#3 Irish Visit #1 Connecticut Saturday In Prime Time

Jan. 14, 2010

Full Notes Package in PDF Format

2009-10 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 16

#3/3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (15-0 / 2-0 BIG EAST) vs. #1/1 Connecticut Huskies (16-0 / 4-0 BIG EAST)

DATE: January 16, 2010
TIME: 9:00 p.m. ET
AT: Storrs, Conn. – Gampel Pavilion (10,167)
SERIES: UCONN leads 22-4
1ST MTG: UCONN 87-64 (1/18/96)
LAST MTG: UCONN 76-66 (2/22/09)
TV: ESPN (live) (Dan Shulman, p-b-p / Dick Vitale, color / Doris Burke, color)
RADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) / UND.com (Bob Nagle, p-b-p)
TWITTER: @ndwbbsid

Storylines

• Notre Dame will face its fifth ranked opponent of the season, and fourth away from home.
• ESPN’s College Gameday will originate from Saturday’s game, the first time the show has ever aired at the site of a women’s basketball game.

No. 3 Irish Visit No. 1 Connecticut Saturday In Prime Time
Two of the nation’s elite women’s basketball programs will be on display Saturday when No. 3 Notre Dame travels to Storrs, Conn., for a 9 p.m. (ET) BIG EAST Conference matchup with top-ranked Connecticut at Gampel Pavilion. The game will be televised live on ESPN, the capstone to the network’s first-ever College Gameday broadcasts from a women’s basketball game.

Notre Dame (15-0, 2-0) kept its season-opening win streak intact Tuesday with an 81-64 victory over South Florida at Purcell Pavilion. The Irish battled though a sluggish first half with a 19-3 run in the second half to take control and beat back a determined Bulls squad.

Fifth-year senior guard Lindsay Schrader picked up her third double-double of the season (and 14th of her career) with game highs of 18 points and 13 rebounds, pacing four double-figure scorers for Notre Dame.

Rankings

• Notre Dame is No. 3 in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls this week.
• Connecticut is No. 1 in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls this week.

Quick Hitters

• The Irish have appeared in the top five of the AP poll all 10 weeks this season (through Monday), marking the second-longest string of consecutive AP Top 5 rankings in program history behind only the final 17 weeks in 2000-01.
• Notre Dame’s current 15-game winning streak is tied for the third-longest in school history, and longest since a school-record 23-game run from Nov. 17, 2000-Feb. 14, 2001.
• The Irish are in the midst of the second-best start in program history, topped only by a 23-0 debut in 2000-01 (the season in which Notre Dame won its first NCAA title).
• Notre Dame has defeated four ranked opponents (Michigan State, San Diego State, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt) in as many tries this season, including three away from home.
• The Irish won the 2009 Paradise Jam Island Division title (their first regular-season tourney crown since the 2005 Duel in the Desert in Las Vegas), with freshman guard Skylar Diggins capturing MVP honors and senior guard/tri-captain Melissa Lechlitner making the all-tournament team.
• Six different players have led the Irish in scoring this season. In the past eight games alone, Notre Dame has had a different player lead it in scoring six times.
• In Monday’s NCAA statistical rankings, Notre Dame appears among the top 25 in eight categories, including six top-10 rankings. Besides sharing top honors in won-loss percentage, the Irish are second in steals (now 14.8 spg.), third in assists (19.4 apg.), fourth in turnover margin (+8.7), fifth in scoring margin (+23.9 ppg.) and seventh in scoring offense (82.4 ppg.).
• Conversely, Notre Dame has only one player ranking among the top 100 in any NCAA statistical category — senior guard/tri-captain Ashley Barlow stands 90th in the land in steals (2.4 per game).
• Notre Dame is forcing 26.1 turnovers per game this season, including 28.7 at home. The Irish also have registered at least 20 takeaways in 13 of 15 games to date, with no fewer than 29 opponent turnovers in six of nine home games this year.
• Notre Dame is averaging 8,522 fans per game this year, unofficially ranking fifth in the nation and showing a 18.9-percent increase from last year (7,168). The Irish also are the only school from the top 25 of the final 2008-09 NCAA attendance rankings to see an increase in attendance this year.

Other Notre Dame Notables

• Notre Dame is among the nation’s winningest programs during the past 14 seasons (1996-97 to present), ranking seventh with 329 victories.
• Notre Dame has ranked among the top 20 in the nation in attendance each of the past nine seasons. Last year, the program finished ninth in the country for the second year in a row with an average of 7,168 fans for its 13 home games (the second-highest single-season attendance average in school history). The Irish also have drawn 5,000-or-more fans to 133 of their last 135 home games, including seven Purcell Pavilion sellouts (most recently on Dec. 31, 2009 vs. Vanderbilt).
• The Irish have become a regular fixture in the WNBA Draft in recent years, as seven Notre Dame players have been selected in the past nine seasons. Charel Allen was the most recent 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 ’09 season, helping the Silver Stars return to the playoffs for the third 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 ’06 title-winning squad in Detroit.
• For the fourth year in a row, the Irish posted a perfect 100-percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR), according to figures released by the NCAA in October 2009. What’s more, since Muffet McGraw became the Irish head coach in 1987, every Notre Dame women’s basketball player that has completed her athletic and academic eligibility at the University has graduated (a 58-for-58 success rate), with all five members of this year’s senior class on target to graduate by May 2010 (Erica Williamson earned her undergraduate degree one semester early in January 2010).

A Quick Look At Connecticut
Winners of 55 games in a row (the second-longest streak in NCAA Division I history), Connecticut has nine letterwinners, including four of its five starters returning from last year’s squad that went a perfect 39-0 and won the national championship.

The Huskies (16-0, 4-0) last took the floor on Wednesday, grinding out a 68-43 win at Marquette. Senior center Tina Charles scored 20 of her 23 points in the first half while adding a game-high 11 rebounds for Connecticut, while senior guard Kalana Greene hit 7-of-10 shots to finish with 15 points.

