Senior forward/tri-captain Natalie Achonwa has used her competitive fire and mature attitude to help lead Notre Dame to new heights during her career.

#2 Irish Continue Road Swing At Florida State Thursday

Feb. 5, 2014

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2013-14 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 22

#2/2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (21-0 / 8-0 ACC) vs. Florida State Seminoles (15-6 / 3-5 ACC)

DATE: Feb. 6, 2014
TIME: 7:00 p.m. ET
AT: Tallahassee, Fla. – Tucker Center (12,100)
SERIES: First meeting
TV: ESPN3/WatchESPN (live)
RADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) / WatchND (live) (Bob Nagle, p-b-p)
LIVE STATS:
TWITTER: @ndwbbsid
TICKETS: (850) 644-1830

Storylines

  • Notre Dame meets the last of five first-time opponents on its 2013-14 schedule, as well as as its second first-time foe in ACC play.
  • The Fighting Irish are 29-5 (.853) all-time against Florida schools, including a 14-2 (.875) record on the road.

No. 2 Fighting Irish Continue Road Swing At Florida State Thursday
For the sixth time in the past eight games, No. 2 Notre Dame has its bags packed and heads out on the road, as the Fighting Irish travel to Tallahassee, Fla., on Thursday for a 7 p.m. (ET) matchup with ACC foe Florida State. The first-ever meeting between the Fighting Irish and Seminoles will be streamed live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN mobile app, with the Notre Dame Radio Network broadcast available free of charge through the official Fighting Irish athletics multimedia platform, WatchND.

Notre Dame (21-0, 8-0) reached the midpoint of its inaugural ACC season on Sunday, posting an 88-67 victory at No. 3 Duke. The Fighting Irish led all the way, shooting .618 from the field while holding the Blue Devils to a season-low .391 field goal percentage.

Senior guard/tri-captain Kayla McBride led Notre Dame with 23 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, while sophomore guard Jewell Loyd also packed the stat sheet with 17 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Rankings

  • Notre Dame is No. 2 in this week’s Associated Press poll and is No. 2 in this week’s WBCA/USA Today poll.
  • Florida State is receiving votes in this week’s Associated Press poll and is receiving votes in this week’s WBCA/USA Today poll.

Quick Hitters

  • At 21-0, the Fighting Irish are off to the second-best start to a season in program history, as well as the program’s best start since 2000-01, when they started 23-0.
  • Notre Dame stands at No. 2 in the AP and WBCA/USA Today polls, the third consecutive season that the Fighting Irish have earned the second position in both surveys.
  • Notre Dame leads the nation in field goal percentage (.518) and three-point percentage (.440), among seven NCAA statistical categories that the Fighting Irish rank in the top eight (not including won-loss percentage, for which they are one of two remaining teams in the nation without a loss).
  • Notre Dame has won a school-record 44 consecutive regular season games and 22 consecutive home games, dating back to Dec. 5, 2012 (a 73-61 loss to No. 3 Baylor).
  • The Fighting Irish have won a school-record 31 consecutive regular season road games (and 38 of their last 43 overall) since a 94-81 loss at top-ranked Baylor on Nov. 20, 2011, in the Preseason WNIT championship game.
  • Now in its inaugural season in the ACC, Notre Dame has won 28 consecutive regular season conference games, as well as 20 consecutive regular season league road games. The Fighting Irish last lost a regular season conference game on Feb. 12, 2012 (65-63 at home vs. West Virginia), and dropped a regular season league contest on the road on Feb. 28, 2011 (70-69 at No. 12/11 DePaul), both in BIG EAST play.
  • Since the start of the 2011-12 season, Notre Dame is 33-5 (.868) against ranked opponents (13-2 on the road).
  • With a 106-72 victory over Central Michigan on Dec. 22, the Fighting Irish became the 27th NCAA Division I women’s basketball program to record 800 all-time wins.
  • Notre Dame has appeared in the AP poll for 130 consecutive weeks (including the past 60 weeks in the AP Top 10), extending a program record that dates back to the 2007-08 preseason poll, and ranking sixth in the nation among active AP poll appearances. What’s more, every current Fighting Irish player has competed for a ranked Notre Dame squad during her career, with the vast majority of that time (80 of 91 weeks) spent in the AP Top 10.
  • Senior forwards Natalie Achonwa and Ariel Braker, and senior guard Kayla McBride have helped Notre Dame to a 122-14 (.897) record in their careers, putting them on pace to challenge last year’s senior class of Skylar Diggins and Kaila Turner, who helped Notre Dame to 130 wins in their careers.
  • Of the 14 losses suffered by the current Fighting Irish senior class, eight were decided by single digits (and three others by 10-13 points).
  • Notre Dame aims to continue its remarkable success at Purcell Pavilion, with the Fighting Irish owning a 395-90 (.814) all-time record in 37 seasons at the facility, including a 72-5 (.935) record since the arena was renovated prior to the 2009-10 season.
  • Notre Dame ranks third in this week’s NCAA attendance rankings (8,545 fans per game), and is the only school in the country to fill its arena to better than 90 percent capacity, something the Fighting Irish have done each season since 2009-10.
  • With 647 victories in her 27 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 (774-80 from 1962-95).
  • With 735 career wins, McGraw needs four victories to move into the top 10 on the NCAA Division I career list. She currently stands 12th behind two former ACC coaches — Virginia’s Debbie Ryan (739) and the late North Carolina State coach Kay Yow (737).

