#4/3 Irish Back On Road For Tuesday Visit To Cincinnati

Feb. 8, 2010

Full Notes Package in PDF Format

2009-10 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 23

#4/3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (21-1 / 8-1 BIG EAST) vs. Cincinnati Bearcats (10-11 / 3-6 BIG EAST)

DATE: February 9, 2010
TIME: 7:00 p.m. ET
AT: Cincinnati, Ohio – Fifth Third Arena (13,176)
SERIES: ND leads 5-0
1ST MTG: ND 67-58 (2/13/82)
LAST MTG: ND 66-50 (1/31/09)
RADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) / UND.com (Bob Nagle, p-b-p)
LIVE STATS: UND.com
TEXT ALERT: UND.com
TWITTER: @ndwbbsid
TICKETS: (877) 228-7849

Storylines

• Notre Dame is 70-16 (.814) all-time against Ohio schools, including a 30-7 (.811) road record and an active 15-game winning streak.
• The Irish are one of two BIG EAST programs to have three active players with at least 500 career rebounds.

No. 4/3 Irish Back On Road For Tuesday Visit To Cincinnati
It’s back to the open road for No. 4/3 Notre Dame, as the Irish continue their BIG EAST Conference slate Tuesday with a 7 p.m. (ET) matchup against Cincinnati at Fifth Third Arena. Notre Dame has won all five series games against the Bearcats, including the previous four during BIG EAST play.

The Irish (21-1, 8-1) stretched their current winning streak to six games on Saturday with a wire-to-wire 86-76 victory over Pittsburgh at Purcell Pavilion. Notre Dame used a 10-0 run midway through the first half to grab a double-digit lead and lengthened that margin to as many as 19 minutes with five minutes remaining, before the Panthers used a late rally to trim down the final spread.

Freshman guad Skylar Diggins continued her recent resurgence, leading the Irish with career highs of 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists (no turnovers), collecting her first career double-double in the process.

Rankings

• Notre Dame is No. 4 in the latest Associated Press poll and was No. 3 in last week’s ESPN/USA Today poll.
• Cincinnati is not ranked.

Quick Hitters

• The Irish have appeared in the top five of the AP poll all 14 weeks this season (through Feb. 1), 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 15-game winning streak earlier this season tied for the third-longest in school history, and longest since a school-record 23-game run from Nov. 17, 2000-Feb. 14, 2001.
• At 15-0, the Irish posted 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 five ranked opponents (Michigan State, San Diego State, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, West Virginia) in six tries this season, including three wins 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.
• At least seven different players have led the Irish in scoring, rebounding and assists this season. In addition, 11 of the 13 players on the Notre Dame roster have scored in double figures at least once this year.
• In Monday’s NCAA statistical rankings, Notre Dame appears among the top 25 in eight categories, including top-10 rankings in six areas — steals (3rd, 13.5 spg.), won-loss percentage (3rd at .955), turnover margin (6th at +7.23), assists (6th at 18.4 apg.), scoring offense (6th at 79.7 ppg.) and scoring margin (10th at +18.6 ppg.).
• Conversely, Notre Dame has only one player ranking among the top 100 in any NCAA statistical category — freshman guard Skylar Diggins ranks 85th in the land in steals (2.4 per game).
• Notre Dame is forcing 24.2 turnovers per game this season, including 26.2 at home. The Irish also have caused at least 20 takeaways in 18 of 22 games to date, with no fewer than 25 opponent turnovers in seven home games this year.
• Notre Dame is averaging 8,559 fans per game this year, unofficially ranking fifth in the nation and showing a 19.4-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 335 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 136 of their last 138 home games, including nine Purcell Pavilion sellouts (most recently on Feb. 6, 2010 vs. Pittsburgh).
• 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 Cincinnati
It’s a season of new beginnings and fresh promise for Cincinnati, and the Bearcats have shown flashes of things to come under first-year head coach (and former longtime Connecticut assistant) Jamelle Elliott.

