Nov. 6, 2015
by Chris Masters
2015-16 ND Women’s Basketball: Exhibition 1
#3/3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (36-3 / 15-1 ACC in 2014-15) vs. Wayne State Warriors (23-6 / 18-4 GLIAC in 2014-15)
DATE: Nov. 7, 2015
TIME: Noon ET
AT: Notre Dame, Ind. – Purcell Pavilion (9,149)
TV: None
RADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) / WatchND (live) (Bob Nagle, p-b-p)
LIVE STATS:
TEXT ALERT: UND.com
TWITTER: @NDsidMasters / @ndwbb
TICKETS: (574) 631-7356; UND.com/buytickets
Storylines
- Since 1993-94, Notre Dame is 35-1 in exhibition games, including an active 30-game winning streak.
- For the seventh time in 11 seasons, the Fighting Irish will play a member of the Division II Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in an exhibition game, having posted a 6-0 record against GLIAC foes to date.
-
No. 3 Irish Open Exhibition Slate Against Wayne State
Exactly seven months after playing in its fourth NCAA national championship game in five seasons, No. 3 Notre Dame returns to the hardwood as the Fighting Irish compete in their lone exhibition game at noon (ET) Saturday against Wayne State at Purcell Pavilion. The game will not be televised, although radio coverage is available in South Bend on Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) and worldwide on the official Notre Dame athletics multimedia platform, WatchND.
The Fighting Irish return four starters and 10 monogram recipients from last year’s squad that went 36-3 and swept the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and tournament titles for the second year in a row en route to the program’s fifth consecutive NCAA Women’s Final Four appearance. Notre Dame also welcomes a three-player freshman class ranked in the top five by all major recruiting services.
Last month, Notre Dame was selected No. 1 in the preseason ACC Blue Ribbon Panel and coaches’ polls, collecting a combined 42 of 56 first-place votes from the two groups, while both outlets chose Fighting Irish sophomore forward Brianna Turner as the Preseason ACC Player of the Year.
Rankings
- Notre Dame is No. 3 in the preseason Associated Press poll and is No. 3 in the preseason WBCA/USA Today poll.
- Wayne State is receiving votes in the preseason WBCA/USA Today Division II poll.
-
Quick Hitters
- Including its No. 3 preseason ranking, Notre Dame has appeared in the Associated Press poll for 156 consecutive weeks (including the past 86 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 top-10 Notre Dame squad during her career, with the vast majority of that time (54 of 60 weeks) spent in the AP Top 5.
- Notre Dame also is ranked No. 3 in the preseason Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA)/USA Today poll. This marks the seventh consecutive season the Fighting Irish have appeared in the preseason coaches’ poll.
- For the sixth time in seven years, Notre Dame opens the season ranked in the top 10 in both national polls, including prior top-five berths in the AP poll in 2009-10 (fourth), 2011-12 (second) and 2014-15 (third).
- Notre Dame will play 10 of the other 24 teams in the preseason polls this year, including seven of the other top 14.
- Notre Dame has a remarkable tradition of success at home inside Purcell Pavilion, with the Fighting Irish owning a 419-91 (.822) all-time record in their first 38 seasons at the facility, including a 96-6 (.941) record since the arena was renovated prior to the 2009-10 season.
- Including regular season and postseason play, the Fighting Irish have won 75 of their last 79 games against conference opponents (and 26 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 38-1 against conference foes (31-1 regular season, 7-0 postseason). The last ACC school to lose only once in regular season conference play during a two-year span was Duke in 2003 and 2004.
- Guards Madison Cable, Hannah Huffman and Michaela Mabrey have helped Notre Dame to a 108-6 (.947) record in their three-year careers, the best record by any school during the past three seasons and the most victories by a Fighting Irish class in its first three years, outdistancing last year’s senior class of Whitney Holloway and Markisha Wright, who helped Notre Dame to 107 wins through the end of their junior seasons.
- In their first three seasons, Cable, Huffman and Mabrey have paced Notre Dame to two NCAA national championship games and three NCAA Women’s Final Fours (plus three conference regular-season titles and three league tournament crowns), as well as a 39-5 (.886) record against ranked teams (22-5 against top-10 opponents).
- With 699 victories in her first 28 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 787 career wins, McGraw ranks 10th in NCAA Division I coaching history (seventh among active coaches). She is one of two ACC coaches in the top 10 along with current North Carolina head coach Sylvia Hatchell (second all-time/first among active coaches with 961).
— 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).