The Notre Dame-Florida State Series
Thursday will mark the first-ever meeting between Notre Dame and Florida State in the sport of women’s basketball.

Other Notre Dame-Florida State Series Tidbits

  • Florida State will be the 202nd different opponent in the 37-year history of Notre Dame women’s basketball.
  • Florida State is the last of five new opponents on this year’s Notre Dame schedule, following prior inaugural matchups with UNC Wilmington, Oregon State, South Dakota State and another ACC foe, Clemson.
  • The Fighting Irish have won their last 16 games against first-time opponents, most recently defeating Clemson, 71-51 on Jan. 5 at Purcell Pavilion.
  • During their current 16-game winning streak against new opposition, the Fighting Irish have won by an average score of 92-48.
  • Notre Dame is 60-7 (.896) against first-time opponents since 1995-96, including a 40-3 (.930) mark vs. new teams this century (since the start of the 2000-01 season).
  • The Fighting Irish will be playing a new opponent on the road for the second time this season, having previously earned a 70-58 win at Oregon State on Dec. 29.
  • Notre Dame has had eight Florida natives suit up in the program’s 37-year history, with its most recent Sunshine State product being 2010 graduate Alena Christiansen (Fort Lauderdale/Cardinal Gibbons HS).
  • Notre Dame freshman guard Lindsay Allen and freshman forward Taya Reimer were teammates with Florida State freshman center Kai James on the East Team at the 2013 McDonald’s High School All-America Game, played at Chicago’s United Center (the West defeated the East, 92-64).
  • Allen, Reimer and James also were teammates on the 2012 USA Basketball Under-17 National Team that went a perfect 8-0 and won the gold medal at the FIBA U17 World Championships in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Also on that United States roster was future Notre Dame forward Brianna Turner, who signed a National Letter of Intent to attend the University last fall and will suit up for the Fighting Irish beginning next season.
  • Notre Dame senior guard/tri-captain Kayla McBride and Florida State senior forward Natasha Howard were teammates on the East Team at the 2010 McDonald’s High School All-America Game, played at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio (the West defeated the East, 84-75).
  • Florida State director of athletics Stan Wilcox is a 1981 Notre Dame graduate and was a four-year monogram recipient on the Fighting Irish men’s basketball team, playing for legendary coach Digger Phelps and helping Notre Dame to its first NCAA Final Four appearance in 1978. Wilcox later returned to his alma mater as deputy athletics director from 2005-08.
  • Two of the more memorable moments in Notre Dame athletics history occurred against Florida State. On Nov. 13, 1993, the No. 2 Fighting Irish football team defeated the No. 1 Seminoles, 31-24 at Notre Dame Stadium in what was termed a “Game of the Century.” Then on June 10, 2002, the 11th-ranked Notre Dame baseball team defeated No. 1 FSU, 3-1 in the decisive third game of the NCAA Tallahassee Super Regional, earning the Fighting Irish their first College World Series berth in 45 years.

Sunshine State Success
Notre Dame is 29-5 (.853) all-time against Florida schools, including a 14-2 (.875) record on the road against Sunshine State teams. The Fighting Irish also have won their last 10 games against Florida schools, including a 79-52 victory over Miami on Jan. 23 at Purcell Pavilion.