Junior forward Maya Moore leads the Huskies in scoring (18.1 ppg.) and steals (2.3 spg.), and is second in rebounding (7.1 rpg.) and assists (3.6 apg.). Charles is second in scoring (17.9 ppg.) and field goal percentage (.632), and tops in rebounding (8.6 rpg.) and blocked shots (1.5 bpg.).

Geno Auriemma is in his 25th season at Connecticut with a 712-122 (.854) record at the school. He is 22-4 all-time vs. Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame-Connecticut Series
Saturday marks the 27th meeting between Notre Dame and Connecticut, with Huskies holding a 22-4 edge in the series, including an active six-game winning streak.

UConn also has won 11 of the 12 series games played in the Nutmeg State, not counting two other Husky wins in the BIG EAST Championship, which is technically played at a neutral site (Hartford’s XL Center).

The Last Time ND and Connecticut Met
Maya Moore scored 18 points to help Connecticut remain unbeaten with a 76-66 victory over No. 24 Notre Dame on Feb. 22, 2009, at the XL Center in Hartford — the smallest margin of victory for the Huskies last season.

Renee Montgomery led UConn with 20 points, eight assists and five steals and Tina Charles had 19 points and eight rebounds as the Huskies (27-0, 13-0 BIG EAST) posted their 37th consecutive home win.

Despite the loss, Notre Dame (18-7, 7-6) played one of its better games.

Ashley Barlow led the Irish with 18 points, while Lindsay Schrader added 17 points and 11 rebounds for Notre Dame.

The Irish led for much of the first half, and were ahead 43-41 almost four minutes into the second — the first time the Huskies trailed after intermission this season.

A pair of baskets by Moore and two three-pointers by Montgomery started a 22-1 run over the next seven minutes that put the game away. During the span, Moore had 12 points and Montgomery added two assists and two steals.

The Huskies had trailed for just over 27 minutes all season. But UConn missed its first five shots and the Irish took a 6-0 lead, the biggest deficit the Huskies faced all year.

Connecticut didn’t get its first basket until Charles hit a layup three minutes into the game. Montgomery gave UConn its first lead with a three-pointer that made it 11-10.

The Irish led 33-28 before an 8-0 Huskies’ run gave Connecticut a 36-33 halftime lead. Notre Dame shot 43 percent in the first half and made 4-for-7 three-point shots, including three by Barlow.

The Last Time ND and Connecticut Met At Gampel Pavilion
Tina Charles had 12 points and tied a school-record with nine blocks to help No. 7/5 Connecticut earn a 64-47 win over Notre Dame on Jan. 27, 2007, at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs.

Charles also had 10 rebounds and came within one block of recording only the second triple-double in UConn history.

Kalana Greene added 10 points and seven rebounds for Connecticut. Erica Williamson had 12 points to lead Notre Dame and Crystal Erwin added 11.

The Huskies jumped to an early 8-4 lead, in what was a sloppy game, as Renee Montgomery hit her first three shots.

Notre Dame shot just 24 percent from the floor, and hit one of its first 11 attempts from the field. But the Irish were able to stay in the game thanks to 15 first-half turnovers by Connecticut, eight in the first 10 minutes of the game. The two teams combined for 45 giveaways — 27 turnovers for Connecticut and 18 for Notre Dame.

UConn led just 29-23 at the half, and got its first double-digit lead, 35-25, three minutes into the second half on a spin move and bucket by Charde Houston.

The Huskies stretched that to 18 after Erwin was called for an intentional foul. Houston hit one foul shot, and Charles hit a jumper on the ensuing possession to put UConn up 54-36.

Other ND-Connecticut Series Tidbits

• All four of Notre Dame’s wins in the series have come since the start of the 2000-01 season (a 15-game span).
• Notre Dame’s 65-59 win at Gampel Pavilion on Jan. 30, 2005, snapped Connecticut’s 112-game BIG EAST regular-season home winning streak.
• Connecticut is one of 11 other former or current NCAA champions Notre Dame has faced in its history. The Irish are 27-75 (.265) all-time against schools that have hoisted the hardware (either before or after they won the title), with records of .500 or better against USC (7-2), North Carolina (2-1) and Texas (1-1). The only NCAA winner the Irish have never played is 2005 champion Baylor.
• Saturday’s game will mark the 16th time in the 27-game series that both teams will be ranked at tipoff. At least one team has been ranked in every series matchup.
• For the third consecutive season, Connecticut come into its game with Notre Dame as the top-ranked team in the nation — the Irish are 2-13 (.133) all-time against No. 1 teams, with both victories coming over the Huskies in 2001 (92-76 on Jan. 15 at the Joyce Center; 90-75 on March 30 in the NCAA Women’s Final Four national semifinals at the Savvis (now Scottrade) Center in St. Louis).
• Connecticut is one of four BIG EAST Conference opponents to hold a series edge over Notre Dame, leading the Irish, 22-4. The other league foes with winning records vs. Notre Dame are Rutgers (16-9), DePaul (18-14) and Louisville (4-3; 2-2 since Cardinals joined BIG EAST in 2005-06).
• Since the start of the 1998-99 season, Connecticut has lost by 15-plus points seven times, with nearly half (three) of those losses coming to Notre Dame (twice in 2000-01, once in 2003-04).
• Notre Dame is one of four teams in the nation to defeat Connecticut at least three times in the past 15 seasons (1995-96 to present). During that stretch, the only programs with more wins over the Huskies than the Irish are Tennessee (nine) and Rutgers (six), while North Carolina also has defeated UConn three times.
• Notre Dame senior guard Ashley Barlow and Connecticut senior forward Kaili McLaren were teammates on the White squad at the 2006 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) High School All-America Game in Boston. Barlow had four points and four rebounds, while McLaren tallied eight points and two rebounds, but their White Team fell to the Red Team (led by UConn senior center Tina Charles), 68-61.
• Notre Dame freshman guard Skylar Diggins and Connecticut freshman guard Kelly Faris finished 1-2 in the 2009 Indiana Miss Basketball voting and were teammates on the 2009 Indiana All-Star Team that swept a two-game series from its Kentucky counterpart.
• Diggins also was a teammate of Connecticut sophomore guards Caroline Doty and Tiffany Hayes on the White Team at the 2007 USA Basketball Youth Development Festival in Colorado Springs. The trio helped the White squad to a 5-0 record and the gold medal that weekend.
• The two head coaches — Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw and Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma — have more than a few connections. Both are from the Philadephia metro area (McGraw from West Chester, Auriemma from Norristown), both cut their coaching teeth at Saint Joseph’s (separate stints as assistants under current Ohio State head coach Jim Foster), and both currently serve on the Board of Directors of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) — Auriemma as president and McGraw as NCAA Division I Legislative Chair.

