Why Notre Dame women's basketball has one main focus against UNC
A five-minute timer went on the clock inside Purcell Pavilion.
Notre Dame women’s basketball reached the final drill of Saturday’s practice. It was a straightforward one. The goal? Get three defensive stops in a row against the male practice squad in a span of five minutes.
Easy objective. Difficult to obtain.
The No. 20 Fighting Irish (12-3, 3-1 ACC) couldn’t get it done. They let midrange jumpers fall. They let layups in. They just couldn’t clamp down and get off the floor. Head coach Niele Ivey was incensed. She ordered the team to line up on the base line once the clock hit triple zeros.
Punishment sprints.
“At some point, we’re going to have to get stops in the fourth quarter,” Ivey barked before telling the team to run.
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Ivey wasn’t shy in expressing her demands. The Irish ran multiple sprints. Between each one, Ivey made it clear she expects better defensive effort and execution going forward.
“Today it was an emphasis for me to have that sense of urgency,” Ivey said. “Depending on what we need, I can be loose but I can turn around. I’m both. They think I’m bipolar. I’m coming from a player’s perspective, but I also know they have to understand the emphasis. To get them ready the day before a game, I’m a little more intense anyway.”
Less than 48 hours prior, Notre Dame allowed 30 points to Wake Forest in the fourth quarter of a 74-64 Irish victory. There weren’t any jokes about mood swings to be had then. Just frustration her team let it get to that point. Ivey said the goal for Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET home game against No. 21 North Carolina (14-1, 4-1) is to not allow more than 12 points in any quarter.
That’s a lofty aspiration considering only one team in the country, Georgia Tech, allows less than 48 points per game. The Tar Heels have the No. 1 scoring offense in the ACC and No. 13 scoring offense nationally at 79.7 points per game, too.
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But this could be a shoot for the moon, land in the stars type of situation for Ivey. Fourteen, 16 or even 18 points allowed per frame would be better than the 30 the Demon Deacons ripped a partially depleted Notre Dame defense up for Thursday night.
Ivey said her team got “a little too comfortable” in the fourth quarter. That can’t happen against ranked foes like the Tar Heels, who have the highest NET ranking (No. 4) of any team Notre Dame will have faced to this point in the season.
“We’re growing in that area, realizing and understand how to finish games” Ivey said. “We have to find ways to finish games stronger. We ended practice with a hard defensive drill to get that mindset.”
Notre Dame has allowed at least 24 points in the fourth quarter in each of the last three games. The Irish have a 2-1 record in those matchups, but that’s not the point. DePaul nearly came back to stun the Irish on Dec. 22. Duke rallied to earn a comeback victory on Jan. 2. Wake Forest turned a 24-point deficit into a respectable 10-point loss.
All because Notre Dame can’t close games at the moment, win or lose.
It was that way earlier in the season, too. Oregon State nearly erased a 20-point fourth quarter deficit on Nov. 27 by outscoring the Irish 26-8 in the final frame. Notre Dame barely hung on to win by two. UConn dismantled the Irish 22-10 in the fourth quarter on Dec. 5.
Both of those games were away from South Bend. Sunday marks Notre Dame’s first home appearance since beating Pitt 85-59 on Dec. 19. Perhaps an energized crowd at Purcell Pavilion can help the Irish over the line in strong fashion. If that occurs, Notre Dame will notch its first victory over a team currently ranked in the AP Top 25. The Irish beat Oregon State in November, but the Beavers have since dropped out of the poll.
“We really need opportunities to be at home,” Ivey said. “I think the energy of the moment is going to be [huge].”
No. 21 North Carolina (14-1, 3-1 ACC) No. 20 Notre Dame (12-3, 3-1)
When: Sunday, Jan. 16 at 1 p.m. ET
Where: Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center
NET rankings: Notre Dame 18, North Carolina 4
Last meeting: North Carolina won 78-73 on Jan. 24, 2021 in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Series history: Notre Dame leads 9-3
Notes on North Carolina: The ACC has three of the top five teams in the NET rankings, and North Carolina is one of them at No. 4 … North Carolina is led in scoring by sophomore guard Deja Kelly at 17.6 points per game … The Tar Heels rank No. 6 nationally in rebounds per game with 45.3 … North Carolina’s lone loss came to No. 4 NC State earlier this month; the Wolfpack beat the Tar Heels 72-45.