UC (10-11, 3-6 BIG EAST) should come into Tuesday’s game well-rested, having not taking the court since a 74-68 overtime win at Louisville on Feb. 2. Junior guard Shareese Ulis paced the Bearcat victory with 23 points, while redshirt senior guard Kahla Roudebush nearly posted a triple-double, finishing with 19 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds, and senior forward Michelle Jones almost notched a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds.

Roudebush leads Cincinnati in scoring (13.3 ppg.) and three-point percentage (.368), while ranking second in rebounding (5.5 rpg.), assists (3.0 apg.) and steals (1.1 spg.). Ulis is second in scoring (11.1 ppg.), and tops in both assists (3.1 apg.) and steals (1.8 spg.), while Jones is third in scoring (10.3 ppg.) and first in rebounding (6.8 rpg.) and field goal percentage (.571).

The Notre Dame-Cincinnati Series
The Irish and Bearcats will square off for the sixth time on Tuesday night, with Notre Dame leading the all-time series by a 5-0 count. The Irish also have won all four matchups since Cincinnati joined the BIG EAST Conference in 2005-06, including a pair of contests at Fifth Third Arena (the only time Notre Dame has played in that facility).

The Last Time Notre Dame and Cincinnati Met
Notre Dame had a lot of fun getting serious about defense.

After losing three of their past four games, the No. 17/13 Fighting Irish used 21 steals to bolster Lindsay Schrader’s season-high 19 points and career-high 15 rebounds and beat Cincinnati 66-50 on Jan. 31, 2009, at Purcell Pavilion.

The Irish (16-4, 5-3 BIG EAST) used a 13-2 run late in the first half and a 7-0 run to start the second half, forcing five straight turnovers, to move ahead 43-26 on a three-pointer by Becca Bruszewski. The Irish opened a 52-33 lead on a free throw by Kellie Watson with 12:01 left.

The Bearcats (13-7, 3-4), led by Kahla Roudebush with 13 points, closed to 59-50 when Angel Morgan, who scored 10, cut drove the baseline and scored on a layup. They had a chance to cut the lead to six points, but Morgan missed a three.

Then Watson, who earlier ended an 0-for-14 streak over five games from three-point range, made back-to-back threes 40 seconds apart to clinch the victory.

The Last Time Notre Dame and Cincinnati Met At Fifth Third Arena
Charel Allen scored 16 points and led a pivotal run that swept No. 20 Notre Dame to a 73-41 victory over Cincinnati on Feb. 2, 2008, at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati.

Devereaux Peters scored 12 points as a reserve, and Tulyah Gaines and Ashley Barlow each added 11 to help Notre Dame (17-5, 5-3 BIG EAST) get back-to-back wins after consecutive losses.

Jill Stephens scored 14 points, and Kahla Roudebush had 11 for Cincinnati (10-11, 1-8), which has lost seven in a row and eight of its last nine.

Allen scored on a pull-up jumper, then stole the ball and fed Gaines for a layup to spark a 21-0 run that started late in the first half and continued after halftime, stretching a total of 12 minutes and 17 seconds. The run put Notre Dame in control at 38-26.

Roudebush scored four points on a pair of pull-up jumpers during a 9-0 Cincinnati run that gave the Bearcats their biggest lead, 26-17. Gaines scored four points in a 9-0 Notre Dame spurt that closed the half and tied it at 26.

Cincinnati missed its first five shots of the second half and committed eight turnovers while Notre Dame completed its decisive run. Cincinnati didn’t score in the first seven minutes of the second half.

