Niele Ivey reveals knee injury status for Notre Dame guard KK Bransford

This Notre Dame roster isn’t built to withstand a season-ending injury to a starter. By the looks of the way KK Bransford went down Thursday, it looked like the Fighting Irish were going to try to have to get past one anyway.

Head coach Niele Ivey quelled those fears Sunday evening.

“As y’all know, KK suffered a knee injury on Thursday,” Ivey said after her team’s 78-65 road victory at James Madison. “But good news, it’s not season-ending. There is no timetable, but we’re just really grateful that news was good.”

Bransford went down awkwardly in the second quarter of the Irish’s victory vs. Morehead State. She was dribbling the ball at a decent rate of velocity when her knee buckled and she went tumbling to the court. She stayed down in pain for a while then was helped to the locker room by multiple Notre Dame team trainers.

Bransford did not make the trip to Virginia with the team this weekend. Blue & Gold can report her injury does not require surgery, though, so electing to stay home was out of the need for rest and precaution.

She’s averaging 9.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. She started all nine of Notre Dame’s first games of the season, and she led the team in minutes per game during that stretch.

Bransford missed the entirety of the 2024-25 season with a foot injury. She decided early in the process to sit out and rehab while taking a redshirt year. Including this one, the redshirt junior has two years of eligibility remaining.

Ivey elected to start center Malaya Cowles at JMU in Bransford’s place instead of inserting another guard into the starting lineup. Cowles did not score in the first quarter, accumulating two fouls in the first five minutes, but she finished strong with 17 points, 5 steals and 4 rebounds. It would have been Iyana Moore to start if Cowles did not get the nod, and Moore had 9 points on 3 of 6 shooting.

Still, Notre Dame was only able to go with a six-player rotation vs. the Dukes. Moore was the only player off the bench who contributed meaningful minutes. For however long Bransford remains out, the Irish’s lack of depth will be tested.

Notre Dame does not play again until Dec. 21 at home vs. Bellarmine. Then it’s a return to ACC play at home vs. Pitt on Dec. 29.