The No. 6 Notre Dame women’s basketball team (4-0) has breezed through the first 2 ½ weeks of the season, annihilating opponents by an average of 47.5 points.
It’s hard to know what’s more impressive about the Fighting Irish. Is it their offensive dominance? Or perhaps their stifling defense that’s kept opposing teams to 31.2% shooting?
Then again, the early returns on Notre Dame’s season are inflated, considering the Fighting Irish haven’t faced much of a challenge in four tuneup games.
But the slow ramp-up for their season is over, and the real competition is set to begin when Niele Ivey’s team travels to Los Angeles to take on No. 3 USC (4-0) on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, NBC).
“We’re really excited,“ Niele Ivey told reporters this week. “The fact that we get to be on this big stage, it’s just an incredible matchup. They have some of the biggest names out in women’s basketball right now.”
Ivey is referring to USC sophomore standout JuJu Watkins and potential 2025 WNBA lottery pick Kiki Iriafen.
Watkins was a basketball big shot even before she stepped on the court last season for the Trojans.
But her remarkable first-year campaign — during which she set a single-season record for a freshman by scoring 920 points – only elevated her stature.
This season, Watkins is averaging 21.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 3.8 steals and 3.0 blocks in four games.
Iriafen, a transfer from Stanford, has posted 17.3 points to go with her team-high 7.5 rebounds per game.
But make no mistake about it: Notre Dame has a few stars of its own, too, which adds to the intrigue of this early-season showdown of two possible Final Four teams.
It helps that point guard Olivia Miles, another potential 2025 lottery pick, returned to the Fighting Irish’s lineup after missing all of last season because of a knee injury.
Miles’ elite passing abilities and improving 3-point shooting make up just one half of what could be the most dynamic backcourt in college basketball this season.
Sophomore All-American guard Hannah Hidalgo, who set several program records for Notre Dame last season, also is picking up where she left off. She leads the team in scoring (25 points per game) and steals (5.3 per game).
Hidalgo’s scrappy approach on the defensive end makes her a menace to opposing guards and could help wear down Watkins over the course of Saturday’s tilt. After all, the way to beat USC is not to go into the game with the mindset of stopping Watkins – that’s not going to happen – but rather to make her work for every point.
Other players who might be up for the defensive assignment include Sonia Citron and Cassandre Prospect.
Saturday will be a chance for Notre Dame to make a statement and prove it’s a legitimate national title threat this season.
Big-game hunting
Here are three more games you should know about this week:
No. 1 South Carolina (5-0) at No. 5 UCLA (4-0), Sunday, 4 p.m. ET, FS1: The schedule makers delivered basketball fans quite the treat this weekend with not just one but two marquee matchups — and both of them in Los Angeles, at that. The second potential Final Four preview features South Carolina with its 43-game winning streak on the line. South Carolina’s star big from a season ago, Kamilla Cardoso, went to the WNBA. Chloe Kitts has been working to fill the 6-foot-7 void left by Cardoso’s departure, but she doesn’t have nearly the same size and skills inside as her successor. Enter UCLA 6-foot-7 center Lauren Betts, who could be a matchup nightmare for the Gamecocks. Betts is averaging 21.5 points on 72.5% shooting and is corralling 11.5 rebounds per game, which could be a big problem for South Carolina. Then again, the Gamecocks have legendary coach Dawn Staley, who’s no stranger to leading a team that has a target on its back. This game could come down to the wire.
No. 2 UConn (4-0) vs. Oregon State (1-3) in Nassau, Bahamas, Monday, 7:30 p.m. ET: Geno Auriemma added yet another impressive notch on his belt this week when he became the all-time winningest coach in college basketball. UConn’s win against Fairleigh Dickinson on Wednesday was the 1,217th of Auriemma’s career, surpassing former Stanford coach Tara Vanderveer for the record. Auriemma’s win count is sure to continue to swell, starting Monday against Oregon State at the Baha Mar Women’s Championship. This Huskies team is loaded with talent and has a deep bench – a luxury that had eluded it in past seasons because of injuries. Azzi Fudd is back in the fold after a year away because of a knee injury. And Paige Bueckers, a favorite to go No. 1 in the 2025 WNBA draft, continues to dazzle.
No. 16 North Carolina (3-1) vs. Ball State (4-0) in Nassau, Bahamas, Saturday, 6:30 p.m. ET: North Carolina enters this weekend as a favorite to win the annual Battle 4 Atlantic tournament. Sure, the Tar Heels are coming off a tough loss at UConn, but that might only fuel them this weekend. Ball State will be putting its perfect record on the line. The Cardinals managed to squeeze out a win against Northern Iowa last week, which proved to be more impressive than initially believed. Could Ball State pull off a stunner?
Upset alert!
Maya, oh my.
Maya McDermott was a catalyst for Northern Iowa, who took the cake this week for the biggest upset of the young women’s basketball season.
The unranked Panthers stunned No. 8 Iowa State on Wednesday night, 87-75, as McDermott dropped a career-high 37 points.
It marked Northern Iowa’s first win against a top-10 opponent in program history and will go down as a day to remember for McDermott, who grew up in a Des Moines suburb just 30 miles south of Iowa State’s campus.