#2 Irish Welcome #9 Tennessee To Town For ESPN2's Big Monday

Jan. 22, 2012

Full Notes Package in PDF Format

2011-12 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 21

#2/2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (19-1 / 7-0 BIG EAST) vs. #9/9 Tennessee Lady Volunteers (14-4 / 5-1 SEC)

DATE: January 23, 2012
TIME: 7:00 p.m. ET
AT: Notre Dame, Ind. – Purcell Pavilion (9,149)
SERIES: UT leads 20-1
1ST MTG: UT 71-56 (11/25/83)
LAST MTG: ND 73-59 (3/28/11)
TV: ESPN2 (live) (Dave O’Brien, p-b-p / Doris Burke, color / Rebecca Lobo, sideline)
RADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) / UND.com (live) (Bob Nagle, p-b-p)
LIVE STATS:

Storylines

• Notre Dame will be playing its seventh ranked opponent of the season, having posted a 5-1 record to date (3-1 against top-10 teams).
• The Fighting Irish are making the first of three appearances on ESPN’s noted “Big Monday” package, with future Big Monday matchups scheduled at Louisville (Feb. 20) and Connecticut (Feb. 27).

No. 2 Fighting Irish Welcome No. 9 Tennessee To Town For ESPN2’s Big Monday
After getting off to its best start in BIG EAST play in 11 seasons, No. 2 Notre Dame steps out of conference for the final time during the 2011-12 regular season when it plays host to No. 9 Tennessee at 7 p.m. (ET) Monday at a sold-out Purcell Pavilion. The game will be televised live to a national cable audience on ESPN2 as part of its “Big Monday” package.

The Fighting Irish (19-1, 7-0) earned their 16th consecutive victory on Saturday afternoon with a comprehensive 76-43 win over Villanova at Purcell Pavilion. For the third game in a row, Notre Dame led wire-to-wire on the way to remaining unbeaten at home this season.

Junior guard Skylar Diggins led four Fighting Irish players in double figures with a game-high 20 points, while fifth-year senior forward Devereaux Peters chalked up 19 points and six rebounds, scoring 17 of her 19 points in the first half when she singlehandedly outscored Villanova, 17-16.

Rankings

• Notre Dame was No. 2 in last week’s Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls.
• Tennessee was No. 9 in last week’s Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls.

Quick Hitters

• Notre Dame appears in the top 15 of 10 different NCAA statistical categories (as of Friday). The Fighting Irish lead the nation in scoring offense (currently 85.2 ppg.), steals (14.6 spg.) and field goal percentage (.490), and rank second in scoring margin (+35.2 ppg.) and turnover margin (+9.35), while placing third in assists (19.7 apg.), seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.24), ninth in scoring defense (50.0 ppg.), 11th in rebounding margin (+10.3 rpg.) and 13th in field goal percentage defense (.341).
• Notre Dame’s current 16-game winning streak is the third-longest in school history and is its longest since a school-record 23-game run to open the 2000-01 season.
• Notre Dame is off to a 19-1 start (or better) for the third time in school history (and the second in the past three seasons).
• The Fighting Irish have opened BIG EAST play with a 7-0 record for the first time in 11 seasons (2000-01), and the fourth time since joining the conference in 1995-96.
• Notre Dame has five wins in six games against Top 25 opponents this season (three away from home), including three victories in four outings against teams in the top 10.
• This was the first time in school history the Fighting Irish defeated three opponents ranked 12th or higher in the Associated Press poll before Christmas.
• This marks the third time in school history Notre Dame has posted four top-12 wins (AP poll) in one season, having also occurred in 2000-01 (7) and 2004-05 (4).
• Of the 19 Fighting Irish wins, 16 have come by 20+ points, and 10 by at least 30 points. In 17 victories this year, Notre Dame has held its opponent to 61 points or fewer, with 13 when the opponent had 50 points or fewer (a school-record six of 40 or fewer).
• The Fighting Irish have scored at least 100 points twice this year, while going over 90 points eight times (including a school-record four in a row from Dec. 18-30) and topping the 80-point mark 12 times.
• Notre Dame was ranked No. 2 in last week’s Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls, marking the 11th consecutive week the Fighting Irish have appeared in the top five of both major national polls. It’s also the second time in three seasons that Notre Dame has spent at least 11 weeks in a row as a consensus top-five team (the Fighting Irish were in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Top 5 for 11 consecutive weeks from Dec. 7, 2009-Feb. 22, 2010).
• With last week’s No. 2 ranking in the AP poll, Notre Dame has appeared in the media rankings for 88 consecutive weeks, extending a program record that dates back to the 2007-08 preseason poll. In fact, every current Fighting Irish player has competed for a ranked Notre Dame squad throughout her career, with more than half that time (50 weeks) spent in the AP Top 10.
• With 575 victories in 25 seasons at Notre Dame, head coach Muffet McGraw is third 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) and men’s tennis/wrestling coach Tom Fallon (579-268-4 from 1957-87).
• McGraw also is just the ninth Fighting Irish coach in the 125-year history of Notre Dame athletics to lead her team for 25 seasons, and the first to solely coach a women’s sport (Joe Piane is in his 37th year as men’s/women’s track & field coach, while Michael DeCicco guided both Fighting Irish fencing teams during his 34-year career). Four of the nine members of this Silver Anniversary coaching club currently are active at Notre Dame — Piane (37 years), Tim Welsh (28th year with men’s swimming & diving), McGraw and Bob Bayliss (25th year with men’s tennis).

