March 4, 2016

by Chris Masters

Notre Dame Game Notes Get Acrobat Reader

2015-16 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 31

Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament – Semifinal
#2/3 [#1 seed] Notre Dame Fighting Irish (29-1 / 16-0 ACC) vs. #21/21 [#5 seed] Miami Hurricanes (24-7 / 10-6 ACC)

DATE: March 5, 2016
TIME: Noon ET
AT: Greensboro, N.C. – Greensboro Coliseum (23,500)
SERIES: ND leads 17-4
1ST MTG: ND 59-53 (1/5/86)
SERIES: ND 90-69 (2/14/16)
TV: ESPNU/WatchESPN (live) (Beth Mowins, p-b-p / Debbie Antonelli, color)
RADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1)/WatchND (watchnd.tv) (live) (Bob Nagle, p-b-p)
LIVE STATS: theacc.com
TEXT ALERT: UND.com
TWITTER: @NDsidMasters / @ndwbb
BRACKET: Interactive

Storylines

  • Notre Dame has advanced to the conference tournament semifinals for the seventh consecutive season and the 20th time in 28 seasons.
  • The Fighting Irish will face their 10th ranked opponent of the season, having posted an 8-1 record against Top 25 teams to date.

No. 2/3 Fighting Irish Face No. 21 Miami In ACC Championship Semifinals
Following a crisp performance in its Atlantic Coast Conference tournament opener on Friday, No. 2/3 (and top-seeded) Notre Dame will have another challenge to address, as the Fighting Irish take on No. 21 (and fifth-seeded) Miami in an ACC Championship semifinal contest at noon (ET) Saturday at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina – the game will be televised live on ESPNU and WatchESPN.

Notre Dame began its third ACC postseason appearance in fine fashion on Friday with an 83-54 quarterfinal round victory over Duke. The Fighting Irish used a 21-4 second-quarter run to seize control and led the Blue Devils by at least 20 points for the balance of the second half.

Notre Dame’s freshman guard tandem of Marina Mabrey and Arike Ogunbowale paced a balanced Fighting Irish offensive attack, with both rookies coming off the bench to each score 14 points. Senior guards Madison Cable and Michaela Mabrey added 11 points apiece, combining to knock down 6-of-12 three-pointers during the victory.

Rankings

  • Notre Dame is ranked No. 2 in this week’s Associated Press poll and is No. 3 in this week’s WBCA/USA Today poll.
  • Miami is ranked No. 21 in this week’s Associated Press poll and is No. 21 in this week’s WBCA/USA Today poll.