Other Notre Dame-Cincinnati Series Tidbits

• The first three series games were decided by 11 points or fewer, but the past two have featured margins of at least 16 points per game.
• Among current BIG EAST members, Cincinnati (5-0) and Providence (18-0) are the only conference opponents Notre Dame has never lost to. The Irish defeated the Friars, 84-59, back on Jan. 27 at Purcell Pavilion.
• Notre Dame is 70-16 (.814) all-time against Ohio schools, with a 30-7 (.811) record on the road against teams from the Buckeye State. The Irish also have an active 15-game home winning streak against the state of Ohio since a 78-74 home loss to Dayton on March 8, 1993, in the quarterfinals of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now Horizon League) Tournament.
• Notre Dame also is 15-2 (.882) all-time when playing in the city of Cincinnati, with the majority of those games coming against Xavier (10-1) when both schools were members of the MCC in the early 1990s.
• The city of Cincinnati remains home to one of the landmark moments in Notre Dame women’s basketball history, as the Irish played in their first NCAA Women’s Final Four on March 29, 1997, at Riverfront Coliseum, falling to eventual national champion, Tennessee, 80-66 (the last time Notre Dame lost in the Queen City).
• Notre Dame senior guards Ashley Barlow and Melissa Lechlitner were members of the 2005 Indiana Junior All-Star Team that played the Indiana Senior All-Stars (featuring Cincinnati redshirt senior guard Kahla Roudebush from Noblesville, Ind.) in a hard-fought two-game exhibition series won by the seniors.
• Notre Dame sophomore guard Natalie Novosel grew up less than 90 miles south of Cincinnati in Lexington, Ky., and graduated from Lexington Catholic High School in 2008.
• Cincinnati freshman forward Elese Daniel is a South Bend native and a 2009 graduate of Clay High School.
• The Irish maintain a presence in the Queen City, with former Notre Dame assistant coach Kevin McGuff now in his eighth season as the head coach at Xavier; third-year Irish assistant Niele Ivey previously worked on McGuff’s staff as an administrative assistant from 2005-07.

Diggins Named BIG EAST Freshman Of The Week For Fourth Time
For the fourth time this season and the third time in the past five weeks, Notre Dame freshman guard Skylar Diggins has been selected as the BIG EAST Conference Freshman of the Week, it was announced Monday by the conference office. Diggins becomes just the third Fighting Irish rookie ever to earn four BIG EAST Freshman of the Week citations in a single season, joining Alicia Ratay (six in 1999-2000) and fellow Washington High School alum Jacqueline Batteast (six in 2001-02) in that elite company.

Diggins also earned BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honors back on Nov. 23, Jan. 11 and Jan. 25, and was chosen for a place on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Nov. 30, one of four Fighting Irish players to collect Honor Roll status at least once this season.

Last week, Diggins averaged 18.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game with a 7.00 assist/turnover ratio as Notre Dame picked up conference wins at Rutgers and at home vs. Pittsburgh. The Fighting Irish rookie guard led the team in scoring in both games, tallying 14 points and a game-high four steals in last Monday’s win at Rutgers, while also sparking a 9-1 game-clinching second-half run by the Fighting Irish with a driving layup. Then, on Saturday against Pittsburgh, Diggins notched career highs in numerous categories, including points (23), rebounds (10), assists (tied-6), and free throws made/attempted (9-of-11), while carding her first career double-double as Notre Dame went wire-to-wire for the victory.

Peaking When It Counts
When the regular season enters its stretch run in the month of February, Notre Dame historically seems to raise its level of play. Since joining the BIG EAST Conference in 1995-96, the Irish are 83-23 (.783) in February games, including a 47-5 (.904) mark at home.

In the 23-year Muffet McGraw era (1987-present), the Irish are 131-38 (.775) in the month of February, including a 69-11 (.863) home record. In that time, Notre Dame has not had a losing February, and only once did the Irish end the month at .500 (4-4 in 1988-89, McGraw’s second season in South Bend).

Twenty Questions
Notre Dame reached the 20-win mark for the 16th time in the past 17 seasons with its 75-63 victory at Rutgers on Feb. 1. The Irish now have registered 20-or-more wins 20 times in the 23-year Muffet McGraw era and 24 times in the program’s 33-year history.

Notre Dame also hit the 20-win plateau in its 21st game this season, reaching that milestone faster than all but one Irish team — the 2000-01 squad that opened 23-0 and earned its 20th victory at Providence on Jan. 31, 2001 (one calendar day earlier than this year’s club).

Tough Enough
Notre Dame already has faced a rigorous schedule through 22 games of the 2009-10 season, taking on six ranked opponents. The Irish also have risen to that challenge quite well, winning five of those six contests (Michigan State, San Diego State, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and West Virginia), including three victories away from home (MSU, SDSU and OU).

Four of Notre Dame’s five wins over ranked opponents came during the non-conference portion of the schedule, marking the second consecutive year in which the Irish defeated four Top 25 non-conference foes.