Other Notre Dame Notables

• Notre Dame is among the nation’s winningest programs during the past 16 seasons (1996-97 to present), ranking fifth with 393 victories.
• Notre Dame has ranked among the top 20 in the nation in attendance each of the past 11 seasons. The Fighting Irish currently are averaging 8,713 fans per home game after the program finished fifth in the NCAA attendance rankings with a school-record 8,553 fans a night. The Fighting Irish also have drawn 5,000-or-more fans to 169 of their last 171 home games, logging 21 Purcell Pavilion sellouts, including 15 in the past three seasons alone, and four this year (most recently on Jan. 21 vs. Villanova).
• The Fighting Irish have become a regular fixture in the WNBA Draft in recent years, as seven Notre Dame players have been selected in the past 11 seasons. Charel Allen was the most recent Fighting Irish player to be chosen, going to the Sacramento Monarchs in the third round (43rd overall pick) of the 2008 WNBA Draft. Ruth Riley (San Antonio) was active in the league during the ’11 season, helping the Silver Stars return to the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. Three of Notre Dame’s eight WNBA alums have won a total of four league championships — Riley won a pair of crowns with the Detroit Shock (2003 Finals MVP, 2006), Coquese Washington toiled for the 2000 Houston Comets, while Jacqueline Batteast was Riley’s teammate on the 2006 title-winning squad in Detroit.
• For the fifth year in a row, the Fighting Irish posted a perfect 100-percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR), according to figures released by the NCAA in October. What’s more, since Muffet McGraw became head coach in 1987, every Notre Dame women’s basketball player who has completed her athletic and academic eligibility at the University has earned her bachelor’s degree (a 64-for-64 success rate). The Fighting Irish also are one of only four schools in the past four years to record a 100-percent GSR and play for a national championship in the same season.

A Quick Look At Tennessee
Led by a veteran cast of eight letterwinners, including four starters, Tennessee’s goal remains the same as it has been throughout Hall of Fame head coach Pat Summitt’s career — the national championship, which the Lady Vols have won eight times to date.

UT (14-4) endured some injuries and other obstacles earlier this season, but the Lady Vols are coming off a gritty 65-56 victory over LSU on Thursday night in Knoxville. Sophomore guard Meighan Simmons had a game-high 19 points and freshman forward Cierra Burdick added 15 points off the bench to offset the loss of senior forward Shekinna Stricklen, who missed the first game of her career with a knee injury.

Stricklen leads Tennessee in scoring (15.5 ppg.) and made three-pointers (29), while ranking second in assists (1.9 apg.), steals (1.7 spg.). Graduate student forward Glory Johnson is second in scoring (14.3 ppg.) and field goal percentage (.580), while leading the team in rebounding (9.6 rpg.), blocked shots (1.1 bpg.) and steals (1.8 spg.).

Summitt is in the 38th season of her legendary career with a record of 1,085-203 (.842), including a 20-1 mark against Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame-Tennessee Series
Notre Dame and Tennessee will be playing for the 22nd time on Monday night, with the Lady Vols holding a 20-1 edge in the all-time series, including an 8-0 record at Purcell Pavilion (where the teams will play for the first time in 2008 and just the third time in 18 years).

The Fighting Irish broke through for their first win over UT last season, ending the program’s longest losing streak against one opponent.

The Last Time Notre Dame And Tennessee Met
Moments before they climbed the blue stepladder to cut down the net, Skylar Diggins and her Notre Dame teammates joined arms, formed a circle and did a jig at the free-throw line.

There’s a little history in that step.

The Fighting Irish began kicking up their heels during the 1999-2000 season, turning it into a pregame ritual. They danced all the way to the national title the following year, good reason to turn the ritual into a tradition.

Ten years later, they’re high-stepping it back to the Final Four.

Diggins scored a (then) season-high 24 points with her clutch left-handed shot, steadying the Fighting Irish through the tough moments of their 73-59 victory over Tennessee for the regional championship on March 28, 2011, at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio.

The second-seeded Fighting Irish were 0-20 all time against top-seeded Tennessee, taking 28 years of beatings. They seemed to be pretty even teams with contrasting styles heading into game No. 21 in their one-sided series — the Lady Vols with muscle upfront and young guards, while the Fighting Irish do it with hustle on defense and a fast-paced attack.

Notre Dame had the best guard on the floor, one who likes to play disc jockey in her spare time. Diggins sure was a hit in the regional.

The Fighting Irish point guard had a career-high 12 assists in a semifinal win over Oklahoma, distributing the ball to open shooters. With the Lady Vols clamping down, Diggins asserted herself and kept Notre Dame ahead most of the way — Tennessee led for only 2 minutes, 43 seconds in the first half.

“In a way, I’m just living my dream,” said Diggins, a South Bend native who became only the second Notre Dame player to reach 1,000 points in her second season.

The Fighting Irish weren’t sure whether they’d have senior forward Becca Bruszewski, the team’s emotional leader who sprained her left knee during the semifinal win over Oklahoma. She played 37 minutes wearing a brace, scored 13 points and had a team-high eight rebounds, then danced the jig on her bum knee.

“This is an unreal feeling,” Bruszewski said.

The Lady Vols had won their past 25 games, the second-longest streak in school history. They hadn’t lost since falling at Baylor on Dec. 14, but were off their game in Dayton. Coach Pat Summitt had to yell at them at halftime of a close win over Ohio State.

She fumed on the sideline against Notre Dame with arms crossed as her young players tightened up and her team unraveled.

“Obviously I’m very upset, I’m very disappointed in our basketball team,” Summitt said. “I don’t think we came here with the focus. Don’t ask me why. I’m kind of at a loss for words.

“We’ve got a ways to go, obviously. We were exposed (today).”

Freshman guard Meighan Simmons went 1 for 11 from the field and finished with two points. Tennessee shot 33 percent from the field and had 19 turnovers.

“There were times we got so overanxious,” Summitt said. “Being at this point and trying to get to a Final Four was probably too much for the younger players.”

Not for Diggins, who didn’t hesitate to shoot whenever Tennessee tried to make a comeback.

“No question Skylar Diggins was the player that made them go, and we don’t have a guard that plays that way,” Summitt said. “And guard play is very important at this time of year. She was terrific, without any doubt the best guard on the floor. She energizes that team. She was the real force. She does what she has to do.”

So has Notre Dame during its run to the third Final Four in school history.

“I think there were some questions early,” McGraw said. “When you lose four starters, you’re going to have to figure out who’s going to step up for you. I think the growth of this team is one of the best of any I’ve coached.”

The Last Time Notre Dame And Tennessee Met At Purcell Pavilion
Senior guard Charel Allen scored a team-high 17 points, and freshman forward Devereaux Peters added 10 points and a season-high eight rebounds, but 14th-ranked Notre Dame saw its 10-game winning streak snapped with an 87-63 loss to No. 3 Tennessee on Jan. 5, 2008, at a sold-out Purcell Pavilion.

