March 5, 2016

by Chris Masters

Notre Dame Game Notes

2015-16 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 32

Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament – Final
#2/3 [#1 seed] Notre Dame Fighting Irish (30-1 / 16-0 ACC) vs. #17/17 [#3 seed] Syracuse Orange (25-6 / 13-3 ACC)

DATE: March 6, 2016
TIME: 12:30 p.m. ET
AT: Greensboro, N.C. – Greensboro Coliseum (23,500)
SERIES: ND leads 29-2
STREAK: ND – won 16
1ST MTG: ND 81-64 (1/16/88)
SERIES: ND 90-62 (1/21/16)
TV: ESPN/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 is playing in its conference tournament championship game for the sixth consecutive season and the 15th time in program history.
• The Fighting Irish will face their 11th ranked opponent of the season, having posted a 9-1 record against Top 25 teams to date.

No. 2/3 Fighting Irish Tangle With #17 Syracuse In ACC Final
After successfully navigating a stern test in its ACC Tournament semifinal, No. 2/3 Notre Dame finds itself back in familiar territory, as the Fighting Irish will play for the ACC postseason crown for the third consecutive year at 12:30 p.m. (ET) Sunday when they take on No. 17 (and third-seeded) Syracuse at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. The game will be televised live on ESPN and WatchESPN, while radio coverage will be available on South Bend’s Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) and worldwide free of charge through the official Notre Dame athletics multimedia platform, WatchND (watchnd.tv).

The Fighting Irish (30-1) punched their ticket for the ACC title game with a 78-67 victory over No. 21 (and fifth-seeded) Miami on Saturday afternoon. Following a tightly-contested first half, Notre Dame used an 8-1 run late in the third quarter to take control and lead by double digits for the balance of the final period.

Sophomore forward Brianna Turner led another balanced Fighting Irish offensive display with 17 points and nine rebounds, while graduate student guard Madison Cable and junior guard/captain Lindsay Allen each added 14 points (with Allen chipping in eight assists and six rebounds for good measure), and sophomore forward Kathryn Westbeld tallied 10 points.

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.
• Syracuse is ranked No. 17 in this week’s Associated Press poll and is No. 17 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 30-1 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 sixth consecutive 30-win season and the eighth in program history (all within the past 20 seasons).
• The Fighting Irish are 9-1 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 8.0 ppg.), as well as the reliable production off the bench from freshman guards Arike Ogunbowale (11.9 ppg.) and Marina Mabrey (10.8 ppg.).
• The Fighting Irish feature a very balanced attack with four players currently posting double-figure scoring averages (and two others at 8.0 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 30.0 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 Saturday), including five top-10 rankings – field-goal percentage (3rd ââ’¬” now .494), three-point field-goal percentage (4th – .406), scoring margin (5th – +19.4 ppg.), assists (9th ââ’¬” 17.8 apg.) and scoring offense (10th – 79.6 ppg.). The Fighting Irish also rank 20th in assist/turnover ratio (1.21), while standing third in the non-statistical measure of win-loss percentage (.968).
• 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 96 of their last 100 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 56-1 against conference foes (47-1 regular season, 9-0 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 138-7 (.952) 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 48-6 (.889) record against ranked teams (25-6 against top-10 opponents).
• With 729 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 817 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 Sunday).

The Notre Dame-Syracuse Series
Notre Dame and Syracuse will meet for the 32nd time in their series history on Sunday afternoon, with the Fighting Irish holding a 29-2 edge all-time against the Orange, including an active 16-game series winning streak. Notre Dame won this year’s regular-season matchup between the clubs, 90-62 on Jan. 21 at Purcell Pavilion.

The Fighting Irish will face Syracuse in the postseason for the third time, with each side winning once during BIG EAST Championship play. Notre Dame defeated the Orange, 70-55 in its first-ever BIG EAST postseason game (March 3, 1996, in the tournament quarterfinals at Storrs, Connecticut), before Syracuse earned an 84-79 win exactly six years later on March 3, 2002, in the BIG EAST Championship quarterfinals at Piscataway, New Jersey.

The Last Time Notre Dame and Syracuse Met
Michaela Mabrey tied her career high with 20 points, hitting six 3-pointers, to lead No. 3 Notre Dame to a 90-62 rout of Syracuse on Jan. 21 at Purcell Pavilion.

Brianna Turner added 19 points, Arike Ogunbowale 14 and Madison Cable 13 as the Fighting Irish had a balanced offense for the second straight game.

Brianna Butler and Alexis Peterson scored 12 points each for Syracuse.

Notre Dame blocked a season-high 10 shots, six of those by Turner, and Syracuse was held to a season-low 28 percent shooting (23-of-82). The Fighting Irish made 55 percent of their shots (33-of-60), connected on 23-of-34 field goal attempts in the first half while Syracuse went 11-of-40.

