What to know about Notre Dame women's basketball vs. Clemson
It’s Senior Night at Purcell Pavilion even though Notre Dame still has two home games after tonight’s tilt vs. Clemson. Those are against top-20 opponents. In those games, the Irish will have nothing to focus on but their own game and that of their foe.
Tonight, they’re setting some time aside to honor the vets of the squad.
It’s common practice for basketball coaches to schedule senior night festivities for games that aren’t as high-leverage, so to speak. That’s likely what Niele Ivey is up to here. It’s no slight to the Tigers. It just is what it is.
Virginia Tech is No. 8 nationally and just might be the best team in the ACC. Louisville is the No. 20 team in the country and is a nemesis of the Irish. No emotional ceremonies to be had in South Bend before the Irish see what they’re made of against those teams.
They still have to take care of business this evening in a conference game that counts just as much as much as the final two, however, even after a senior celebration that will honor graduates Jenna Brown, Becky Obinma and Anna DeWolfe and seniors Maddy Westbeld, Nat Marshall, Kylee Watson and Sarah Cernugel. The four true seniors all have one more year of eligibility if they wish to use it.
Here’s what to know about Notre Dame’s opportunity to earn a 10th league win.
Notre Dame women’s basketball vs. Clemson game info
- Teams: No. 19 Notre Dame (19-6, 9-5 ACC) and Clemson (11-15, 4-10)
- Head coaches: Niele Ivey (80-31, fourth year at Notre Dame); Amanda Butler (80-102, 6th year at Clemson; 310-261 overall)
- Date: Feb. 22, 2024
- Location: Purcell Pavilion (South Bend, Ind.)
- Time: 7 p.m. ET
- Television: ACCNX
- TV broadcasters: Andrew McGuinness and Dara Mabrey
- Radio: 99.9 WQLQ-FM in South Bend
- Radio broadcaster: Sean Stires
Matchup notables
• Clemson comes in having lost three games in a row to Miami, Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh. That streak is on the heels of a three-game winning spurt against Wake Forest, Boston College and Virginia.
• Ranked teams have not been kind to Clemson. The Tigers are 0-7 against teams ranked in the AP Top 25 at the time of tipoff. That includes league losses to North Carolina, Florida State, Louisville, Virginia Tech and NC State. If Notre Dame is to end up in the same tier as some of those teams by the end of the regular season, which is rapidly approaching, doing what they did against Clemson is a must.
• Still, taking down the Tigers hasn’t been a cake walk. UNC and FSU only did it by a six-point margin. Virginia Tech, the top team in the ACC standings, got by them by 12. Syracuse beat Clemson by one, 83-82. The Orange, of course, beat Notre Dame twice this season.
• Clemson senior forward Amari Robinson erupted for 37 points against Syracuse. She’s averaging 17.4 per game. Robinson is order of business No. 1 for the Notre Dame defense on Thursday. Putting the clamps on Clemson starts with stopping her.
• The only ACC team that allows fewer points than Clemson is Florida State. Notre Dame just scored 79 on the Seminoles in regulation and 98 in double overtime a week and a half ago. A good indicator of where the Irish are at, even against a team under .500 in conference play, is how well the ball moves and ultimately how much it ends up in the basket against a team that hasn’t been able to do much about it against anybody this season.