Angie Bjorklund matched a career-high with seven three-pointers for 21 points and Candace Parker added 20 points to lead UT.

The Lady Vols took control from the start, forcing the Fighting Irish out of their normally pressing defense by making their first four three-pointers, three of them by Bjorklund. Tennessee used a 22-2 run midway through the first half to open a 30-10 lead and were in control throughout. Nicky Anosike added 13 points and nine rebounds for the Lady Vols and Alexis Hornbuckle had 10 points.

Bjorklund had two three-pointers during the run and Shannon Bobbitt capped the run with a 3 to give Tennessee a 30-10 lead with 9:22 left in the first half. The Fighting Irish battled back with a 10-2 run, including three buckets from Peters, and trailed just 32-20 after Ashley Barlow’s baseline floater with 4:54 left in the half. However, Notre Dame shot just 27 percent in the period and UT closed the half on a 9-2 run of its own to take a 41-22 lead at intermission.

The Lady Vols were 33-of-66 shooting from the field. Behind 7-of-9 shooting by Bjorklund, Tennessee was 11-of-20 from three-point range, matching a season-high for three-pointers.

Notre Dame, which depends on its defense to ignite its offense, forced a season-low 14 turnovers.

Other Notre Dame-Tennessee Series Tidbits

• With Notre Dame’s win over Tennessee last season, Penn State is now the only opponent the Fighting Irish have never defeated with a minimum of five games played (0-5). However, the Lady Vols remain one of only six teams to have earned at least 10 victories over Notre Dame (the others are Connecticut – 28, DePaul – 19, Rutgers – 16, Purdue – 14 and Villanova – 10).
• Notre Dame and Tennessee are part of an elite group of 14 schools who have won NCAA national championships since the NCAA began sponsoring the Division I women’s basketball tournament in 1982. The eight-time champion Lady Vols will be the fifth former NCAA champion the Fighting Irish have faced this season (following 2005 titleist Baylor, 1983 & 1984 winner USC, 1999 champion Purdue and seven-time champion Connecticut), with Notre Dame going 33-85 (.280) all-time against other former or current national champions, including a 3-1 mark this year. Among that group, the Fighting Irish have a series record of .500 or better against USC (8-2), North Carolina (2-1) and Texas (1-1).
• Nearly half the roster for the 2011 USA World University Games Team that won gold this past summer will be represented during Monday’s game. Notre Dame junior guard Skylar Diggins, senior guard Natalie Novosel and fifth-year senior forward Devereaux Peters donned the Stars & Stripes along with Tennessee graduate student forward Glory Johnson and senior forward Shekinna Stricklen for the six-game tournament in Shenzhen, China. Led by this quintet and head coach Bill Fennelly (currently the skipper at Iowa State and an assistant at Notre Dame during Muffet McGraw’s first season at the helm in 1987-88), the Americans won the gold with a perfect 6-0 record, setting USA World University Games Team records for scoring margin (+45.0 ppg.) and rebounding average (56.5 rpg.), while their scoring average (97.8 ppg.) and scoring defense average (52.8 ppg.) both were the second-best by Team USA in its 38-year history at the World University Games.
• Diggins and Stricklen were teammates on the 2008 United States U18 Team that earned a gold medal at the FIBA U18 Americas Championship in Argentina. Team USA was led to that gold medal by head coach (and current Notre Dame associate coach) Carol Owens. Along the way, the USA side defeated Team Canada, which won a silver medal behind the play of budding standout post player (and current Fighting Irish sophomore forward) Natalie Achonwa.
• Diggins and Tennessee’s Taber Spani helped lead the United States to the gold medal at the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championships for Women in Thailand. Owens also served as the head coach for that squad.
• Tennessee head strength and conditioning coach Heather Mason spent five years on the staff at Notre Dame from 1998-2003.
• Notre Dame is 7-21 (.250) against schools from the state of Tennessee, with a 3-7 (.300) record at Purcell Pavilion.

Notre Dame vs. the Southeastern Conference
Notre Dame is 12-31 (.279) all-time against the Southeastern Conference, although it should be noted that 20 of those losses have come to one opponent (Tennessee). The Fighting Irish also are 9-8 in their last 17 meetings with SEC opponents, including wins in six of their last seven games against that conference.

Earlier this season, Notre Dame defeated No. 8/7 Kentucky, 92-83 at Purcell Pavilion, avenging an 81-76 loss to the Wildcats last year in Lexington, Ky.

The Fighting Irish are 4-11 (.267) all-time against SEC teams at Purcell Pavilion.

48 Hours
Since the start of the 2008-09 season, Notre Dame has played 28 times when it has had a short one-day break (or less) between games, including two games in three days on the opening weekend of this season (Nov. 11 & 13 in first two rounds of the Preseason WNIT vs. Akron and Indiana State) and games on consecutive days at the Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas (Nov. 25-26 vs. USC and No. 7/6 Duke).

When faced with such a tight turnaround, the Fighting Irish have risen to the occasion in recent seasons, going 21-7 (.750) on the back half of these two-game (or more) blitzes, including a 5-0 record this year (wins over Indiana State, No. 7/6 Duke, Creighton, UCF and Mercer).

Start Me Up
For the second time in three years, and the third time in school history, Notre Dame has opened with a 19-1 record or better.

In their 2000-01 national championship season, the Fighting Irish opened with a school-record 23-game winning streak, while in 2009-10, Notre Dame won its first 15 games, lost at Connecticut in its 16th outing, then won its next eight in a row.

Passing The Quarter Pole
Notre Dame is off to a 7-0 start in BIG EAST Conference play for the first time in 11 seasons and the fourth time since the program joined the BIG EAST in 1995-96.

The last time the Fighting Irish opened the conference season with five consecutive wins was 2000-01 when they began the BIG EAST slate with a 12-0 record on the way to earning a share of their first regular season conference title with a 15-1 record.

The school record for the best start to a BIG EAST season is 15-0, set back in 1999-2000.

Streak Stats
Notre Dame’s current 16-game winning streak is the third-longest success string in program history (at any time), and it’s the longest since the Fighting Irish opened their 2000-01 national championship season on a school-record 23-game winning streak.

Fighting Irish Scoring Early TKOs
Part of Notre Dame’s success this season can be traced to its penchant for jumping out to huge early leads and then keep its foot on the gas the rest of the way.