Notre Dame led by as many as 33 points in both halves. The Fighting Irish hit their first five shots to take a 13-5 lead and never looked back.

A 20-2 run capped by Marina Mabrey’s basket helped Notre Dame’s lead swell to 39-11. Notre Dame went up 52-19 in the second quarter following a jumper by Ogunbowale.

Syracuse continued to press in the third quarter and shaved the Notre Dame lead down to 62-44. A steal and layup by Butler allowed the Orange to get the differential into the teens for the first time since the beginning of the second quarter.

Syracuse forced seven turnovers and outscored Notre Dame 19-15 in the third quarter. However, the Fighting Irish got back on pace in the fourth quarter and never allowed the Orange closer than 20.

Other Notre Dame-Syracuse Series Tidbits

• Notre Dame’s 29 wins against Syracuse are the second-most against one opponent in school history (32 vs. Marquette).
• Syracuse is one of four programs against which the Fighting Irish have at least 25 series victories, along with Marquette (32), Georgetown (26) and Valparaiso (26).
• The Fighting Irish have scored at least 70 points in 26 of the 31 series games with Syracuse (including 12 of the past 13), while the Orange have topped that mark five times in the series.
• The 74-73 Fighting Irish win in 2010 at the Carrier Dome was the closest victory for Notre Dame in the 31-game series and the second single-digit margin among its 29 series wins (71-66 on Dec. 8, 1990, at Purcell Pavilion).
• During its current series-best 16-game winning streak against Syracuse, Notre Dame has won eight times by 13 points or fewer, including five of the past nine meetings.
• In eight of its last 13 games vs. Syracuse, Notre Dame has had at least one player set (at the time) a new career scoring high – Breona Gray (17 on Jan. 5, 2005), Charel Allen (17 on Jan. 19, 2005), Lindsay Schrader (24 on Jan. 31, 2006), Melissa Lechlitner (18 on Jan. 20, 2007), Becca Bruszewski (20 on Feb. 24, 2009), Skylar Diggins (21 on Jan. 30, 2010), Kayla McBride (25 on Feb. 26, 2012) and Michaela Mabrey (20 on Jan. 21, 2016). Each player, except for Mabrey, eclipsed those point totals later in their careers.
• Three of New Jersey’s top young players (and close friends) will match up Sunday as Notre Dame senior guard/captain Michaela Mabrey (Belmar/Manasquan HS) and her younger sister/freshman guard Marina Mabrey, meet Syracuse redshirt junior guard Brittany Sykes (Newark/University HS). The elder Mabrey and Sykes were teammates (along with Syracuse senior guard, Brianna Butler) on the East Team at the 2012 McDonald’s High School All-America Game (played at the United Center in Chicago), earning a 79-78 victory over the West Team.

New York State of Mind

• Notre Dame is 58-5 (.921) all-time against New York-based teams, including wins in 16 of its last 17 games overall (only loss a 76-71 setback at St. John’s on Feb. 16, 2010).
• St. John’s and Syracuse account for all five New York wins over Notre Dame (three for the Red Storm, two for the Orange – four road, one neutral site).

Ranking File

• Notre Dame is 9-1 against ranked opponents (3-1 against top-10 teams) this season.
• In the past five seasons (2011-12 to present), the Fighting Irish are 63-9 (.875) against ranked opponents, with more than two-thirds of those Top 25 wins (43 of 63) 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 44-19 (.698) 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 15 times (including this year), 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 29 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), with 2016 pending.
• Dating back to the start of its BIG EAST tenure in 1995-96, the Fighting Irish are 26-7 (.788) 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 33 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, exactly half (24) of Notre Dame’s 48 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 71 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 60-11 (.845) on the back half of these two-game (or more) blitzes during the past eight years.
• Sunday’s ACC Championship title game marks the sixth time this season Notre Dame has played twice in less than 48 hours, with the Fighting Irish going 5-0 in such games thus far, including Saturday’s 78-67 win over Miami in the ACC semifinals.

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 60.7 percent of their made baskets (552 of 910).
• 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 20 games this year, going 19-1 in those contests.
• Since the start of the 2009-10 season, the Fighting Irish are 137-6 (.958) when they have four or more players reach double digits in the scoring column, including wins in 107 of their last 109 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 8.0 ppg.), all of whom are ranked among the top 30 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (as of Tuesday) – sophomore forward Brianna Turner (12th ââ’¬” 14.2 ppg.), graduate student guard Madison Cable (19th – 13.5 ppg.), freshman guard Arike Ogunbowale (24th ââ’¬” 11.9 ppg.; fifth among ACC rookies) and freshman guard Marina Mabrey (30th ââ’¬” 10.8 ppg.; seventh among ACC rookies).

