensively, Notre Dame is 13th nationally in field-goal-percentage defense (.357).
And the target on their backs got a little bit bigger.
In Monday’s night’s sold-out ACC showdown at Purcell Pavilion (6 EST on ESPN), the Irish (22-2, 13-0 ACC) will take the court as the nation’s No. 1 team against No. 11 Duke (20-5, 11-2), having moved to the top spot in the AP poll earlier in the day for the first time since Jan. 21, 2019.
Current Irish head coach Niele Ivey was in her final year as associate head coach to Hall-of-Famer Muffett McGraw that season. Ivey spent the next season (2020) coaching in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies before succeeding McGraw for the 2020-21 season.
The Irish have won 17 games in a row since dropping back-to-back late-November games in the Cayman Islands to current No. 10 TCU and unranked Utah.
The Irish were No. 2 in last week’s AP poll and No. 3 the week before. They have wins over three of the other four Top 5 teams in this week’s poll — in No. 2 Texas (26-2), No. 4 USC (23-2) and No. 5 UConn (24-3).
USC knocked fellow Big Ten power UCLA (24-1) out of the No. 1 spot with a 71-60 upset on Thursday night. The Bruins survived a scare Sunday night at home from Michigan State (75-69).
Notre Dame also owns a win over another top 10 team, No. 9 North Carolina, on the road (76-66) on Jan. 5.
The Irish finish this week on the road, first Thursday night at Miami (13-12, 3-11) and then Sunday at No. 13 NC State (20-5, 12-2).
The Irish come into Monday’s game with Duke as the nation’s No. 1 3-point-shooting team (.423). They also ranked in the top 10 nationally in Division I, notably, in field-goal percentage (2nd, .504), scoring offense (4th, 87.6), rebound margin (5th, +10.6) and blocked shots per game (7th, 5.7).
Defensively, Notre Dame is 13th nationally in field-goal-percentage defense (.357).