In 12 games this year, the Fighting Irish have charged to a 20-point lead inside the opening 13 minutes of the game, going on to win all 12 of those contests by an average of 50.9 points per game.

Overall, Notre Dame is outscoring its opponents in the first half this season by nearly a 2-to-1 margin (889-463), with an average halftime score of 44-23.

Born To Run
As of last Friday’s NCAA statistics report, Notre Dame leads the nation in scoring offense, currently averaging 85.2 points per game this season. That’s just one of five NCAA offensive categories in which the Fighting Irish rank among the top 10, along with field goal percentage (first at .490), scoring margin (second at +35.2 ppg.), assists (third at 19.7 apg.) and assist/turnover ratio (seventh at 1.24).

Notre Dame also has topped the 100-point mark twice (first time since 1998-99, second time in school history), and has scored at least 90 points in a game eight times this year, tying the school record set last season.

What’s more, Notre Dame has done an excellent job of putting teams away, recording 16 20-point wins, and 10 victories by at least 30 points (tied for second-most in school history behind the 12 30-point wins last year, as well as 10 such victories in 2000-01 and 2007-08).

Century City
Twice this season, Notre Dame has gone “over the top”, scoring 100 points in a game during victories at Mercer (128-42 on Dec. 30) and at home against BIG EAST Conference rival Pittsburgh (120-44 on Jan. 17).

Prior to this season, the Fighting Irish had never scored more than 113 points in a game (113-35 win over Liberty on Nov. 24, 1989, at the UCF Rotary Classic in Orlando, Fla.), and had scored in triple digits just 13 times in the program’s first 34 seasons.

What’s more, this marks just the second time Notre Dame has ever posted multiple 100-point games in the same season — in 1998-99, the Fighting Irish defeated No. 25/23 Illinois, 101-93, on Nov. 24 at Purcell Pavilion, before defeating West Virginia, 111-90, on Jan. 7, also at home.

As one might expect, Notre Dame’s two offensive explosions rank as the top two single-game point totals in the nation in 2011-12. Oklahoma is third with a 117-point night against visiting Sacramento State on Nov. 13.

Lock It Up
Notre Dame ranks among the top 15 in the nation in five NCAA defensive statistical categories (as of last Friday) — steals (first at 14.6 spg.), turnover margin (second at +9.35), scoring defense (ninth at 50.0 ppg.), rebound margin (11th at +10.3 rpg.) and field goal percentage defense (13th at .341).

The Fighting Irish have held 17 of their 20 opponents to 61 points or fewer, with 13 failing to score more than 50 points against Notre Dame — the school record for most games allowing 50 points or fewer is 14, set by last year’s Fighting Irish squad.

Notre Dame’s defensive effort has extended to smaller increments as well. In their last 29 halves of basketball (dating back to the second half against No. 7/6 Duke on Nov. 26), the Fighting Irish have held their opponents to 25 points or fewer 20 times, including 13 halves when the opposition didn’t crack 20 points.

‘Tis The Season For Taking
Fueled by its aggressive defense, Notre Dame has been in the taking mood this year, forcing its opponents into at least 20 turnovers in 15 games thus far, with Fighting Irish foes averaging 25.3 giveaways per game, and Notre Dame chalking up a +9.35 turnover margin that was second-best in the nation (as of last Friday).

The Fighting Irish wasted little time in setting the tone for their opponents this season, forcing a combined 112 turnovers in their first three games, an average of 37.3 per night, and converting those into 142 points (47.3 ppg.). That run was highlighted by an opponent season-high 46 turnovers against Akron on Nov. 11 at Purcell Pavilion, the third-most takeaways in school history, and second-most in the program’s Division I era (49 vs. New Hampshire on Nov. 12, 2010).

The Fighting Irish have been especially hard on opponents in their 11 home games this season, forcing 29.3 turnovers per game and collecting at least 19 in each Purcell Pavilion contest thus far.

The Five-Finger Discount
Notre Dame comes into Monday’s game leading the nation in steals with 14.6 thefts per game (as of last Friday’s NCAA statistics report). The Fighting Irish also have recorded double-digit steals in 15 games this season, including three contests with 20-plus steals.

Highlighting this year’s takeaway brigade for Notre Dame was a season-high 29-steal performance in the opening night victory against Akron on Nov. 11 at Purcell Pavilion. The Fighting Irish followed that up two days later with 25 thefts in a win over Indiana State, and nabbed 26 steals in a Dec. 28 win over Longwood.

Prior to last season, Notre Dame had posted 23 steals in a game just seven times in the first 33 years (and 991 games) of the Fighting Irish women’s basketball program, and only three games with 25-plus steals in that time, none since a then-record tying 29 steals at Saint Louis on Jan. 31, 1991. What’s more, Notre Dame had not earned a conference steals title since 1989-90, when it led the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League) with 10.9 spg.

Yet, in the past two years (59 games), the Fighting Irish have had eight 23-steal games, with five outings of at least 25 thefts, and they claimed last year’s BIG EAST steals crown with 11.8 steals per game during regular-season league play.

Individually, Notre Dame has eight different players with double-digit steals this season (including four with at least 35 thefts), led by junior guard Skylar Diggins, who is fourth in the conference at 2.6 steals per game, and fifth-year senior guard Brittany Mallory who is seventh in the BIG EAST at 2.4 spg.

Helping Hands
Continuing a trend from last season, Notre Dame has shared the basketball very well during the first 20 games of the year.

As of last Friday’s NCAA statistics report, the Fighting Irish are third in the nation (and second in the BIG EAST) at 19.7 assists per game, including a season-high 33 assists against Pittsburgh on Jan. 17 (one of 11 games with 20-or-more assists this year).

Individually, junior guard Skylar Diggins is 12th in the nation in assists (BIG EAST-best 5.9 apg.) and ninth in the country with a 2.54 assist/turnover ratio (also tops in the conference).

What’s more, Notre Dame has assisted on 64.6 percent of its field goals this season (394 of 610), compared to last year when the Fighting Irish registered assists on 60.9 percent of their baskets (669 of 1,099), with 16 games of at least 20 assists.