Notre Dame has won its last four road games against teams from the state of Florida, with USF the most recent Sunshine State school to defeat the Fighting Irish (an 87-78 overtime win in Tampa in 2007).

One Tough Stretch
Notre Dame is in the midst of one of the most challenging schedule stretches in the program’s 37-year history, playing eight of its final 13 games against teams that are ranked or receiving votes, all during the closing six weeks of the regular season (five of those eight coming on the road).

With its 88-67 win at third-ranked Duke on Feb. 2, Notre Dame earned its third road win over a top-10 opponent this season, something the Fighting Irish had never done in a single regular season campaign during the program’s 37-year history (Notre Dame has numerous postseason road wins over top-10 foes).

What made the Duke win even more remarkable is that it was the third consecutive road game against a top-10 opponent for the Fighting Irish, following ESPN2 Big Monday visits to No. 11/10 Tennessee (86-70 win) and No. 8/6 Maryland (87-83 win) on Jan. 20 and 27, respectively.

Before its current run, Notre Dame had never even played top-10 teams in three consecutive road games during the same regular season, let alone defeated all three and done so in such a short period of time (13 days).

In fact, prior to last year, the Fighting Irish had not defeated two top-10 teams on the road in the same regular season before they earned victories at No. 1 Connecticut (73-72) and No. 9 Tennessee (77-67) — and those wins came more than three weeks apart.

McBride Sweeps Player Of Week Honors
For the second time in her career, senior guard/tri-captain Kayla McBride swept the major national and conference player of the week awards, having been selected as the espnW, USBWA/Ann Meyers Drysdale and NCAA.com National Player of the Week and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Player of the Week, it was announced earlier this week.

McBride was chosen as the ACC Player of the Week via a vote of the conference’s Blue Ribbon Panel. She becomes the first Notre Dame women’s basketball player to earn the award in the program’s inaugural ACC season.

The All-America wing, who also recently was named to the 16-player watch list for the Dawn Staley Award (given to the nation’s top guard), previously earned all four national and conference honors (the latter from the BIG EAST) back on Jan. 7, 2013.

This past week, McBride averaged 20.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game with a .600 field goal percentage as Notre Dame picked up three ACC wins, including two road victories over top-10 opponents.

McBride began her weekly performance with an efficient 20-point outing (on 7-of-11 shooting) on Jan. 27 at No. 8/6 Maryland, punctuated her night when she sank the clinching basket with 11 seconds left, as the Fighting Irish raced to a 22-point lead, then held off a furious Terrapins’ rally for the 87-83 win.

She then had a game-high 18 points in 21 minutes as Notre Dame led from the opening tip to the final horn in a 74-48 win over Virginia Tech on Jan. 30 at Purcell Pavilion.

McBride capped the week in impressive fashion on Feb. 2 at third-ranked Duke with her first double-double of the season (fourth of her career), collecting game highs of 23 points, 11 rebounds (also a season high) and five assists while hitting her first five shots from the field (and finishing 9-of-15 for the day) as the Fighting Irish posted a wire-to-wire 88-67 victory over the Blue Devils in the program’s first visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1997 (and first as a member of the ACC).

Getting The Jump
At 21-0, Notre Dame is off to the second-best start in the program’s 37-year history. The only time the Fighting Irish opened with a better record than this season was in 2000-01, when they reeled off a school-record 23 consecutive wins en route to a 34-2 final record and the program’s first national championship.

Streak Stats
Notre Dame’s current 21-game winning streak is tied for the third-longest success string in program history, and it’s the third consecutive season the Fighting Irish have posted a winning streak of 21 games or longer.

Notre Dame also has strung together 14 double-digit winning streaks in the program’s 37-year history, with 12 of those coming during the tenure of Hall of Fame head coach Muffet McGraw (1987-88 to present).

Dating back to the start of last season, the Fighting Irish are 56-2 (.966) and have won 44 consecutive regular season games. In that span, their lone losses have come against a pair of third-ranked teams — Baylor (73-61 on Dec. 5, 2012, at Purcell Pavilion) and Connecticut (83-65 on April 7, 2013, in the NCAA Women’s Final Four national semifinals at New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, La.).