History In The Making
Saturday will be a landmark day in women’s college basketball history, as ESPN’s “College Gameday” show rolls into Storrs, Conn., to air live from the site of a women’s basketball game for the first time. The show, which is scheduled for two live hour-long broadcasts from 10-11 a.m. and 8-9 p.m. (ET), will be hosted by Rece Davis, with analysis provided by former North Carolina standout Hubert Davis, former Duke great Jay Bilas, former Providence sharpshooter Doris Burke and, of course, the legendary former Notre Dame men’s basketball coach, Digger Phelps.

Here are some other nuggets about College Gameday and Saturday night’s broadcast:

• Phelps ranks as the winningest men’s basketball coach in Notre Dame history (393), although current Irish women’s basketball coach Muffet McGraw (511) has passed him on the all-time hoops wins list under the Golden Dome.
• Phelps and McGraw actually coached side-by-side at Notre Dame for four seasons (1987-88 through 1990-91), and Phelps (a South Bend resident) is still a regular fixture at Irish basketball games when he’s not fulfilling his ESPN obligations.
• The ESPN College Gameday franchise actually got rolling on the football side on Nov. 13, 1993, when Gameday held its first-ever on-campus broadcast outside Notre Dame Stadium. That afternoon, the second-ranked Irish (led by current ESPN college football studio analyst Lou Holtz, who now co-hosts ESPN’s “College Football Scoreboard” show alongside the same Rece Davis who will be on-site Saturday in Storrs), and top-ranked Florida State (coached by Hall of Famer Bobby Bowden) battled in the so-called “Game of the Century,” won by Notre Dame, 31-24.
• ESPN’s Hall of Fame college basketball analyst Dick Vitale will be calling the first women’s basketball game of his 31-year broadcasting career on Saturday night. Vitale is quite familiar with Notre Dame, as his daughters, Terri (1991-92, 1994) and Sherri (1993-96), played tennis for the Irish. What’s more, Vitale’s son-in-law is former Notre Dame quarterback Tom Krug, who served as Ron Powlus’ backup in 1994-95 and, with Powlus injured, started the 1996 Orange Bowl vs. Florida State and nearly led the Irish to the victory (FSU prevailed, 31-26, scoring the final 17 points of the game).

Streak Busters
Notre Dame has had a penchant for ending impressive winning streaks in a number of different sports, contributing to the University’s storied 123-year athletics tradition. Connecticut will enter Saturday’s game with a 55-game winning streak, currently standing as the second-longest in NCAA Division I history.

Here is a rundown of the various notable “streak-busting” victories Notre Dame teams have posted through the years:

• Nov. 16, 1957 (football ends Oklahoma’s NCAA-record 47-game winning streak) — Dick Lynch sweeps around right end for the lone score in a 7-0 Irish win before a stunned crowd at Owen Field in Norman, Okla.
• Jan. 19, 1974 (men’s basketball stops UCLA’s NCAA-record 88-game winning streak) — Led by Digger Phelps, the Irish score the final 12 points of the game, capped by Dwight Clay’s jumper from the corner with 29 seconds to play, to topple the mighty Bruins, 71-70 and send the Joyce Center crowd into delirium.
• Oct. 2, 1994 (women’s soccer ends North Carolina’s NCAA-record 92-game winning streak) — All-America goalkeeper Jen Renola makes 11 saves as Notre Dame holds the high-powered Tar Heels (led by future U.S. National Team standout Tisha Venturini) to a 0-0 draw at the Americas Challenge Cup in St. Louis. The Irish would carry the momentum from that performance all the way to the NCAA College Cup, the first of four consecutive trips and 11 in the program’s renowned history.
• June 7, 2002 (baseball snaps Florida State’s 25-game winning streak) — Notre Dame breaks a 4-4 tie with six runs in the final three innings to surge past the top-ranked Seminoles, 10-4 in the first game of a best-of-three NCAA Super Regional in Tallahassee. The Irish would defeat FSU in the deciding third game two days later to secure their first College World Series berth in 45 years.
• Jan. 30, 2005 (women’s basketball ends Connecticut’s 112-game BIG EAST home winning streak/55-game Gampel Pavilion streak) — Courtney LaVere comes off the bench to score 14 points and the Irish jumped to a 10-point halftime lead, holding the Huskies at bay in the second half for a 65-59 win at Gampel Pavilion.

It’s Deja Vu All Over Again
Almost nine years to the day (Jan. 15, 2001) after Notre Dame earned its signature 92-76 win over Connecticut at the Joyce Center, propelling the Irish to their first-ever No. 1 ranking, the teams will tangle again, with some eerie similarities between that game and this weekend’s matchup:

• In both games, Connecticut was ranked No. 1 and Notre Dame was ranked No. 3 at tipoff.
• Each time, the Irish and Huskies came into the game undefeated (Notre Dame was 16-0 on that day, 15-0 this weekend; Connecticut was 13-0 back then, 16-0 currently).
• As is the case this weekend, the Huskies carried a sizeable winning streak into that game, having won 30 in a row prior to arriving in South Bend for the 2001 Martin Luther King Day contest.
• Notre Dame’s Niele Ivey and Connecticut’s Shea Ralph will have an impact on both games — the pair both started in the 2001 game (Ivey – 14 pts/10 asst; Ralph – 2 pts/2 asst) and now serve as assistant coaches at their alma maters.
• The 2001 game was nationally-televised on ESPN — and Doris Burke was the color analyst that afternoon, just as she will be on Saturday’s ESPN broadcast.