Experience Matters
Notre Dame has benefited from an experienced lineup this season, using the same starting five (guards Skylar Diggins, Brittany Mallory, Kayla McBride and Natalie Novosel, and forward Devereaux Peters) for all but two games this year (Dec. 30 at Mercer, when senior guard and Atlanta-area native Fraderica Miller earned the nod in her homecoming game; Jan. 7 vs. No. 2 Connecticut).

The foundation of this stable lineup has been the quartet of Diggins, Mallory, Novosel and Peters, who also started 34 of 39 games last year (Mallory missed two games with an ankle injury and came off the bench for two more, while Diggins relinquished her starting spot for Senior Day last year to allow walk-on forward Mary Forr to make the start). In the four games Mallory was not in the lineup last year, McBride earned the first starts of her college career.

Collectively, the current Notre Dame lineup has started 295 games in their careers (Diggins-88, Novosel-63, Peters-62, Mallory-60, McBride-22).

Spread The Wealth
Notre Dame has featured a balanced offense thus far, with at least three players scoring in double figures in 17 games, and at least four double-digit scorers in 11 games, including a season-high (and school record-tying eight with at least 10 points against Pittsburgh on Jan. 17).

During the past three seasons (2009-10 to present), Notre Dame is 45-4 (.918) when it has at least four players score in double figures, with two of those losses coming in overtime (March 28, 2010 – 77-72 vs. Oklahoma in NCAA Sweet 16 at Kansas City; Nov. 18, 2010 – 86-83 in double overtime vs. UCLA at Purcell Pavilion) and a third by a single point (Feb. 28, 2011 – 70-69 at DePaul).

The Fighting Irish also have had six different players lead them in scoring this season (including five different top scorers in the past seven games). Five of the six leading scorers this year also have registered at least one 20-point game to date, while 10 different Notre Dame players (of the 11 Fighting Irish who have seen action to date) have scored in double figures at least once this year.

Improvement Continues On The Glass
After averaging 37.2 rebounds in its first six games (and holding the upper hand in that category only three times, with an aggregate minus-2 rebounding margin), Notre Dame has featured a marked improvement on the boards since its return from the Bahamas after the Thanksgiving weekend.

In their last 14 games, the Fighting Irish are averaging 43.6 rebounds a night, with an average rebounding margin of +14.8 rpg. Furthermore, Notre Dame has grabbed at least 40 rebounds 12 times in the past 14 games after not reaching that mark once in its first six contests.

According to last Friday’s NCAA statistics report, Notre Dame ranks 11th in the country in rebounding margin (now +10.3 rpg.) this year.

A Rally To Remember
Notre Dame tied a school record by digging out of an 18-point second-half hole to defeat No. 7/6 Duke, 56-54 on Nov. 26 in the Junkanoo Jam Freeport Division championship game at St. Georges High School in Freeport, Bahamas.

Nearly three years earlier on Dec. 30, 2008, the Fighting Irish trailed 46-28 at No. 20/19 Vanderbilt with 15:56 remaining and came back to win, 59-57 at Memorial Gym in Nashville, Tenn.

This year’s comeback victory over Duke marked the fourth time in program history Notre Dame has ralled from a deficit of 15 points or more to post a victory, with all four of these comebacks occurring in the past 11 seasons.

Beat The Clock
Senior guard Natalie Novosel hit a running bank shot at the foul line as the buzzer sounded to give Notre Dame a 56-54 win over No. 7/6 Duke on Nov. 26 in the Junkanoo Jam Freeport Division championship game at St. Georges High School in Freeport, Bahamas.

Novosel’s buzzer-beater was the first winning shot at the horn by a Notre Dame player since Jan. 10, 2006, when Megan Duffy scored the last of her career-high 32 points with an off-handed layup at the overtime siren to earn a 67-65 win over Marquette at Purcell Pavilion.

Notre Dame also has had several players nail winning shots in the final minute of games during recent seasons. Prior to Novosel, Ashley Barlow was the last Fighting Irish player to pull off such late-game heroics, canning a three-pointer with 34.2 seconds remaining to help Notre Dame take a 74-73 win at Syracuse on Jan. 30, 2010.

Another notable recent “beat-the-clock” moment for Notre Dame occurred on Dec. 5, 2007, when Charel Allen sank a foul-line jumper with 0.8 seconds remaining in overtime, lifting the Fighting Irish to an 86-84 win at Bowling Green.

Captain Clutch
The game-winning basket by senior guard/tri-captain Natalie Novosel against No. 7/6 Duke on Nov. 26 was the fourth time in the past two seasons the Lexington, Ky., native had a hand in a go-ahead basket in the final 30 seconds of regulation or overtime. What makes this run by Novosel even more remarkable is the fact that all four of her late-game performances came against top-15 opponents, with the past two coming away from home.

The Model Of Consistency
Senior guard/tri-captain Natalie Novosel has scored in double figures in 27 consecutive games, dating back to March 7, 2011, when she had eight points in Notre Dame’s 71-67 BIG EAST Championship semifinal win over No. 9/13 DePaul at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.

Novosel’s 27-game double-digit scoring streak is the second-longest in school history, and is the longest by a Fighting Irish player in 15 seasons.

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

The Diggins Factor
Notre Dame has posted a 79-15 (.839) record in the past three seasons, a mark that can be traced in no small part to the arrival of guard Skylar Diggins. The South Bend native has helped lead the Fighting Irish to a spot in the 2011 NCAA national championship game and a berth in the 2010 NCAA Sweet 16, as well as a 11-9 record against AP Top 25 teams (6-7 vs. the AP Top 10) and an active 60-game winning streak against unranked opponents since the start of the 2009-10 season.

Upon closer examination, Notre Dame’s 15 losses in Diggins’ career primarily have been verdicts that could have gone either way, with nine decided by single digits (five that were in doubt inside the final minute), and two that went to overtime.

With Diggins in uniform, the Fighting Irish have posted two of the top 10 most prolific offensive seasons in school history, averaging 77.0 ppg. last year after logging 77.1 ppg. in her freshman season (and Notre Dame is on pace to go well beyond those figures this year).

In addition, thanks to Diggins’ penchant for steals (she has a 2.31 spg. career mark), the Fighting Irish have recorded the top two single-season steal marks in program history with 495 thefts last year and 450 steals the season before. Last season also saw Notre Dame post the third-best defensive scoring average in school history, allowing just 56.2 ppg. (the best since the 2000-01 Fighting Irish yielded 55.8 ppg. en route to the national champoionship).