Three For The Money

• Notre Dame has heated up from the three-point line in a big way, canning 185 treys this season (5.97 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 185 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 Saturday), now connecting at a .406 clip from beyond the arc, while graduate student guard Madison Cable (.463) 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-63; Michaela Mabrey-59). 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 30 points per game and have outscored the opponent’s bench by more than a 2-to-1 margin (30.0 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 (and tied in another), 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 (11.9 ppg.) and Marina Mabrey (10.8 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 #31 Recap: Miami (ACC Championship Semifinal)
Second-ranked Notre Dame got the kind of test coach Muffet McGraw wanted in March.

Brianna Turner scored 17 points and the Fighting Irish took over late in the third quarter to beat No. 21 Miami 78-67 in Saturday’s semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, returning to the title game in pursuit of a third straight championship since joining the league.

Lindsay Allen added 14 points for the top-seeded Fighting Irish (30-1), who trailed 47-44 with about 6 1/2 minutes left in the third before pushing back in front. The Fighting Irish showed off their offensive balance by putting four players in double figures while playing with the composed confidence that they knew their run would come.

In those decisive moments, Notre Dame made six straight shots as the fifth-seeded Hurricanes – playing for a third straight day – began to fade.

“We need to be challenged like that,” McGraw said. “I think it forces us to really be at our best, to see who’s going to step up, who’s going to get a big defensive stop, who can we count on to get a big rebound. I think it’s an opportunity for everybody to shine a little bit more.”

Notre Dame improved to 56-1 against ACC opponents since joining the league in the 2013-14 season and 8-0 in the tournament entering Sunday’s final.

“We really don’t care who scores the most points, who gets the most rebounds,” Allen said. “Anyone can step up for this team at any point, and our system is such that anyone can pass it, anyone can make the basket.”

Jessica Thomas scored 17 points for Miami (24-8), which was in its second semifinal and trying to reach its first title game.

Miami got off to a strong start and frustrated the Fighting Irish for the first 25 minutes. But after Erykah Davenport’s three-point play put the Hurricanes ahead, they managed one basket over a nine-minute stretch just as the Fighting Irish started putting together their own flurry.

Mychal Johnson answered Davenport with a tying 3-pointer, and then Allen hit three straight shots to put the Irish ahead for good. Madison Cable ended the run by scoring a layup off a steal to push the lead to 63-53 with 8:52 left.

Notre Dame shot 14 of 24 (58 percent) after halftime.

“Anytime that we took the lead or they were on the ropes or whatever, they hit a big shot,” Miami coach Katie Meier said. “And it was a different kid each time. That’s why they’re great.”

Beyond The Box Score – Miami

• Notre Dame has posted its sixth consecutive 30-win season and the eighth in program history.
• Notre Dame is off to a 30-1 start for the third time in program history, all within the past four years (also 2012-13 and 2013-14).
• The Fighting Irish have won 23 consecutive games overall, tying for the third-longest winning streak in program history (also in 2000-01) – the only longer runs came in 2012-13 (30 games) and 2013-14 (37 games).
• The Fighting Irish have advanced to the conference tournament championship game in all three seasons of their ACC membership, as well as 15 times in the past 28 seasons, covering four leagues (North Star, Midwestern Collegiate/Horizon League, BIG EAST and ACC).
• Notre Dame is 56-1 all-time against ACC opponents (47-1 regular season, 9-0 postseason) and has won its last 34 games against ACC teams (29 in regular season, five in postseason).
• Notre Dame is 44-19 (.698) all-time in conference tournament games, including an 8-0 record in the ACC Tournament.
• Since joining the BIG EAST in 1995-96, the Fighting Irish are 26-7 (.788) as the higher seed in conference tournament games.
• Since 2008-09, Notre Dame is 60-11 (.845) when playing on one day’s rest or less, including a 5-0 record this year.
• The Fighting Irish had four double-digit scorers for the 20th time this season, improving to 19-1 in those games and 137-6 (.958) in such games since the start of the 2009-10 season (with wins in 107 of their last 109 outings).
• Notre Dame is 18-4 all-time against Miami, including a 3-0 record in postseason play (2-0 in the ACC Tournament).
• The Fighting Irish have scored at least 70 points against Miami 15 times in series history, all within the past 20 series matchups. Conversely, the Hurricanes have scored 70 points against Notre Dame only five times in the 22-game series history, including twice in the past 13 meetings.
• Notre Dame is 37-6 (.860) all-time against Florida schools, including a 23-3 (.885) record away from home (road/neutral sites combined).
• The Fighting Irish have won 17 of their last 18 games against teams from the Sunshine State.

— 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).