The Powers That Be
Notre Dame will be facing its fifth ranked opponent of the season on Saturday, having knocked off four Top 25 foes during the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Irish and Huskies each had four ranked wins during their non-conference slates, accounting for eight of the BIG EAST’s 11 wins over Top 25 opponents to date this season (DePaul, Georgetown and Rutgers have the other three).

Three of Notre Dame’s four wins over ranked teams this year have come away from home — at No. 21 Michigan State (68-67), and vs. No. 23/24 San Diego State (84-79) and No. 20/17 Oklahoma (81-71) at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Irish also toppled No. 18/16 Vanderbilt, 74-69, on New Year’s Eve at Purcell Pavilion.

In those four victories, Notre Dame held double-digit leads each time (including a 21-point first-half bulge against SDSU), and did not trail by more than five points at any time in the second half (56-51 with 10:16 left at MSU).

Getting The Jump
At 15-0, Notre Dame is off to the second-best start in the program’s 33-year history. The only time the Irish opened with a better record that 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 15-game winning streak is tied for the third-longest success string in program history (at any time), and it’s the longest since the school-record 23-game run to begin the 2000-01 season.

Bagel Works
At 15-0, Notre Dame is one of only five Division I schools that are undefeated through Jan. 13. The others in this exclusive club are: No. 1 Connecticut (16-0), No. 6 Georgia (16-0), No. 11/9 Nebraska (15-0) and No. 17 Wisconsin-Green Bay (15-0).

Spread The Wealth
Notre Dame has seen six different players led the team in scoring and assists and seven different leading rebounders this season.

That trend has been particularly evident in the past eight games, with a different player setting the pace in scoring six times. Junior guard Brittany Mallory (Valparaiso and UCF) and fifth-year senior guard Lindsay Schrader (Vanderbilt and South Florida) are the only repeat leading scorers for the Irish in that span.

Stat Sheet Stuffers
Another sign of Notre Dame’s versatility is seen in the number of “5-5-5” games (5 or more in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and/or steals) posted by its players this year.

Junior guard Brittany Mallory (Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt) has a team-high three 5-5-5 games, while senior guard Ashley Barlow (Iona and South Florida) and freshman guard Skylar Diggins (UAPB and Charlotte) have two 5-5-5 outings apiece, and sophomore guard Natalie Novosel (Eastern Michigan) has one.

Taking What We Can Get
Fueled by a renewed attention to defense this offseason, Notre Dame has been in the taking mood this year, forcing its opponents into at least 20 turnovers in 13 of 15 games thus far, with Irish foes averaging 26.1 giveaways per game.

In a two-game stretch bookending the Christmas holiday, Notre Dame harassed its opponents into a combined 79 turnovers (43 by Charlotte on Dec. 20 and 36 at UCF on Dec. 29).

Charlotte’s 43 turnovers tied for the second-most opponent giveaways in a game in school history and the most since Dec. 8, 1981, when the Irish forced sister school Saint Mary’s (Ind.) into 43 turnovers during the program’s second season at the Division I level. The Notre Dame record for opponent turnovers in a game is 48 by Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Jan. 11, 1980, at DeKalb, Ill.

The Irish also are making even the most disciplined teams fall victim to their aggressive defensive style. Villanova came into its Jan. 9 game with Notre Dame ranked second in the nation with just 12.6 turnovers per game, but the Irish dogged the Wildcats into 34 turnovers (17 in each half).

Notre Dame has been especially hard on opponents in nine home games this season, forcing 28.7 turnovers per game (at least 29 in six of the nine Purcell Pavilion contests) while holding visitors to 53.1 points a night and a .352 field goal percentage (176-of-500).

The Five-Finger Discount
According to Monday’s NCAA statistical report, Notre Dame ranks second in the nation in steals (now 14.8 spg.). The Irish have posted double-digit steal totals in 10 of their 14 games this season, including five 20-steal efforts.

What’s more, Notre Dame has been particularly aggressive in the past eight games, posting at least 19 steals four times and averaging 16.1 steals per game during that span.

Road Warriors
Notre Dame is 23-9 (.719) in true road games since the start of the 2007-08 season, including wins at No. 21 Michigan State, UCF and Purdue this year.

In addition, the past seven road losses for the Irish have been decided by an average of 8.4 points per game (all by 12 points or fewer), including all five road setbacks last season (average margin of 8.6 ppg.).

Notre Dame posted 10 wins on the road in each of the past two years, marking just the second time in school history the Irish have logged double-digit win totals away from home in consecutive seasons (11 wins in 1989-90; 10 wins in 1990-91).

Award-Winning South Bend Backcourt
For the second time this season, Notre Dame rookie guard Skylar Diggins has been selected as the BIG EAST Conference Freshman of the Week, it was announced Monday by the conference office. In addition, senior guard/tri-captain Melissa Lechlitner was tapped for the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after the South Bend duo helped the No. 3 Fighting Irish pick up a pair of wins last week and keep Notre Dame as one of only five unbeaten teams in the country.

Diggins also earned BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honors back on Nov. 23 and was chosen for a place on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Nov. 30. Meanwhile, Lechlitner cops the first BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll citation of her career, and her first recognition from the conference since making its All-Freshman Team at the end of the 2006-07 season.

Lechlitner also is the fourth different Fighting Irish player to make the conference’s Weekly Honor Roll this season, joining Diggins, and senior guards/tri-captains Ashley Barlow and Lindsay Schrader.