A Grand Trio
Notre Dame has had two players score their 1,000th career point this season — senior guard Natalie Novosel hit the milestone on a free throw with 14:20 remaining on Nov. 13 against Indiana State, while fifth-year senior forward Devereaux Peters reached the landmark on a layup 16:52 left on Dec. 28 vs. Longwood.

Novosel currently ranks 17th in school history with 1,297 points, while Peters became the 30th member of the Fighting Irish 1,000-Point Club and presently stands 26th with 1,092 points.

Together with junior guard Skylar Diggins (14th with 1,391 points), Notre Dame has three active players in that elite Fighting Irish club for the third time in school history. In both 2000-01 and 2009-10, Notre Dame also had three 1,000-point players on the roster, with the third reaching that total in her final career game (Kelley Siemon in 2001 NCAA national championship game vs. Purdue, Melissa Lechlitner in 2010 NCAA Sweet 16 game vs. Oklahoma).

The Fighting Irish could have a fourth player reach the scoring millennium later this season — fifth-year senior guard Brittany Mallory has 870 career points. Should Mallory hit the 1,000-point mark, it would be the first time in the 35-year history of Notre Dame women’s basketball that a quartet of active 1,000-point scorers were on the roster at the same time.

What’s more, Peters became the seventh player from Notre Dame’s 2009-10 NCAA Sweet 16 team to reach the 1,000-point plateau during her career, along with Diggins, Novosel, Lechlitner, Ashley Barlow (ninth at 1,492), Lindsay Schrader (13th at 1,429) and Becca Bruszewski (24th at 1,148) — and that doesn’t even include Mallory, who also was part of that season’s 13-player roster.

Game #20 Recap: Villanova
From the opening tip, when Devereaux Peters broke loose for a layup four seconds into the game and converted a three-point play, it was another dominant performance by No. 2 Notre Dame.

Peters singlehandedly outscored Villanova 17-16 in the first half — the Fighting Irish led 44-16 — and finished with 19 points. Skylar Diggins led the Fighting Irish with 20 and Notre Dame had only nine turnovers, while forcing 20 against the outmatched Wildcats.

Notre Dame (19-1) remained unbeaten at 7-0 in the BIG EAST Conference, and won its fourth straight game by more than 20 points. Notre Dame’s national championship team won its first 23 games in 2000-01.

Rachel Roberts scored 14 to lead Villanova (12-7, 2-4), which was without head coach Harry Perretta because of a death in the family. Associate head coach Joe Mullaney ran the team in his absence.

In the first half, Peters scored 17 points, Notre Dame had only two turnovers and Villanova went 7 of 23 from the field as the Irish built a 44-16 lead at the break. The Irish shot 52 percent in the half.

The rout was on early, with the Fighting Irish making 12 of 17 shots for a 32-11 lead. During the same 12-minute span, the overmatched Wildcats connected on just 5 of 13 shots and turned the ball over seven times, thanks to the Notre Dame press.

Peters opened 5 of 6 from the field and Diggins was 4 of 6 with three early assists.

Beyond The Box Score — Villanova

• Notre Dame extends its winning streak to 16 games, the third-longest in school history and longest since 2000-01, when the Fighting Irish opened that season on a school-record 23-game winning streak.
• That 2000-01 campaign also marked the last time Notre Dame began a BIG EAST season with a record of 7-0 or better (currently the fourth-best start in school history) — in ’00-01, the Fighting Irish opened conference play with a 12-0 record.
• The Fighting Irish forced at least 20 opponent turnovers for the 15th time this season (Villanova came into the game leading the nation with just 11.9 turnovers per game, but had nine at halftime).
• Notre Dame also recorded double-digit steals for the 15th time this season.
• Conversely, Notre Dame tied its season low with nine turnovers, a mark it set four days ago against Pittsburgh — the last time the Fighting Irish had consecutive games with 10 turnovers or fewer was Dec. 8 & 11, 2010, when they had 10 apiece in wins at Providence and at home against Creighton.
• The Fighting Irish improve to 18-10 all-time against Villanova (9-2 at home), winning their third consecutive game against the Wildcats (something neither side had done in the series since Notre Dame won a series-long six in a row from March 1, 1998-Dec. 6, 2000).
• The 33-point margin was the second-largest in the series, topped only by an 81-46 Fighting Irish win on Jan. 9, 2010, at Purcell Pavilion.
• In each of the past seven series games, Villanova came into the game ranked among the top five in the nation in fewest turnovers (never more than 13 giveaways per game), yet the Wildcats are averaging 20.7 turnovers per game against the Fighting Irish in that span.
• Sophomore forward Ariel Braker tied her career high with 10 points, matching the mark she first set on Nov. 26, 2010, against IUPUI at Purcell Pavilion — Braker is the 10th different Notre Dame player to score in double figures this year.
• Senior guard/tri-captain Natalie Novosel extended her streak of consecutive games scoring in double figures to 27 in a row, second-longest in school history.
• Junior guard Skylar Diggins posted her team-high eighth 20-point game of the season and the 25th of her career (eighth in school history).
• Diggins moved up to 14th place on Notre Dame’s all-time scoring list with 1,391 points, passing Shari Matvey (1,371 from 1979-83).
• Novosel rose to 17th place on the Fighting Irish career scoring list with 1,297 points, passing Megan Duffy (1,290 from 2002-06).
• Novosel moved into fourth place in school history with 390 career free throws made, passing Alicia Ratay (387 from 1999-2003).
• Fifth-year senior forward/tri-captain Devereaux Peters took sole possession of third place on the Fighting Irish all-time blocked shot chart with 168, breaking a tie with Jacqueline Batteast (167 from 2001-05).
• Fifth-year senior guard/tri-captain Brittany Mallory appeared in her 132nd career game, tying current Notre Dame assistant coach Niele Ivey (1996-2001) for second on the school’s career games played list.
• Head coach Muffet McGraw registered win No. 575 in her 25th season at Notre Dame.
• The Fighting Irish drew their fourth sellout of the season (all in the past six games), as well as their 15th sellout in the past three years and the 21st in school history.

