Niele Ivey on potential to claim ACC Championship: 'Our goal is the next 40 minutes'

No. 1 Notre Dame defeated Miami 82-42 in Coral Gables on Thursday night, inching the Fighting Irish one game closer to capturing a regular season ACC Championship.

A win over No. 13 NC State on the road Sunday afternoon would secure that title for Notre Dame two games before the end of the regular season. Irish head coach Niele Ivey revealed her team’s mindset heading into that all-important matchup to end the weekend.

“The goal is the next 40 minutes,” Ivey said. “And obviously, that’s lingering. But our focus is on the next opponent, which is NC State, so we have to play great 40 minutes. It’s a really tough place to play. We let everything else fall where it falls, but the next goal is the next 40 minutes and the next game.”

The Wolfpack still have a chance to overtake Notre Dame for the top spot in the conference, but they would not only have to beat the Irish on Sunday but also win their final two games of the regular season. There is no margin for error for NC State when it comes to the regular season title.

This is the first and only time these two programs will meet during the regular season, so this all-important head-to-head matchup will go a long way in shaping the conference tournament seedings, not to mention NC State could benefit greatly when it comes to their argument for a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack is a projected 3-seed if the NCAA Tournament began today, according to ESPN bracketology.

Moreover, Notre Dame heads to Raleigh to play inside NC State’s Reynolds Coliseum — a venue where they’re 14-0 this season. Notre Dame and NC State are the only teams in the ACC who are undefeated at home this season.

Of course, being the No. 1 team in the country at this point in the season means Notre Dame is a projected 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. For the Irish, NC State is the final major hurdle on Notre Dame’s regular season schedule. They finish the season on a two-game homestand and will play unranked Florida State and Louisville before the conference tournament begins the following week.

Notre Dame’s chance of winning the regular season title won’t be over even if they lose on Sunday. At 15-0, they still have a one-game advantage in the standings even if they don’t have a head-to-head win over NC State.

Tip-off between the Fighting Irish and Wolfpack is set for Noon ET live on ESPN.