Quick Hitters

  • Notre Dame has clinched its third consecutive outright ACC regular-season title and its school-record fifth consecutive conference crown, dating back to its final two seasons in the BIG EAST. Notre Dame is the third ACC school to win three consecutive outright regular-season championships, joining Virginia (1991-96) and Duke (2001-04).
  • The Fighting Irish have earned the No. 1 seed for the ACC Tournament and will place in the top four of the final conference standings for the 26th time in head coach Muffet McGraw’s 29 seasons at Notre Dame (covering four different leagues).
  • Notre Dame is off to a 29-1 start or better for the third time in program history, all within the past four seasons (also 2012-13 and 2013-14).
  • The Fighting Irish have registered their seventh consecutive 25-win season and the 13th in program history (all within the past 20 seasons).
  • The Fighting Irish are 8-1 against ranked opponents this season, and also registered a win over UCLA on Nov. 28 in the Bahamas, two days before the Bruins entered the Associated Press poll (UCLA is 12th in this week’s AP poll and 14th in this week’s WBCA/USA Today coaches’ poll).
  • Despite losing two starters from the lineup that opened last April’s NCAA championship game in Tampa (and missing a third – sophomore forward Brianna Turner – with an injury for six games), Notre Dame has scarcely missed a beat this season, led in large measure by two first-time starters in graduate student guard Madison Cable (scoring up from 6.2 to 13.5 ppg.) and sophomore forward Kathryn Westbeld (6.7 to 7.9 ppg.), as well as the reliable production off the bench from freshman guards Arike Ogunbowale (12.2 ppg.) and Marina Mabrey (11.0 ppg.).
  • The Fighting Irish feature a very balanced attack with four players currently posting double-figure scoring averages (and two others at 7.9 ppg. or better). Of those six, two are freshmen (Marina Mabrey and Ogunbowale), and two are sophomores (Turner and Westbeld).
  • Notre Dame’s bench play has been sharp this season, with the Fighting Irish reserves averaging 30.5 points per game, compared to 14.7 ppg. for their opponent’s bench.
  • Notre Dame ranks among the top 25 in six NCAA statistical categories (as of Tuesday), including five top-10 rankings – field-goal percentage (3rd ââ’¬” now .494), three-point field-goal percentage (4th – .403), scoring margin (5th – +19.6 ppg.), assists (9th – 18.0 apg.) and scoring offense (10th – 79.6 ppg.). The Fighting Irish also rank 22nd in assist/turnover ratio (1.22), while standing third in the non-statistical measure of win-loss percentage (.967).
  • Including this week’s No. 2 ranking, Notre Dame has appeared in the Associated Press poll for 172 consecutive weeks (the past 102 weeks in the AP Top 10), extending a program record that dates back to the 2007-08 preseason poll, and ranking fourth in the nation among active AP poll appearances.
  • Notre Dame has been ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll for 114 of 125 weeks this decade (since 2010-11), ranking second in the nation in that category behind only Connecticut (125).
  • Every current Fighting Irish player has competed for a top-10 Notre Dame squad during her career, with the vast majority of that time (70 of 76 weeks) spent in the top five of the Associated Press poll.
  • Notre Dame is ranked No. 3 in this week’s Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA)/USA Today poll, making its 139th consecutive appearance in that survey. It’s also the eighth consecutive season and 14 of the past 18 years the Fighting Irish have appeared in the top 10 of the coaches’ poll.
  • Notre Dame has a remarkable tradition of success at home inside Purcell Pavilion, with the Fighting Irish owning a 433-91 (.826) all-time record in 39 seasons at the facility, including a 110-6 (.948) record since the arena was renovated prior to the 2009-10 season.
  • Including regular season and postseason play, the Fighting Irish have won 95 of their last 99 games against conference opponents (and a school-record 34 in a row at home), dating back to their membership in the BIG EAST.
  • Since joining the ACC prior to the 2013-14 season, Notre Dame is 55-1 against conference foes (47-1 regular season, 8-0 postseason). Notre Dame is just the second ACC school to lose only once in regular-season conference play during a three-year span (Duke also went 47-1 from 2002-04).
  • Guards Madison Cable, Hannah Huffman and Michaela Mabrey have helped Notre Dame to a 137-7 (.951) record in their careers, putting them on pace to challenge last year’s senior class of Whitney Holloway and Markisha Wright as the most successful in Fighting Irish history. Holloway and Wright helped Notre Dame to a 143-10 (.935) record in their four-year careers, with those 143 wins tying for the second-most victories by any four-year class in NCAA Division I history (the Connecticut class of 2011 amassed 150 wins, while the Louisiana Tech class of 1982 also had 143 victories).
  • Since they first suited up at Notre Dame in 2012-13, Cable, Huffman and Mabrey have paced Notre Dame to two NCAA national championship games and three NCAA Women’s Final Fours (plus four conference regular season titles and three league tournament crowns), as well as a 47-6 (.887) record against ranked teams (25-6 against top-10 opponents).
  • With 728 victories in her 29 seasons at Notre Dame, head coach Muffet McGraw ranks second on the Fighting Irish athletics all-time coaching wins list (across all sports), trailing only men’s/women’s fencing coach Michael DeCicco (799-90 from 1962-95).
  • With 816 career wins, McGraw ranks 10th in NCAA Division I coaching history (seventh among active coaches). She also is one of two ACC coaches in the top 10 all-time, along with current North Carolina head coach Sylvia Hatchell (third all-time/second among active with 975 as of Saturday).

The Notre Dame-Miami Series
Notre Dame and Miami will meet for the second time this season and the 22nd time in series history, with the Fighting Irish holding a 17-4 record against the Hurricanes, following a 90-69 win back on Feb. 14 at Purcell Pavilion.

Notre Dame and Miami also have played twice before in the postseason, with the Fighting Irish winning both contests – the 2000 BIG EAST Conference Championship quarterfinals in Piscataway, New Jersey (67-52), and last year’s ACC Championship quarterfinals (77-61).

