Notre Dame women’s basketball advances to ACC Tournament semifinals without Olivia Miles

No Olivia Miles, no problem. At least not for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Friday in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.

The No. 1 seed Irish took a three-point halftime lead over No. 8 seed North Carolina State in Greensboro, N.C., and never looked back in a 66-60 victory. Miles (right knee) missed a game for the first time in her career since arriving as an early enrollee freshman in 2021.

Fellow sophomore guard Sonia Citron, who head coach Niele Ivey called one of the best players in the country in her postgame press conference, played the role of Miles just fine.

Citron finished with 28 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists to become the first Notre Dame (25-4) player since Arike Ogunbowale to exceed 25 points in back-to-back outings. She also become the first Irish player with at least 25 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in a conference tournament game since 2000.

Considering the circumstances, Ivey demanded. Citron over-delivered.

“I know Sonia is capable of doing whatever I ask,” Ivey said. “That’s what I do know. Now, I didn’t think it was going to be running the point, being the point guard and the general. But she’s the most unselfish player I think I’ve ever been around. She’s so coachable, she loves this team, and she’s playing for this team. So she’s like, ‘Whatever you need from me, coach, I’m going to do it.’ When you have somebody unselfish like that, things like this happen.”

NC State (20-11) hadn’t lost an ACC Tournament game since 2019. Citron was unequivocally the main reason Notre Dame snapped the streak and ended NC State’s stranglehold on the tournament.

“She’s a great player, great scorer,” NC State head coach Wes Moore said. “We had a hard time trying to beat her to spots. She was able to turn the corner and get to the foul line quite a bit.”

Citron was 8 of 18 from the floor and 11 of 15 from the free throw line. Notre Dame will only go as far as she takes it for as long as Miles is out. The prognosis has not sounded positive throughout the week, so Citron is going to have to keep up her torrid pace for the the Irish to have any shot of beating Louisville (22-10) for a third time in the last two and a half weeks. The Irish take on the No. 4 seed Cardinals on Saturday at noon ET.

The Irish still received timely buckets from a wide-range of players. Junior forward Maddy Westbeld was instrumental in giving the Irish a halftime edge with 7 points in the final three minutes of the second quarter. She finished with 15 points, more than any NC State scorer.

Four of the Irish’s first five buckets in the second half came from centers Lauren Ebo and Kylee Watson. Notre Dame has struggled to get anything out of that duo offensively, so them setting the tone coming out of the break enabled the Irish to hold their lead through three quarters. Ebo finished with eight points and 6 rebounds. Watson, who fouled out, had 6 and 1, respectively.

Notre Dame held NC State to four points in the second quarter, a season low for any Irish opponent in any quarter this season. The Irish’s combination of zone and man-to-man defense was quick to close out on Wolfpack shooters, constantly creating chaos in half-court situations. NC State shot 2-of-15 from three-point range and did not connect on one until the fourth quarter.

Without Miles, Notre Dame’s identity is Citron-led on offense and a group effort defensively. Both elements clicked against the Wolfpack. The Cardinals pose a tougher challenge — one this same collection of players overcome earlier this week in a 68-65 victory at Louisville in the game Miles went down. Notre Dame employed a six-player rotation then, Friday and will likely do so again Saturday if Miles cannot give it a go.

There is an old adage in sports: “All we got is all we need.” Down Miles and graduate student guard Dara Mabrey, who sat side-by-side on the Irish bench all afternoon Friday, this is all Notre Dame has. And it may be all Notre Dame needs to win a conference championship for the 12th time in program history.