Kylee Watson injured in Notre Dame ACC Tournament win over Virginia Tech
The arena went silent. Elizabeth Kitley cried. So did Kylee Watson. Kitley cried for Watson, Notre Dame’s senior center crumpled up on the court at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Watson went down with a knee injury in the third quarter of Notre Dame’s 82-53 victory over Virginia Tech in Saturday’s ACC Tournament semifinals. The Hokies were playing without Kitley, the conference’s back-to-back-to-back player of the year, because of an injury of her own.
Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said the nature of Watson’s injury was not known at the time of her postgame press conference.
Watson’s fall looked like a textbook ligament tear of some sort with her knee buckling in the process of planting making a move on the offensive end. She fell to the floor immediately and let out a shriek all too familiar for the Fighting Irish. It was Dara Mabrey-like in nature. Mabrey’s Notre Dame career ended unceremoniously early last year when she tore her ACL in January.
Of course, point guard All-American Olivia Miles severely injured her knee about a month later. She has not played a game this season, and she won’t. She was ruled out for the year and will return to the Irish lineup in the 2024-25 season.
If Watson joins Miles on the shelf, she’ll be the fifth scholarship player on the roster seemingly unavailable for the Irish in Sunday’s ACC Tournament championship game against either NC State or Florida State. Freshman guard Emma Risch had season-ending hip surgery. Graduate student guard Jenna Brown appears to have medically retired; she hasn’t played at all this season. Sophomore guard/forward Cass Prosper is recovering from a lower-leg injury and has not played since Nov. 24.
Notre Dame has been rolling with a seven-player rotation including Watson since Prosper’s injury. Ivey might need to call on Pepperdine transfer Becky Obinma for help in the post if Watson cannot play any further. The 6-2 forward has only played in seven games with an average of 6.9 minutes per appearance since Jan. 1.
Senior center Nat Marshall should slide into the starting five, but Watson has become a bit of an indispensable asset of late. She’s been playing with heightened confidence with her post moves and has found a groove in the pick-and-roll game. Watson’s length, awareness and activity defensively has been a difference-maker for an Irish team that has won seven games in a row largely by why of what they’ve accomplished on that end of the floor, too.
Marshall doesn’t provide the same level of prowess as Watson in those areas. She’s best bringing juice off the bench, but she might be forced to take on starter’s minutes. Watson often plays over 30. Marshall hasn’t hit that number since Dec. 6.
The No. 4 seed Irish play either the No. 2 seed Wolfpack or No. 6 seed Seminoles at 1 p.m. ET Sunday. The Irish lost to NC State 59-43 and beat Florida State 98-94 in double overtime earlier this season.