Polling Station
Notre Dame was ranked No. 2 in last week’s Associated Press poll, its 11th consecutive week in the top five of the media balloting. The Fighting Irish also earned a preseason No. 2 ranking that was their highest since the final 2000-01 poll (taken before the the NCAA Championship), and also was the highest Notre Dame had ever been ranked in the AP preseason poll, topping its No. 4 debut in 2009-10.

Notre Dame received six first-place votes in the 2011-12 AP preseason poll (and four the following week), the first time it received consideration for the top spot since March 11, 2001, when the Fighting Irish earned five first-place votes (they were ranked No. 2 after falling at Connecticut, 79-76 in the BIG EAST tournament final). The previous week, Notre Dame had 33 first-place votes in its sixth week with the No. 1 ranking in the AP poll.

Last week’s No. 2 ranking marked the 88th consecutive AP poll appearance for the Fighting Irish, extending the program record that started with the AP preseason poll in 2007-08 (the old record was 59 consecutive weeks from 1998-2001). In fact, every current Notre Dame player has competed for a ranked Fighting Irish squad throughout her career, spending more than half (50) of those appearances in the AP Top 10.

This year’s No. 2 preseason ranking also represents the 12th time in the past 13 years (starting with the 1999-2000 campaign) that Notre Dame has appeared in the initial AP poll, something only nine schools in the nation have done — Connecticut, Duke and Tennessee have shown up in all 13 during that span, while Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Stanford join the Fighting Irish with 12 preseason AP poll berths.

Notre Dame has been ranked in the AP poll for 227 weeks during the program’s 35-year history, with every one of those appearances coming in the Muffet McGraw era (since 1987-88). McGraw ranks 11th among all active NCAA Division I head coaches for weeks in the AP poll, and also is tied for 20th all-time in that category (sharing that spot with former longtime Maryland head coach Chris Weller, thanks to last week’s poll position).

In addition, the Fighting Irish were No. 2 in last week’s ESPN/USA Today/WBCA coaches’ poll, holding that spot for the second consecutive week after they also held it for the first two weeks of the season. Like the AP poll, Notre Dame earned its best-ever preseason ranking (second) in the coaches’ poll, topping its No. 5 placement to begin the 2000-01 campaign. The Fighting Irish also collected five first-place votes in this year’s preseason coaches’ survey (and two a week later), their first nods for the top spot since the final ’00-01 balloting, when they received all 40 first-place votes after winning the national championship.

Notre Dame has been ranked in the coaches’ poll for 89 of the past 90 weeks, falling just outside the Top 25 in the final poll of the 2008-09 season. Nevertheless, the Fighting Irish have appeared in the coaches’ poll for a total of 220 weeks during their history (all coming during McGraw’s tenure).

This marks the fourth consecutive season Notre Dame has been ranked in the top 10 of the ESPN/USA Today/WBCA poll, as well as 10 of the past 14 campaigns (1998-99 to present).

More Polling Data
Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw is one of 31 people in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history who have both played for and coached a team that has appeared in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Besides her 227 AP poll appearances while coaching at Notre Dame, McGraw was the starting point guard at Saint Joseph’s (Pa.) as a senior in 1977, helping the Hawks to No. 3 in the nation.

Of the 31 people on this list, 16 currently are NCAA Division I head coaches (see accompanying chart), with McGraw and Baylor’s Kim Mulkey are the only active skippers to play for and coach a team in the AP poll, and coach that team to a national title (McGraw in 2001, Mulkey in 2005).

Half And Half
During the past 11 seasons, Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable when it has the lead at halftime. The Fighting Irish are 233-18 (.928) since the start of the 2000-01 campaign when they go into the dressing room with the lead, including wins in 161 of their last 173 such contests (.931).

What’s more, in the past three seasons (2009-10 to present), Notre Dame is 70-1 (.986) when leading at the half, with the only loss coming on April 5, 2011, in the NCAA national championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (Notre Dame led Texas A&M, 35-33 at intermission before falling 76-70).

The Best Offense Is A Good Defense…
During the past 17 seasons, Notre Dame has discovered that a solid defensive effort can almost certainly guarantee a victory. In fact, since the beginning of the 1995-96 season (Notre Dame’s first in the BIG EAST Conference), the Fighting Irish have an amazing 246-15 (.943) record when they hold their opponents below 60 points in a game, including 16 contests this year.

…But Sometimes You Have To Score If You Want To Win
Not resting solely on its defensive laurels, Notre Dame also seemingly has found the magic mark when it comes to outscoring its opponents. During the past 17 seasons (since 1995-96), the Fighting Irish are 164-6 (.965) when they score at least 80 points in a game. The only blemishes on that record are three overtime losses to Texas A&M (88-84) and Michigan State (87-83) in 1995 and UCLA (86-83 in double OT) in 2010, as well as a 106-81 loss to Connecticut in 1998, an 81-80 loss to DePaul in 2008, and a 94-81 setback at Baylor in 2011.

In the past three years (2009-10 to present), Notre Dame is 41-2 (.953) when topping the 80-point mark, having reached that level in 12 games this season and winning 11 times.

Now That’s A Home Court Advantage
One of the hallmarks of Notre Dame’s success has been its stellar play at home. In fact, the Fighting Irish have been virtually untouchable at home in recent years, winning 215 of their last 242 games (.888) at the 9,149-seat Purcell Pavilion, including winning streaks of 51 and 25 games in that span (and an active run of 18 in a row). Notre Dame also has a 117-19 (.860) record in BIG EAST Conference play at the former Joyce Center, sporting a program-record 31-game league winning streak at home before it ended with a 48-45 loss to Villanova in the ’02 home finale.

The Fighting Irish have been particularly strong when it comes to non-conference games at home, winning 100 of their last 108 non-BIG EAST contests (.926) at Purcell Pavilion, dating back to the 1994-95 season. Five of the eight losses in that span came at the hands of Big Ten Conference opponents (four by 12 points or less) — Wisconsin in 1996 (81-69), Purdue in 2003 (71-54), Michigan State in 2004 (82-73 OT), Indiana in 2006 (54-51) and Minnesota in 2009 (79-71) — with the other defeats coming to Tennessee in 2005 (62-51) and 2008 (87-63), and to UCLA in 2010 (86-83 in 2OT). The Purdue loss also snapped a 33-game non-conference home winning streak which began after the UW setback.

