Notre Dame women’s basketball to play UConn in 2022 Jimmy V Classic
Niele Ivey and Notre Dame women’s basketball will get another shot at Geno Auriemma and UConn. The Fighting Irish and Huskies will take each other on in the Jimmy V Classic at Purcell Pavilion on Dec. 4. The game will be televised by ABC.
The vaunted programs met last year on Dec. 5 at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn. Notre Dame kept it close in a hostile environment for three quarters, but UConn ran away with it in the fourth quarter. The Huskies won, 73-54.
Notre Dame has beaten UConn nine times since April 3, 2011. The Irish have a 5-3 record against the Huskies in the NCAA Tournament, too. No school has beaten more when it matters most. UConn still holds an all-time record of 39-13 against Notre Dame, though.
Notre Dame now has four game set on its 2022-23 schedule. The Irish will spend Thanksgiving in the Bahamas for the Goombay Splash. They’ll take on American on Nov. 24 and Arizona State on either Nov. 25 or Nov. 26. Notre Dame hosts Maryland in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Dec. 1.
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Notre Dame enters the 2022-23 season coming off a Sweet 16 appearance. It was the first time the Irish made the NCAA Tournament since losing to Baylor in the national championship game in 2018. The Irish beat UConn, 81-76, in the Final Four that year.
The Irish will look a little different than they did when nearly beating NC State in the Sweet 16 this past March. Three of nine scholarship players — Jenna Brown of Stanford, Lauren Ebo of Texas and Kylee Watson of Oregon — came to South Bend via the transfer portal. One is McDonald’s All-American freshman KK Bransford.
The four returning scholarship players — point guard Olivia Miles, combo guard Sonia Citron, guard Dara Mabrey and forward Maddy Westbeld — were regular starters in 2021-22. Either Ebo or Watson will join them in the starting lineup in 2022-23 while Brown and Bransford provide guard depth off the bench. Bransford could even push for a starting spot if she acclimates to the college game quickly like Citron did last year.
The rest of the 2022-23 schedule will be released closer to the slate starting sometime in November.