Last week, Diggins started both games and averaged 16.5 points, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game with a .524 field goal percentage (11-of-21) and a .900 free throw percentage (9-of-10), as Notre Dame won at in-state rival Purdue, 79-75, before opening BIG EAST play with an 81-46 home victory over Villanova. Diggins tallied 15 points and a team-high four assists, canning a clutch insurance three-pointer with under six minutes left and hitting an equally-critical free throw with 12 seconds to go. This past Saturday against Villanova, Diggins opened her BIG EAST career in strong fashion, scoring a game-high 18 points on a near-perfect shooting day (7-9 FG, 1-1 3FG, 3-3 FT), while adding two steals.

Lechlitner was a key factor in both Notre Dame wins last week, averaging 16.5 points per game with a .500 field goal percentage (13-of-26) and a .625 three-point percentage (5-of-8). She began the week by scoring a career-high 22 points (on career bests of 8-16 FG and 4-7 3FG) in a season-high 38 minutes at Purdue, giving Notre Dame the lead for good on her fourth three-pointer of the night with 6:23 to play. Lechlitner then contributed 11 points and a game-high three assists in the BIG EAST opener against Villanova.

Polling Station
For the fourth week in a row, Notre Dame is ranked third in the Associated Press poll, appearing in the top five for the 10th consecutive week — it’s the second-longest run in the AP Top 5 in program history, and the longest for the Irish since the 2000-01 season, when Notre Dame was a top-five fixture for the final 17 weeks.

This marks the 48th consecutive AP poll appearance for the Irish, with the No. 3 ranking not only matching a season high (Dec. 7 & 21), but also being Notre Dame’s highest since the week of Nov. 29, 2004, when the Irish also were ranked third.

What’s more, Notre Dame’s No. 4 preseason ranking on Oct. 30 was its the highest ever, topping its No. 6 debut in the 2000-01 poll.

With their current poll position, the Irish now have appeared in the top 10 of the AP poll during 10 of the past 14 seasons (1996-97 through 2009-10).

Notre Dame has been ranked in the AP poll for 188 weeks during the program’s 33-year history, with every one of those appearances coming in the Muffet McGraw era (since 1987-88). McGraw ranks 13th among all active NCAA Division I head coaches for weeks in the AP poll, and also is 22nd all-time in that category.

In addition, the Irish are spending a fourth consecutive week at a season-high No. 3 in the ESPN/USA Today/WBCA coaches’ poll. It’s the highest Notre Dame has been ranked in the coaches’ survey since the 2004-05 season, when the Irish were third for two separate weeks (Nov. 30 and Jan. 5) during the year, and the first time they have been in the top three in consecutive weeks since the final 14 weeks of the 2000-01 season (capped by a No. 1 ranking in the final poll after winning the national championship).

This marks the second consecutive season Notre Dame has been ranked in the top 10 of the ESPN/USA Today/WBCA poll, as well as eight of the past 12 campaigns (1998-99 to present).

Notre Dame was ranked in the coaches’ survey for 38 consecutive weeks before falling just outside the Top 25 in the final poll of last season. With their No. 3 ranking this week, the Irish have appeared in the coaches’ poll for 180 weeks during their history (all coming during McGraw’s tenure).

More Polling Data
Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw is one of 26 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 188 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 rise to No. 3 in the nation. Of the 26 people on this list, 14 currently are NCAA Division I head coaches (see accompanying chart).

Game #15 Recap: South Florida
For a while Tuesday night it appeared as if No. 3 Notre Dame might not go into its big game against top-ranked Connecticut on Saturday undefeated.

The Fighting Irish couldn’t shake South Florida until blowing the game open with a 19-3 run in the final seven minutes to win 81-64 behind Lindsay Schrader’s 18 points and 13 rebounds.

“I thought that was going to be a difficult game with the Connecticut game kind of looming in the background a little bit and the media so nicely continuing to talk about it and having us read about it,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. “I thought overall a veteran team at the end of the game found a way to win.”

South Florida (9-7, 0-3 BIG EAST) stayed in the game by shooting 50 percent until going cold with 7:30 left, when it went just 1-of-7 from the floor. Natalie Novosel ignited the decisive 19-3 run for the Irish (15-0, 2-0) with a three-pointer with 6:02 left and later added a driving layup, finishing with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Schrader said the key was that she and fellow seniors Melissa Lechlitner and Ashley Barlow stayed calm.

“We knew we were going to win the game,” she said. “That comes from experience, definitely.”

South Florida coach Jose Fernandez agreed.

“When it came down to it at the end of the game, our inexperience showed,” he said. “Schrader and Lechlitner were not going to let Notre Dame lose.”

Sequoyah Griffin led the Bulls with 16 points and Leondra Doomes-Stephens added 12. Skylar Diggins scored 14 points, Novosel had 12, Lechlitner scored 11 and Barlow had nine points and 11 rebounds. Diggins also played tough defense in a game where the Irish didn’t play as well defensively as they normally do.

“Diggins did a great job on Jasmine Wynne,” Fernandez said. “We could not get into our offense. We were getting into our offense with 17, 16 seconds left on the shot clock.”