The Last Time Notre Dame and Miami Met
Arike Ogunbowale had 18 points, Brianna Turner scored 15 points and blocked six shots, and No. 3 Notre Dame beat No. 19/17 Miami 90-69 on Feb. 14 at Purcell Pavilion for its 17th straight win.

Notre Dame (24-1, 12-0) had little trouble while stretching its ACC win streak to 28 straight since it lost to the Hurricanes (21-5, 9-4) last year.

The Fighting Irish dominated, outrebounding the Hurricanes 46-27 and outscoring them 44-30 inside.

Emese Hof and Jessica Thomas led the Hurricanes with 12 points apiece. Adrienne Motley, who had a career-high 32 points on 13-of-19 shooting in the 78-63 win over Notre Dame last season, finished with eight points on 3-of-13 shooting.

Marina Mabrey added 14 points for the Fighting Irish. Lindsay Allen had 12.

The Last Time Notre Dame and Miami Met In The ACC Championship
No. 2 Notre Dame hasn’t had many scores to settle in its short time in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Just this one.

The top-seeded Fighting Irish avenged their only ACC loss on March 6, 2015, by beating Miami 77-61 in an ACC quarterfinal at the Greensboro Coliseum.

“Any time you lose a game,” coach Muffet McGraw said, ”That’s the team you want to play again.”

ACC Player of the Year Jewell Loyd scored 16 points, and league Freshman of the Year Brianna Turner had 13 points and 10 rebounds to help the Fighting Irish (29-2) win their 15th straight game. Taya Reimer and Madison Cable each scored 13 points.

The defending league tournament champions held on after a late 15-4 run to advance to the semifinals.

Jessica Thomas scored a career-high 24 points and Jassany Williams had 16 for the eighth-seeded Hurricanes (19-12).

Adrienne Motley, who averages nearly 17 points, finished with just five on two of eight shooting with Loyd guarding her when Notre Dame wasn’t playing zone defense.

Kathryn Westbeld had 10 points for the Irish, who held the Hurricanes to one of 10 shooting over 6 1/2 minutes down the stretch to improve to 5-0 in ACC tournament games.

”I thought that might have been where we could have made our little run,” Miami coach Katie Meier said. ”If you’re going to beat Notre Dame, you’ve got to make those plays. ââ’¬¦ They’re like gold when you get them.”

Led by Loyd and Turner, they haven’t lost since Miami handed them their only ACC setback on Jan. 8, 2015.

In that 78-63 loss in Coral Gables, Motley scored a career-high 32 and Williams blocked nine shots.

Miami threatened to make it two for two after cutting it to 48-43 on Thomas’ drive with 13 1/2 minutes left.

Lindsay Allen converted a three-point play to start the decisive run, and Cable made a key three-pointer before Turner converted a three-point play to give Notre Dame its largest lead, 63-47, with 9:05 remaining.

Other Notre Dame-Miami Series Tidbits

  • Of the 21 games in the series, only six have been decided by single-digit margins. Notre Dame has come out on top in four of those six close affairs.
  • Miami has scored more than 70 points against Notre Dame five times in their 21-game series (just twice in the past 12 meetings). Conversely, the Fighting Irish have topped the 70-point mark 14 times in their history with the Hurricanes, all in the past 19 series matchups.
  • Notre Dame has had eight Florida natives suit up in the program’s 39-year history, with its most recent Sunshine State product being 2010 graduate Alena Christiansen (Fort Lauderdale/Cardinal Gibbons HS).
  • Senior guard/tri-captain Michaela Mabrey played for Miami head coach Katie Meier on the 2012 USA Basketball Under-18 National Team that won the gold medal at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Gurabo, Puerto Rico. Mabrey appeared in all five games (starting four times) for Team USA at the tournament, averaging 12.8 points, 4.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game with a .500 three-point percentage and .489 overall field goal percentage. She also scored in double figures four times (including 14 points against Brazil in the gold medal game), and led all players in the eight-team tournament in assists, assist/turnover ratio (2.67) and three-pointers per game (3.2).
  • Notre Dame assistant athletic trainer Anne Marquez also served on Meier’s staff with the 2012 USA Basketball U18 National Team.
  • Meier coached Notre Dame sophomore forward Brianna Turner on the 2013 USA Basketball U19 National Team that won the FIBA U19 World Championships in Lithuania. As the second-youngest player on the American roster, Turner played in all nine games for Team USA at the tournament, averaging 5.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game with a .500 field goal percentage.