Road Warriors
Notre Dame has won a school-record 31 consecutive regular season road games (and 38 of its last 43 overall), including the Feb. 2 victory at No. 3 Duke. The Fighting Irish last tasted defeat on the road in the regular season on Nov. 20, 2011, a 94-81 setback at No. 1 Baylor in the Preseason WNIT championship game.

The highlight of this current run came on Jan. 5, 2013, when Notre Dame edged No. 1 Connecticut, 73-72, in Storrs, Conn., earning its fourth all-time win over a top-ranked opponent and first-ever victory on the road.

The Fighting Irish also have won a school-record 20 consecutive conference regular season road games, with their last loss coming as part of the BIG EAST Conference on Feb. 28, 2011 (a last-second 70-69 loss at No. 12/11 DePaul).

The Comforts Of Home
Notre Dame has won 22 consecutive home games since a 73-61 loss to third-ranked Baylor on Dec. 5, 2012, at Purcell Pavilion. As of Monday, the Fighting Irish and Dayton are tied for the nation’s third-longest active home winning streak, with this run also the third-longest in school history (longest since a 25-game stretch from Feb. 1, 2003-Nov. 22, 2004).

What’s more, Notre Dame has won its last 14 conference home games since that loss to WVU in 2012, when both the Fighting Irish and Mountaineers were members of the BIG EAST Conference.

Peaking When It Counts
When the regular season enters its stretch run in the month of February, Notre Dame historically seems to raise its level of play. Since 1995-96, the Fighting Irish are 107-28 (.793) in February games, including a 59-6 (.908) mark at home.

In the 27-year Muffet McGraw era (1987-88 to present), the Fighting Irish are 155-43 (.783) in the month of February, including an 81-12 (.871) home record. In that time, Notre Dame has never posted a losing record in February, and only once did the Fighting Irish end the month at .500 (4-4 in 1988-89, McGraw’s second year in South Bend).

A Helping Hand
The Fighting Irish enter this week’s action ranked a close second in assists at 21.8 per game (Connecticut is at 22.1).

Notre Dame also has dished out at least 20 helpers in 14 games thus far (including a season-high 31 dimes against UCLA on Dec. 7), with the Fighting Irish piling up assists on 65.1 percent of their made field goals this year (458 of 703).

Notre Dame also ranks fifth in the nation (and tops in the ACC) in assist/turnover ratio (1.44), led by two players who rank among the top 11 in the ACC in that category — freshman guard Lindsay Allen (4th – 1.95) and senior guard/tri-captain Kayla McBride (11th – 1.60).

That’s Some Sharp Shooting
Notre Dame currently is setting the pace nationally with a .518 field goal percentage, highlighted by 13 games this season in which the Fighting Irish have shot better than 50 percent, including six games where they topped 60 percent from the field.

In addition, Notre Dame had a remarkable three-game stretch from Dec. 7-22 when it connected at better than a 55-percent clip in each contest. It was the first time the Fighting Irish had three consecutive 55-percent outings since Nov. 20-29, 1997, when they did so in victories over North Carolina State (.565), Bowling Green (.558) and Ohio University (.567).

Notre Dame’s sharpshooting brigade has been led by senior forward/tri-captain Natalie Achonwa, who is third in the ACC (12th in the nation) with a .583 field goal percentage, along with a .597 mark in conference play (second in the ACC).

Freshman forward Kristina Nelson (.571), freshman guard Lindsay Allen (.571), junior forward Markisha Wright (.567) and junior guard Madison Cable (.549) aren’t far behind Achonwa’s pace, but none has made the minimum number of shots (three per game) to qualify for ACC ranking.

Dialing Long Distance
Although not usually a primary part of the Notre Dame arsenal, the Fighting Irish have found the three-point shot much to their liking this season. Notre Dame leads the nation with a .440 three-point percentage, with four different players connecting at 40 percent or better from beyond the arc.

Senior guard Kayla McBride leads the way for the Fighting Irish with a .468 three-point percentage that ranks third in the ACC, while sophomore guard Michaela Mabrey also stands among the top five in the conference, ranking fifth at a .427 three-point rate.

In addition, Mabrey is 10th in the ACC with 2.0 three-pointers per game, a mark she bolstered on Jan. 9 against Boston College with a career-high five triples (on six attempts). It was one of six times this season Mabrey has canned at least three treys in a game, and the second time a Notre Dame player has made five three-pointers in a contest (junior guard Madison Cable posted an identical 5-for-6 effort against UCLA on Dec. 7).