Noting The South Florida Game

• The Fighting Irish improve to 6-2 all-time against South Florida (3-2 in BIG EAST regular-season play) and earn their third consecutive series win over the Bulls.
• Tuesday’s game was only the second in six series matchups under the BIG EAST banner (including a 2006 conference tournament quarterfinal game) that was decided by double digits (Notre Dame won 92-49 on USF’s last visit to Purcell Pavilion on Feb. 27, 2008).
• The Fighting Irish are 23-5 (.821) all-time against Florida schools (9-3 at home), including a 2-0 record this season (also won 85-52 at UCF on Dec. 29).
• Notre Dame has forced 20+ turnovers in 13 of 15 games this season.
• The Fighting Irish have led at halftime in all but one game (Purdue on Jan. 4) and are 177-17 (.912) since the start of the 2000-01 season when they’re up at the break.
• Notre Dame’s 25 assists tied its second-highest mark of the season (Dec. 8 vs. IPFW), exceeded only by a 31-assist performance in the season opener vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 15.
• The Fighting Irish grabbed 20+ offensive rebounds for the third time this season, having also done so against UAPB (25) and on Dec. 31 vs. Vanderbilt (26).
• For just the second time in nine home games this year, a Notre Dame opponent scored more than 60 points at Purcell Pavilion (Vanderbilt scored 69).
• The Fighting Irish notch the 675th win in the program’s 33-year history, now sporting a 675-296 (.695) all-time record.
• Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw earned her 599th career win, improving to 599-238 (.716) in 28 seasons as a collegiate coach, the past 23 at Notre Dame following a five-year stint at Lehigh (1982-87).
• Fifth-year senior guard/tri-captain Lindsay Schrader collected her third double-double of the season and the 14th of her career, tying her season-high point total set in the Vanderbilt win.
• Schrader also moved into 10th place on Notre Dame’s career rebounds list with 711 boards, passing Kelley Siemon (707 from 1997-2001).
• In addition, Schrader climbed into 17th place on the Fighting Irish all-time scoring chart with 1,230 points, supplanting Letitia Bowen (1,129 from 1991-95) on that list.
• Schrader broke out of a tie for eighth place on Notre Dame’s career starts list with her 106th assignment, easing by Mary Gavin (1984-88) in that category.
• Senior guard/tri-captain Ashley Barlow snared a season-high 11 rebounds and delivered a season-best five assists, both totals being one away from her career high in each category.
• Barlow also picked up her second “5-5-5” game of the season and ninth of her career.
• Sophomore guard Natalie Novosel came off the bench to tie her season high with 12 points, matching her output vs. Valparaiso on Dec. 12.
• Senior guard/tri-captain Melissa Lechlitner scored in double figures for the fourth consecutive game, matching the longest double-digit scoring streak of her career (also Dec. 13-30, 2008).
• Lechlitner also dished out four assists, giving her 326 career helpers and moving her into a tie for 10th place on the Notre Dame all-time assist chart (with Laura Dougherty, who had 326 assists from 1981-85).

Pomp And Circumstance
On Jan. 3, senior center Erica Williamson received her bachelor’s degree in film, television & theater from Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters. Williamson, who also serves as the president of the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), graduated a full semester early and has begun graduate studies this spring.

With Williamson collecting her diploma, all 58 Notre Dame women’s basketball student-athletes who have completed their athletic and academic eligibility under head coach Muffet McGraw (1987-present) have earned their degrees.

Tournament Tested
Notre Dame has felt right at home in tournament situations during the past 14 years. Starting with the 1996-97 season, the Irish have won 21 of their last 24 regular-season tournament games (multi-game events only), most recently capping a three-game run to the 2009 Paradise Jam Island Division championship over the Thanksgiving weekend in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The only Notre Dame losses during this current stretch were a pair of defeats to third-ranked teams in the Preseason WNIT semifinals (72-59 vs. Tennessee at Ruston, La., in 1996; 75-59 at Maryland in 2007) and a 67-63 overtime setback at No. 20 Colorado on Nov. 15, 2003 in the finals of the WBCA Classic — a game that saw the Buffaloes sink a desperation 30-footer at the end of regulation to force the extra session.

High Value Freshman
Freshman guard Skylar Diggins was named the most valuable player in the Island Division of the 2009 Paradise Jam after averaging 16.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game with a .538 field goal percentage (21-of-39) and a .545 three-point ratio (6-of-11) at the tournament.

Diggins, who also earned a spot on the BIG EAST Conference Weekly Honor Roll for her efforts, was the first Notre Dame rookie in a decade to collect all-tournament team honors in a regular-season event. Alicia Ratay was the last to do so, garnering a place on the 1999 Wachovia Women’s Basketball Invitational all-tournament team after helping Notre Dame to wins over No. 9/12 North Carolina (99-86) and Liberty (85-68) in Richmond, Va.

Keeping It Close To Home
Although Notre Dame has traditionally had a national reputation in recruiting circles, in recent seasons, the Irish have found their strongest talent comes from right in their own backyard. In fact, of the 13 players on this year’s Notre Dame roster, four are from Indiana, while five others are from states that border Indiana (including sophomore forward Erica Solomon, who lived in Oak Park, Mich., and graduated from Detroit Country Day School in 2008 before her family moved back to her birthplace of Charleston, W.Va., this past summer).

What’s more, of the five current Notre Dame starters, four are from the state of Indiana — senior guard Ashley Barlow (Indianapolis), junior forward Becca Bruszewski (Valparaiso) and the all-South Bend backcourt of senior guard Melissa Lechlitner and freshman guard Skylar Diggins — while the fifth starter (fifth-year senior guard Lindsay Schrader) is from Bartlett, Ill., located right outside Chicago.

As if that weren’t enough, the quartet of Barlow, Lechlitner, Bruszewski and Schrader have been mainstays in the Irish lineup for the past two seasons and have a combined total of 276 career starts between them.

Schrader reached a personal milestone on Dec. 12 against Valparaiso, becoming the 12th player in school history with 100 starting assignments in her career. Schrader now stands eighth in school history with 106 career starts, including a current streak of 64 in a row (putting her 10 away from moving into the Notre Dame top five in that category).

Experience Matters
For the first time in Notre Dame women’s basketball history, four players have hit the 100 games played mark in the same season. Senior guards/tri-captains Ashley Barlow, Melissa Lechlitner and Lindsay Schrader, along with senior center Erica Williamson, all reached the century mark during the Thanksgiving weekend at the Paradise Jam (Lechlitner and Williamson on Nov. 26 vs. San Diego State, Barlow and Schrader on Nov. 27 vs. South Carolina).

Current Irish assistant coach Niele Ivey holds the school record with 132 games played from 1996-2001.

McGraw Nearing 600th Career Win
Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw is closing in on an important milestone, as she stands just one victory away from becoming the 19th Division I coach to record 600 career wins.

McGraw has a 28-year mark of 599-238 (.716) through 837 games (88-41 in five seasons at Lehigh from 1982-87 before coming to Notre Dame), putting her in position to be one of the 10 fastest coaches to the 600-win plateau in Division I history.