Sunshine State Success

  • Notre Dame is 36-6 (.857) all-time against Florida schools, including a 22-3 (.880) record away from home (road/neutral sites combined) against Sunshine State teams.
  • The Fighting Irish also have won 16 of their last 17 games against Florida schools, including two wins in two tries this season (regular season vs. Miami and Florida State).
  • Notre Dame has won 10 of its last 11 games away from home (road/neutral sites combined) against Florida teams, most recently toppling Florida State, 73-66 on Feb. 22 in Tallahassee.

Ranking File

  • Notre Dame is 8-1 against ranked opponents (3-1 against top-10 teams) this season.
  • In the past five seasons (2011-12 to present), the Fighting Irish are 62-9 (.873) against ranked opponents, with more than two-thirds of those Top 25 wins (42 of 62) by double digits.

Fighting Irish In The ACC Tournament

  • Notre Dame is in the midst of its third ACC Tournament this weekend, looking to defend the ACC postseason crowns it has earned to cap off its first two seasons in the conference.
  • Between their memberships in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now known as the Horizon League), BIG EAST Conference and ACC, the Fighting Irish have played in 28 league tournaments including this weekend’s action, compiling a 43-19 (.694) record in conference tournament games.
  • In that time (1989-present), Notre Dame has won eight titles (MCC-5, ACC-2, BIG EAST-1) and reached the tournament championship game 14 times, while advancing to the league tournament semifinals in 20 of those 28 seasons.
  • Before entering the ACC in 2013-14, the Fighting Irish posted a 24-17 (.585) record in 18 BIG EAST Championship appearances. Notre Dame also won the 2013 BIG EAST title (61-59 at Connecticut on a layup by Natalie Achonwa with 1.8 seconds left) in the last of their seven title game appearances (1996, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2011, 2012, 2013). In addition, the Fighting Irish reached the BIG EAST semifinals in 11 of their 18 years.
  • Prior to joining the BIG EAST in 1995-96, Notre Dame won the MCC Tournament five times, all in six-year span (1989-92, 1994), and made the tournament semifinals in 1995 (its final year in that conference).

Other ACC Tournament Tidbits

  • Notre Dame is the No. 1 seed in its conference tournament for the fifth consecutive year, and 10th time in 28 years (also 1990, 1991, 1994 and 1995 in the MCC; 2001, 2012 and 2013 in the BIG EAST; 2014 and 2015 in the ACC). In nine previous tournaments as a top seed, Notre Dame has won six titles (1990, 1991 and 1994 MCC; 2013 BIG EAST; 2014 and 2015 ACC) and reached the championship game on two other occasions (2001 and 2012 BIG EAST).
  • Dating back to the start of its BIG EAST tenure in 1995-96, the Fighting Irish are 25-7 (.781) in conference tournaments when playing as the higher seed.
  • Beginning with the classic 2001 BIG EAST title game against Connecticut (won by the Huskies on Sue Bird’s fadeaway jumper at the buzzer), 19 of the past 32 Fighting Irish games in the tournament have been decided by 11 points or fewer (Notre Dame is 9-10 in these close contests), including 13 by single digits (7-6 record).
  • Since 1995-96, more than half (24) of Notre Dame’s 47 conference tournament games have featured margins of 11 points or fewer, with the Fighting Irish going 12-12 (.500) in those games.

48 Hours

  • Since the start of the 2008-09 season, Notre Dame has played 70 times when it has had a short one-day break (or less) between games.
  • When faced with such a tight turnaround, the Fighting Irish have risen to the occasion in recent seasons, going 59-11 (.843) on the back half of these two-game (or more) blitzes during the past eight years.
  • Saturday’s ACC Championship semifinal marks the fifth time this season Notre Dame has played twice in less than 48 hours, with the Fighting Irish going 4-0 in such games thus far. Most recently, Notre Dame posted a 70-58 win over Boston College on Feb. 27 at Purcell Pavilion, two days after the Fighting Irish downed Clemson, 71-52, also at Purcell Pavilion.