In fact, Cable (.486) would be second in the ACC in three-point percentage, but she is three made triples shy of the minimum 1.0 3FG/game to qualify for ranking. Freshman guard Lindsay Allen (.500) also doesn’t meet the minimum standard despite her efficiency from distance.

As a team, the Fighting Irish have twice connected on 10 three-pointers in a game this season (victories over UCLA and Tennessee), their highest production outside the arc in nearly four years, dating back to a similar 10-triple performance on Jan. 30, 2010, at Syracuse.

What’s more, Notre Dame’s .750 three-point mark (9-of-12) on Jan. 16 at Pittsburgh was its best performance from long range (with a minimum of five attempts) in more than five years, stretching back to Nov. 23, 2008, against Boston College at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass., when the Fighting Irish made 7-of-8 three-pointers (.875) in a 102-54 win.

Spreading The Wealth
Notre Dame has had at least four players score in double figures in 16 games this year, going 16-0 in those contests. Since the start of the 2009-10 season, the Fighting Irish are 91-5 (.948) when they have four or more players reach double digits in the scoring column, including wins in 61 of their last 62 such outings (the lone loss coming in last year’s NCAA Women’s Final Four national semifinal against Connecticut).

Nearly In A Class By Themselves
For the third consecutive season, a Notre Dame senior class is threatening to re-set the bar in terms of career wins by one group. The current class of tri-captains Natalie Achonwa, Ariel Braker and Kayla McBride is second all-time with 122 wins (122-14, .897), behind only the seniors from 2012-13.

Last year, led by its two-player senior class of Skylar Diggins and Kaila Turner, Notre Dame posted the best four-year record (130-20, .867) in school history, topping the win total (117) compiled by the previous year’s seniors (Brittany Mallory, Fraderica Miller, Natalie Novosel and Devereaux Peters).

Prior to the 2011-12 season, the highest four-year win total by a senior class was 109, set by the Class of 2001 that included (among others) consensus national player of the year and 13-year WNBA veteran Ruth Riley and current Fighting Irish assistant coach Niele Ivey.

Notre Dame’s 1,000-Point Scorers
Senior tri-captains Kayla McBride and Natalie Achonwa will spend their final season at Notre Dame steadily climbing the program’s all-time scoring list, after both entered the Fighting Irish 1,000-Point Club last year.

McBride currently is tied for 10th in program history with 1,566 career points, drawing even with Charel Allen (2004-08) following her 23 points at No. 3 Duke on Feb. 2. McBride also is one of just 11 players ever to score 1,500 points under the Golden Dome.

Meanwhile, Achonwa stands 20th in Notre Dame history with exactly 1,300 points, moving the next rung up the ladder past Megan Duffy (1,290 from 2002-06) with 15 points in last weekend’s victory at Duke.

Coming Up Aces
Senior forward/tri-captain Natalie Achonwa (nicknamed “Ace”) also is making her way up Notre Dame’s career charts in both rebounds and double-doubles. She currently ranks sixth on the rebounding list (860) and is tied for seventh on the double-doubles chart (25), moving up one spot on the rebounding rundown with her nine boards at No. 3 Duke on Feb. 2.

Achonwa continues to remain among the top 10 in school history with a .549 career field goal percentage (eighth in program annals) and 130 games played (tied for ninth all-time at Notre Dame; tied for third among active NCAA players).

Crown Jewell
Sophomore guard Jewell Loyd has continued her development as one of the top young talents in the country this season, building on last year’s selection as the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) National Freshman of the Year.

The Lincolnwood, Ill., product currently ranks 11th in the ACC in scoring (17.5 ppg.) and steals (1.8 spg.), while sporting career-high marks in scoring, rebounding (6.2 rpg.), assists (2.7 apg.), steals and field goal percentage (.515). She also has six 20-point games thus far (including a career-high 31 points at No. 8/6 Maryland on Jan. 27) after scoring 20 points twice during her rookie campaign.

What’s more, Loyd has two 30-point games to her credit this season, having also dropped in an even 30 against Central Michigan on Dec. 22 at Purcell Pavilion. Loyd is one of just two ACC players this season (along with Wake Forest’s Chelsea Douglas) to post multiple 30-point games, and she is the first Fighting Irish player to have two 30-point games in the same season since 1999-2000, when Ruth Riley did so against Liberty (32) and Miami (36).