McGraw Joins Elite Notre Dame Club
With a 84-79 win over No. 23/24 San Diego State on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26) at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Irish head coach Muffet McGraw reached a personal milestone, becoming the fourth coach in school history (in any sport) to register 500 victories while coaching under the Golden Dome. McGraw now has a record of 511-197 (.722) in 23 seasons at Notre Dame (1987-88 to present) and a 599-238 (.716) record in 28 seasons overall — including a five-year stint at Lehigh from 1982-87.

Fencing’s Michael DeCicco (680-45 from 1962-86) and Yves Auriol (525-33 from 1986-2002), and baseball’s Jake Kline (558-449-5 from 1934-75) are the only other members of the “Fighting Irish Five Hundred Club,” with one able to connect 75 years of Notre Dame athletics history and success via just four degrees of separation (Kline to DeCicco to Auriol to McGraw).

McGraw reached two other mileposts on Dec. 2 vs. Eastern Michigan, as she coached her 700th game at Notre Dame, as well as her 300th at Purcell Pavilion.

As it turned out, that EMU game also saw the school honor McGraw with an on-court post-game celebration for her 500th win, capped by a visit from her 19-year-old son, Murphy, who secretly drove four hours from his college campus at Indiana University in Bloomington to surprise his mother with a bouquet of flowers and the game ball from her milestone win.

Upwardly Mobile
Two of Notre Dame’s senior guards and tri-captains — Ashley Barlow and Lindsay Schrader — are already members of the program’s 1,000-Point Club, and will spend this season trying to work their way up the Irish all-time scoring ladder.

Barlow currently ranks 15th in school history with 1,280 career points, while Schrader is 17th with 1,230 points. They could be joined by their fellow senior guard and tri-captain, Melissa Lechlitner, who has 829 points to date.

Only one other time in program history has Notre Dame fielded three 1,000-point scorers on its roster at the same time — and it literally happened for less than one game. Ruth Riley, Niele Ivey and Kelley Siemon all reached the millennium mark and played on the 2000-01 Irish national championship squad, with Siemon reaching the milestone after scoring 10 points in her final collegiate contest — Notre Dame’s 68-66 title-game victory over Purdue in St. Louis.

Eight Is Enough (For Now)
Notre Dame had a school-record eight players score in double figures in its 102-57 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 15 at Purcell Pavilion. That eclipsed the old standard of seven double-digit scorers that was first set on Feb. 6, 1997 vs. Syracuse (90-73 win at the Joyce Center) and matched on Jan. 19, 2008, in a 104-86 win at Georgetown.

Century City
With its 102-57 season-opening win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 15 at Purcell Pavilion, Notre Dame topped the 100-point mark for the 13th time in school history, and the third time in less than two years (104-86 at Georgetown on Jan. 19, 2008; 102-54 at Boston College on Nov. 23, 2008).

Notre Dame also hit the century mark at home for the first time since Nov. 26, 2002, when the Irish toppled Cleveland State, 107-65 in the 2002-03 season opener.

Dishing Thirty-One Flavors
Notre Dame’s 31 assists against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 15 were the most for the Irish in a single game since Nov. 20, 2000, when they also recorded 31 assists in a 95-65 win over Arizona at the Joyce Center.

Leading the way for Notre Dame on that night was current Irish assistant coach Niele Ivey, who had a double-double with 14 points and 11 assists.

First Impressions
Freshman guard Skylar Diggins had 14 points in the Nov. 15 season opener vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the fifth-most by an Irish rookie in her debut game during the 23-year Muffet McGraw era (1987-88 to present), and the most since Courtney LaVere began her career with 18 points in a 2002 win over Cleveland State.

Half And Half
During the past decade, Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable when it has the lead at halftime. The Irish are 177-17 (.912) since the start of the 2000-01 campaign when they go into the dressing room with the lead, including wins in 105 of their last 116 such contests.

Notre Dame has led at the break in 14 of its 15 games this season, and has gone on to earn victories each time.

The Best Offense Is A Good Defense…
During the past 15 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 Irish have an amazing 203-14 (.935) record when they hold their opponents below 60 points in a game.

Notre Dame has added eight more wins to the ledger this season with victories over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Iona, South Carolina, Eastern Michigan, Valparaiso, Charlotte, UCF and Villanova.

…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 15 seasons (since 1995-96), the Irish are 133-4 (.971) when they score at least 80 points in a game. The only blemishes on that record are a pair of overtime losses to Texas A&M (88-84) and Michigan State (87-83) in 1995, a 106-81 loss to Connecticut in 1998, and an 81-80 loss to DePaul in 2008.

Notre Dame already has added 10 more wins to this ongoing record with its conquests of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Iona, No. 23/24 San Diego State, No. 20/17 Oklahoma, IPFW, Valparaiso, Charlotte, Villanova and South Florida.

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 Irish have been virtually untouchable at home in recent years, winning 182 of their last 206 games (.883) at the 9,149-seat Purcell Pavilion, including winning streaks of 51 and 25 games in that span. Notre Dame also has a 101-17 (.856) record in BIG EAST Conference play at the former Joyce Center, sporting a 31-game league winning streak at home before it ended with a 48-45 loss to Villanova in the ’02 home finale.

The Irish have been particularly strong when it comes to non-conference games at home, winning 83 of their last 90 non-BIG EAST contests (.922) at Purcell Pavilion, dating back to the 1994-95 season. Five of the seven 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 two defeats coming to Tennessee in 2005 (62-51) and 2008 (87-63). 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 332-85 (.796) record at the venerable facility. Three times (1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2003-04), the Irish went a perfect 15-0 at home, setting a school record for home wins in a season.

It’s Fan-Demonium At Notre Dame
If the preseason was any indication, Notre Dame women’s basketball is easily the hottest ticket in South Bend. For the first time in school history, all Irish women’s basketball season ticket packages (close to 7,500) have been sold, including more than 1,000 packages to first-time season ticket purchasers when they went on sale Aug. 14. Furthermore, fans were waiting in line at the Purcell Pavilion ticket office as early as 4:30 that morning, more than four hours before the ticket windows opened. Those early birds were rewarded with a visit from Irish head coach Muffet McGraw, who delivered coffee and bagels, courtesy of McGraw and athletics director Jack Swarbrick.