Helping Hands

  • Notre Dame has been known for its ability to share the basketball like few teams in the sport, a trend that continues this year with the Fighting Irish recording assists on 61.0 percent of their made baskets (539 of 884).
  • This should come as no surprise, for in the past six seasons (2009-10 through 2014-15), Notre Dame finished the campaign with assists on more than 60 percent of its baskets five times – and in the sixth (2014-15), the Fighting Irish had assists on 59.5 percent of their field goals.

Spreading The Wealth

  • Notre Dame has had at least four players score in double figures in 19 games this year, going 18-1 in those contests.
  • Since the start of the 2009-10 season, the Fighting Irish are 136-6 (.958) when they have four or more players reach double digits in the scoring column, including wins in 106 of their last 108 such outings.
  • In the past seven seasons, Notre Dame’s only losses when it has fielded at least four double-figure scorers both came against Connecticut – 83-65 in the 2013 NCAA Women’s Final Four national semifinal at New Orleans Arena (now known as the Smoothie King Center), and 91-81 earlier this season on Dec. 5 in the Jimmy V Classic at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut.
  • For the season, Notre Dame currently has four players registering double-figure scoring averages (and two others at better than 7.9 ppg.), all of whom are ranked among the top 30 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (as of Tuesday) – sophomore forward Brianna Turner (12th ââ’¬” now 14.1 ppg.), graduate student guard Madison Cable (19th – 13.5 ppg.), freshman guard Arike Ogunbowale (24th – 12.2 ppg.; fifth among ACC rookies) and freshman guard Marina Mabrey (29th ââ’¬” 11.0 ppg.; sixth among ACC rookies).

Three For The Money

  • Notre Dame has heated up from the three-point line in a big way, canning 180 treys this season (6.00 per game).
  • At their current pace, the Fighting Irish would top the single-season program record for three-pointers per game (5.74 in 1998-99). In fact, only once in the past 13 seasons has Notre Dame averaged five treys per game (2013-14, when it made exactly five per contest and a school-record 190 total).
  • Notre Dame’s 180 three-pointers this year are third on the school’s single-season list, with the top three marks all coming in the past three years (190 in 2013-14; 186 in 2014-15). It’s also the sixth time in seven years (all but 2010-11) the Fighting Irish have knocked down at least 160 treys in one season.
  • The Fighting Irish tied a school record with 13 three-pointers on Dec. 5 at top-ranked Connecticut. The 13 triples (which Notre Dame last registered on Jan. 2, 2002, at Miami) also matched two UConn opponent records for three-pointers in a single game (overall and Gampel Pavilion).
  • That performance was the first of five times this year the Fighting Irish have made at least 10 three-pointers in a game, with four of those coming against ranked opponents (Dec. 9 vs. #18/17 DePaul; Dec. 30 vs. Georgia Tech; Jan. 21 vs. #RV/24 Syracuse and Feb. 22 at #12/9 Florida State).
  • Notre Dame’s .650 three-point percentage (13-of-20) at UConn was the highest against the Huskies since March 26, 2007, when LSU made 7-of-10 three-pointers (.700) against UConn in the NCAA Fresno Regional final (Elite Eight) in Fresno, California.
  • The Fighting Irish rank fourth in country in three-point percentage (as of Tuesday), now connecting at a .403 clip from beyond the arc, while graduate student guard Madison Cable (.462) currently leads the ACC and ranks as the nation’s No. 4 individual three-point shooter.
  • This marks the first time since 2000-01 that Notre Dame has had two players make at least 55 three-pointers in the same season (Cable-61; Michaela Mabrey-58). In 2000-01, Alicia Ratay (81) and current Fighting Irish associate coach/recruiting coordinator Niele Ivey (57) both topped that total from beyond the arc, a year after they were the only pair in program history to each make 60 treys in one season (Ratay-73, Ivey-61 in 1999-2000).