Perhaps giving a preview of things to come, Loyd stormed out of the gates this season, piling up 63 points in Notre Dame’s first three games, wins over UNC Wilmington (19 points), No. 19/18 Michigan State (22 points) and Valparaiso (22 points).

Loyd’s opening-week point production was the highest for a Fighting Irish player in the first three contests of a season since 1998-99, when Danielle Green had 66 combined points in wins against No. 6 UCLA at home (23 points), at Butler (23) and No. 6/4 Duke at home (20).

The Model Of Consistency
Sophomore guard Jewell Loyd has scored in double figures in 26 consecutive games, dating back to March 11, 2013, when she had eight points in Notre Dame’s 83-59 BIG EAST Championship semifinal win over No. 16/15 Louisville at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.

Loyd’s 26-game double-digit scoring streak is the third-longest in school history, and is the second of that length by a Fighting Irish player in the past three seasons (Natalie Novosel had a 27-game run from March 8, 2011-Jan. 21, 2012).

Katryna Gaither has staked an ironclad claim to the school record with a remarkable 76-game double-figure scoring streak from 1994-97.

Youthful Leader
Freshman Lindsay Allen got the call from head coach Muffet McGraw to start at point guard in Notre Dame’s season opener against UNC Wilmington on Nov. 9 at Purcell Pavilion. Allen finished with 11 points in her debut game, including the team’s first five points of the season.

It was the first time a Fighting Irish rookie point guard started the season opener since Nov. 26, 1994, when Mollie Peirick cracked the lineup and played 38 minutes (two points, five rebounds, three assists) in a 65-60 overtime loss at No. 25 Seton Hall.

Allen has not disappointed in her debut campaign, averaging 7.9 points and 3.7 assists per game (the latter tying for 10th in the ACC). She also is fourth in the ACC with a team-best 1.95 assist/turnover ratio, and is second on the team with 1.24 steals per game.

Leading a winning lineup is not an unfamiliar feeling for Allen, who is a combined 48-1 in her last 49 games as a starting point guard. Last year as a senior at St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C., she guided her squad to a 27-1 record and the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) title — the highest level of play in the District of Columbia, which does not have a state tournament.

The Second Platoon
Another reason for Notre Dame’s success this season has been the performance of its reserves, who are averaging nearly 28 points per game and have outscored the opponent’s bench by close to a 2-to-1 margin (27.8 ppg. to 15.9 ppg.).

The Fighting Irish second unit has outscored its opposite number in 15 games this season, including a season-high 55 points on Jan. 9 against Boston College, outscoring the entire BC roster by two points (not to mention the Notre Dame starters by 15).

Sophomore guard Michaela Mabrey (9.4 ppg.), freshman forward Taya Reimer (8.4 ppg.) and junior guard Madison Cable (5.8 ppg.) head up the strong Fighting Irish bench contingent, which has seen at least one reserve score in double figures in 16 games this season (total of 19 double-figure outings).

Call Her Mabrey
While the regular season is just a bit more than half over, certainly a leading candidate as one of the nation’s most improved players would have to be Notre Dame sophomore guard Michaela Mabrey. The Belmar, N.J., resident has emerged as a key reserve for the Fighting Irish, averaging 9.4 points and 2.9 assists per game along with a very solid 1.97 assist/turnover ratio, after logging 3.0 ppg. and 1.3 apg. with a 1.06 A/TO mark last year.

Mabrey also has proven to be a dynamic three-point threat for Notre Dame, ranking fifth in the ACC with a .427 three-point percentage and placing 10th in the conference with 2.0 three-pointers made per game (thanks in part to making at least three triples in six games this year, including a career-high 5-of-6 vs. Boston College on Jan. 9).

What’s more, Mabrey already has scored in double figures 11 times this year (including a career-high 19 points in the season opener against UNC Wilmington) after doing so three times in 30 games last season.

Next Game: Syracuse
The Fighting Irish return home to take on Syracuse at 3 p.m. (ET) Sunday at Purcell Pavilion. The game, designated as Notre Dame’s annual Pink Zone (aka Play4Kay) game to raise money for cancer research, will be televised live on the ACC-Regional Sports Networks (RSN) package (check local listings or theacc.com for the current list of affiliates).

— Chris Masters, Associate Athletic Media Relations Director