Since its inaugural season in 1977-78, Notre Dame has played all of its games at the former Joyce Center, posting a 365-88 (.806) record at the venerable facility. Three times (1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2003-04), the Fighting Irish went a perfect 15-0 at home, which was the school record for home victories in a season prior to the 2009-10 campaign, when Notre Dame went 16-1, capped by an 84-66 triumph over Vermont in the second round of the NCAA Championship.

Irish Are The Hottest Ticket In Town
The past two seasons have seen an unprecedented surge in fan support for Notre Dame women’s basketball, as the Fighting Irish set new program records for the highest year-end NCAA attendance ranking (fourth in 2009-10), highest average attendance (8,553 fans per game in 2010-11) and most sellouts in a single season (six in 2009-10). And, as the old saying goes — “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

For the third consecutive year, Notre Dame fans exhausted the program’s season ticket packages (7,500) and have snapped up single-game ducats at a rate that helped the Fighting Irish already sell out four games (Dec. 18 vs. Kentucky, Dec. 28 vs. Longwood, Jan. 7 vs. Connecticut, Jan. 21 vs. Villanova), and put several others (Jan. 23 vs. Tennessee, Feb. 5 vs. DePaul, Feb. 12 vs. West Virginia and Feb. 25 vs. USF) within striking distance of a sellout.

What’s more, through its first 11 home games this season, Notre Dame is averaging 8,713 fans per game, including four sellouts (9,149) — vs. Kentucky (Dec. 18), Longwood (Dec. 28), Connecticut (Jan. 7) and Villanova (Jan. 21). The Fighting Irish now have posted 15 sellouts in the past three seasons and 21 in program history.

While some additional tickets may be available on the day or week of the game for individual contests this season (depending on returned inventory by visiting teams and other constituencies), it’s entirely possible that Notre Dame will flirt with a sell out for every one of its home games during the 2011-12 regular season.

Fighting Irish On Your Radio Dial
Beginning with the 2008-09 athletics year, the Notre Dame athletics department announced it had partnered with the LeSEA Broadcasting Network, making Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) the new radio home of Notre Dame women’s basketball in the South Bend market.

LeSEA originates all Notre Dame women’s basketball games, with those events carried on Pulse FM (96.9/92.1), marking a return to the FM side of the dial for the first time since the 1998-99 season. Combined, these two stations blanket the nation’s No. 91 media market (South Bend-Elkhart), covering a 21-county area in northern Indiana and southwest Michigan that contains more than 1.4 million listeners (better than 800,000 in the greater South Bend area alone). All told, Notre Dame’s women’s basketball network stretches from Kalamazoo, Mich., to the north, North Judson, Ind., to the west, Macy, Ind., (home of former Fighting Irish All-America center Ruth Riley) to the south, and LaGrange, Ind., to the east.

Women’s basketball game broadcasts also continue to be streamed live and free of charge on Notre Dame’s official athletics web site (www.UND.com) through the Fighting Irish Digital Media package.

Bob Nagle, the voice of Notre Dame women’s basketball from 1996-97 through 1998-99 (including the program’s first NCAA Final Four berth in 1997), is now in the fourth season of his second stint as the radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame On The Small Screen
Notre Dame will have at least 23 regular season games televised during the 2011-12 season. Highlighting this year’s broadcast schedule are 11 nationally- or regionally-televised Fighting Irish women’s basketball contests, including the program’s fifth-ever appearance on network television, and second in as many years (Jan. 7 vs. Connecticut on CBS) and six showings on the ESPN family of networks, including three appearances on that entity’s famed “Big Monday” telecast.

In addition, Notre Dame continues to expand its broadcast reach globally on the Internet. For the sixth consecutive season, all Fighting Irish regular-season home games not selected for commercial TV coverage (as well as the Nov. 2 exhibition vs. Windsor) will be webcast live on the official Notre Dame athletics web site, www.UND.com, via the site’s free Fighting Irish Video Channel.

This year’s TV slate continues a trend that has seen the Fighting Irish become a regular fixture on television. Beginning with the NCAA championship season of 2000-01 and continuing through the Jan. 21 game against Pittsburgh (webcast live on UND.com), Notre Dame has played in 215 televised games, including 160 that were broadcast nationally.

Oh Captain, My Captain
Fifth-year senior guard Brittany Mallory, senior guard Natalie Novosel and fifth-year senior forward Devereaux Peters are serving as Notre Dame’s team captains for the 2011-12 season. Mallory is in her second season as team captain, while Novosel and Peters received the captain’s honor for the first time in their respective careers following a preseason vote by their teammates.

Irish Fans Crave Another Big Mac Attack
It’s year five of Notre Dame’s wildly-successful “Big Mac” promotion, offering fans a coupon for a free Big Mac from South Bend-area McDonald’s restaurants if the Fighting Irish score at least 88 points in a home game.

In the five-year history of the promotion (and counting exhibition games), Notre Dame has hit the 88-point mark 33 times, most recently in the Jan. 17 win over Pittsburgh.

It should come as no surprise that in the short history of the promotion, the Notre Dame player with the most “Big Mac” baskets shares the same initials with the tasty burger — fifth-year senior guard Brittany Mallory, who has sent the crowd home happy (and presumably with full bellies) five times, including four during the promotion’s inaugural run in 2007-08.

And for those tracking such things (or perhaps falling under the heading of “the media relations director has way too much time on his hands”), 19 different players have converted the “burger ball”, including eight current members of the Fighting Irish roster.

What’s more, of the 33 Big Mac games to date, 15 have been reached on two-point baskets, 13 on free throws, and five on three-pointers.

Next Game: St. John’s
The Fighting Irish open a two-game BIG EAST Conference road swing with a noon (ET) Saturday contest against St. John’s with Queens, N.Y. The game will be televised live to a regional audience as part of the BIG EAST’s syndicated Game of the Week package.

After battling through a myriad of early-season injuries, the Red Storm (13-7, 5-2) are now at full strength and have won eight of their last 10, most recently earning a 51-34 victory at Cincinnati, 51-34 last Saturday.

St. John’s is off this week heading into its matchup with the Fighting Irish next weekend.

— ND —