The Second Platoon

  • Another reason for Notre Dame’s success this season has been the performance of its reserves, who are averaging more than 30 points per game and have outscored the opponent’s bench by more than a 2-to-1 margin (30.5 ppg. to 14.7 ppg.).
  • The Notre Dame reserves have combined to score at least 30 points in 15 games this year, including eight 40-point outings.
  • The Fighting Irish second unit has outscored the opponent’s bench in 28 games this season, including a season-high 64 points on Nov. 23 at Valparaiso, outscoring the entire Crusader roster by 10 points (not to mention the Notre Dame starters by 18).
  • The Fighting Irish reserves also outscored the full Virginia Tech roster on Jan. 24, edging the Hokies, 42-41 (and outscoring the Notre Dame starters by four).
  • In addition to the Valparaiso and Virginia Tech games, the Fighting Irish bench came close to outscoring the entire opposing team on two other occasions – Nov. 18 vs. Toledo (UT 39, ND reserves 32) and Nov. 27 vs. Denver at the Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas (DU 52, ND reserves 48).
  • A pair of ACC All-Freshman Team guards – Arike Ogunbowale (12.2 ppg.) and Marina Mabrey (11.0 ppg.) head up the Fighting Irish bench contingent, which has seen at least one reserve score in double figures in 26 games this year (total of 42 double-figure outings).

Game #30 Recap: Duke (ACC Championship Quarterfinal)
Second-ranked Notre Dame started its third Atlantic Coast Conference tournament with a dominating show of balance and depth.

Freshmen Marina Mabrey and Arike Ogunbowale each scored 14 points in the Fighting Irish’s 83-54 win against Duke in Friday’s quarterfinals. Five players reached double figures while giving plenty of rest to the starters.

“I think everybody knows everybody’s strengths, everybody knows what their role is, and they play it very well,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. “They don’t try to do too much, they do exactly what they’re supposed to do. So when they get the ball, everybody knows what’s going to happen next, and I think that’s important.”

The top-seeded Fighting Irish (29-1) shook off a slow start to build a double-digit lead by midway through the second quarter en route to an easy win. Notre Dame led by 15 at halftime and by 31 from there, continuing its three-year dominance of the league since joining the ACC in 2013-14.

Azurá Stevens scored 19 points to lead the eighth-seeded Blue Devils (20-12), who shot just 32 percent. They were without No. 2 scorer Rebecca Greenwell, who missed her second tournament straight game with a back injury. That left Stevens as one of two double-figure scorers for Duke compared to the Fighting Irish’s overwhelming balance, which had nine players score by halftime.

“It’s a tough one,” Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “I’m very proud of this team, but we know we could have played better. It’s not the feeling that we want to have.”

Notre Dame blew the game open with a 16-2 run, fittingly with five different players scoring, to take a 35-15 lead with 3:41 left before halftime. Then after Duke closed within 13 early in the third quarter, Notre Dame ran off a 12-0 burst to make it 51-26 with 5:38 left.

Notre Dame shot 47 percent and scored 19 points off turnovers while committing just seven turnovers to begin its stay in Greensboro.

Beyond The Box Score – Duke

  • The Fighting Irish did not commit a turnover in the first half and had only seven turnovers for the game. It was Notre Dame’s second-lowest turnover count of the year, behind only its five giveaways at Duke on Feb. 1.
  • Notre Dame is off to a 29-1 start for the third time in program history, all within the past four seasons (also 2012-13 and 2013-14).
  • The Fighting Irish have won 33 consecutive games against ACC opponents (29 regular season, four postseason) and are 55-1 against league teams (47-1 regular season, 8-0 postseason) since joining the ACC in 2013-14.
  • Friday’s margin was the second-largest for Notre Dame in three appearances (eight games) at the ACC Tournament behind an 83-48 win over No. 14/17 N.C. State in the 2014 semifinals.
  • The Fighting Irish shot a season-best 92.3 percent (12-of-13) from the foul line, their best mark since they went a perfect 13-of-13 on March 27, 2015, against Stanford in the NCAA Oklahoma City Regional semifinals (Sweet 16).
  • Notre Dame is 13-1 all-time against Duke and has won the past 11 games in the series.
  • The Fighting Irish are 33-2 (.943) all-time against teams from the state of North Carolina, including an active 22-game winning streak.
  • Notre Dame is 20-1 (.952) all-time when playing in the state of North Carolina (11-1 road, 9-0 neutral).

— ND —

Chris Masters, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2001 and coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame women’s basketball and women’s golf programs. A native of San Francisco, California, Masters is a 1996 graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, earned his master’s degree from Kansas State University in 1998, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).