While it’s likely that some tickets will be made available for individual games during the weeks and days prior to the contests, there’s a very real possibility that Notre Dame could approach a sell out for every one of its regular-season home games at the newly-refurbished 9,149-seat Purcell Pavilion. In fact, the crowd of 9,080 for the Nov. 15 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff was the largest season-opening audience in program history, more than 1,100 higher than the old mark set in 2001-02 (7,960 vs. Valparaiso).

Through nine home games this season, Notre Dame is averaging 8,522 fans per game, putting the Irish nearly 700 fans ahead of their school-record attendance average of 7,825 fans per game, also set in 2001-02.

Notre Dame has posted seven sellouts in program history, the most recent coming on Dec. 31, 2009, when the Irish drew 9,149 fans to Purcell Pavilion for their win over No. 18/16 Vanderbilt — it was the first sellout since the renovated arena opened this fall.

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. 89 media market (South Bend-Elkhart), covering a 21-county area in northern Indiana and southwest Michigan that contains more than 1.35 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 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 All-Access multimedia 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), returns for his second season in his second stint as the radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Irish.

Notre Dame On The Small Screen
Notre Dame will have at least 18 games televised during the 2009-10 season. Highlighting this year’s broadcast schedule are 11 nationally-televised Irish women’s basketball contests, including at least six games on the ESPN family of networks and four others on CBS College Sports (check schedule on page 1 of these notes for exact broadcast coverage).

In addition, Notre Dame continues to expand its broadcast reach globally on the Internet. All Irish regular-season home games not selected for commercial TV coverage (with the exception of the Nov. 15 game vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff) will be webcast live on the official Notre Dame athletics web site, www.UND.com, via the site’s free multimedia package, Fighting Irish All-Access. And, the Thanksgiving weekend Paradise Jam was webcast in its entirety through Fox College Sports Broadband on a pay-per-view basis.

This year’s TV slate continues a recent trend that has seen the Irish become a regular fixture on television. Beginning with the NCAA championship season of 2000-01 and continuing through this year, Notre Dame has played in 152 televised games, including 99 that were broadcast nationally.

Oh Captain, My Captain
Fifth-year senior guard Lindsay Schrader and senior guards Ashley Barlow and Melissa Lechlitner all return for their second year as team captains for the 2009-10 season. All three players received the captain’s honor following a vote of their teammates prior to the season.

This marks the first time in program history that the same players are serving as captains in consecutive seasons.

Irish Sign Three For 2010-11 Season
Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw announced Nov. 13 that three of the country’s top high school student-athletes have chosen to continue their academic and athletic careers with the Fighting Irish, each signing a National Letter of Intent to attend Notre Dame beginning in the fall of 2010.

Natalie Achonwa (last name pronounced uh-CHAWN-wuh), a 6-3 forward from Guelph, Ontario (St. Mary’s Catholic Secondary School/National Elite Development Academy), Ariel Braker, a 6-1 forward from Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. (Grosse Pointe North High School) and Kayla McBride, a 5-11 guard from Erie, Pa. (Villa Maria Academy) all made their official commitments to the Fighting Irish during the early signing period, which ended Nov. 18.

All three student-athletes are rated among the top 50 players in the country by various national recruiting services. As a group, this trio is ranked as the No. 10 recruiting class in the country by All-Star Girls Report (and a consensus top-16 class by other recruiting services), giving Notre Dame a Top 25 recruiting class for the 14th consecutive year, a streak only two other schools in the country (Connecticut and Tennessee) can match. It’s also the third consecutive top-10 recruiting class for the Fighting Irish.

“I’m very excited about the class that we’re signing this year,” McGraw said. “I think we really addressed our needs, with three very good players coming in. They’re going to change the way we do some things at both ends of the floor next year. We’re going to be able to be more aggressive on defense because we’re adding athleticism, length and speed, and on offense, we’ll look at ways that we can take advantage of the size that we’re going to have. It will probably be a whole new look, going from the more guard-oriented team that we have now, to next year when we’ll have some depth in the post as well.”

“Notre Dame emphasized strengthening their perimeter game and did so with size, athleticism and versatility,” said Dan Olson, director of the Collegiate Girls Basketball Report.

The full press release, with a complete look at the newest members of the Notre Dame women’s basketball program, is available on-line at http://www.und.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/111309aab.html.

Irish Fans Crave Another Big Mac Attack
It’s year three 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 Irish score at least 88 points in a home game.

In the three-year history of the promotion (and counting exhibition games), Notre Dame has hit the 88-point mark 17 times, including wins this year over Indianapolis, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, IPFW, Valparaiso and Charlotte.

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 — junior guard Brittany Mallory, who sent the crowd home happy (and presumably with full bellies) four times during the promotion’s inaugural run in 2007-08.

And for those tracking such things (or perhaps falling under the heading of “SID has too much time on his hands”), 10 different players have converted the “burger ball”, including nine current members of the Irish roster.

What’s more, of the 17 Big Mac games to date, nine have been reached on two-point baskets, five on free throws, and three on three-pointers.

Next Game: Louisville
Notre Dame caps its two-game road trip Tuesday with a visit to the other participant in last year’s NCAA national championship game, as the Irish face Louisville at 7 p.m. (ET) inside historic Freedom Hall. The game will be televised live to a national cable audience by CBS College Sports, Notre Dame’s third appearance on that network in the past three weeks.

The Cardinals (10-6, 2-1 BIG EAST) have slowly adjusted to changes brought about by graduation and injury, but appear to have found their stride of late. Louisville was off this week, but returns to action Saturday afternoon at No. 24/18 Georgetown in the BIG EAST-Regional Sports Networks Game of the Week.

— ND —