Comeback Kids
Notre Dame has rallied from a double-digit deficit to win three times this season. The Irish erased a 10-point first-half margin at Purdue on Jan. 4, followed by a 12-point first-half spread at Louisville on Jan. 19, and most recently, they wiped out a 13-point second-half gap at home against West Virginia on Jan. 24.

The three double-digit comeback victories are the most for Notre Dame in a single season since 2002-03, when it came back to win at West Virginia (trailed by 14), at Providence (trailed by 10) and home vs. Seton Hall (trailed twice by 12).

Spread The Wealth
Notre Dame has seen at least seven different players led the team in scoring, rebounding and assists this season.

In addition, 11 of the 13 players on the Irish roster have scored in double figures at least once this season, including sophomore guard Fraderica Miller, and freshman guards Skylar Diggins and Kaila Turner, who each topped the 10-point mark for the first time in their careers.

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.

Freshman guard Skylar Diggins (UAPB, Charlotte, Syracuse and Pittsburgh) has a team-high three 5-5-5 games, while junior guard Brittany Mallory (Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt) is right behind her with three 5-5-contests. Senior guard Ashley Barlow (Iona and South Florida) has two 5-5-5 outings, and junior forward Becca Bruszewski (Louisville) and sophomore guard Natalie Novosel (Eastern Michigan) each have 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 18 of 22 games thus far, with Irish foes averaging 24.2 giveaways per game, and Notre Dame chalking up a +7.23 turnover margin that is sixth-best in the nation (as of Feb. 8).

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 12 home games this season, forcing 26.2 turnovers per game (at least 25 in seven Purcell Pavilion contests) while holding visitors to 56.6 points a night.

The Five-Finger Discount
According to Monday’s NCAA statistical report, Notre Dame ranks third in the nation in steals (13.5 spg.). The Irish have posted double-digit steal totals in 15 of their 22 games this season, including five 20-steal efforts.

Individually, Notre Dame has five players with at least 30 steals this year, led by freshman guard Skylar Diggins, who has 52 thefts. She is the seventh Irish rookie to record at least 50 steals in her freshman season, and the first to do so since 2006-07, when current Notre Dame senior guard/co-captain Ashley Barlow registered 63 steals.

Glass Houses
Notre Dame and Connecticut are the only two BIG EAST teams with at least three current players having 500+ career rebounds. Irish fifth-year senior guard/tri-captain Lindsay Schrader is eighth all-time at Notre Dame with 772 boards, while senior guard tri-captain Ashley Barlow has 589 caroms and senior center Erica Williamson has 501 career rebounds.

Getting The Jump
At 15-0, Notre Dame got 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 season-opening 15-game winning streak tied for the third-longest success string in program history (at any time), and it was the longest since the school-record 23-game run to begin the 2000-01 season.

Road Warriors
Notre Dame is 26-10 (.722) in true road games since the start of the 2007-08 season, including a 6-1 record this year.

In addition, seven of the past eight 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).

Polling Station
Notre Dame is ranked fourth in this week’s Associated Press poll, appearing in the top five for the 14th 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.

In addition to their current poll appearance run of 52 consecutive weeks (the second-longest in school history behind a 56-week stretch from 1998-2002), the Irish have spent a total of seven weeks this year at a season-high No. 3 ranking. That is Notre Dame’s highest poll position 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 this week’s 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 192 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 checked in at No. 3 in last week’s ESPN/USA Today/WBCA coaches’ poll. It was the sixth time in seven weeks Notre Dame reached its season high in the ESPN/USA Today poll, while also being the highest it 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.

What’s more, it was the first time Notre Dame was 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 last week, the Irish have appeared in the coaches’ poll for 183 weeks during their history (all coming during McGraw’s tenure).

More Polling Data
Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw is one of 27 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 192 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 27 people on this list, 15 currently are NCAA Division I head coaches (see accompanying chart), including former Irish point guard and assistant coach Coquese Washington (’92), who helped Notre Dame to its first-ever AP poll ranking in 1990-91, and is in her third season as head coach at Penn State, guiding the Lady Lions into the Jan. 25 AP poll at No. 23.

Game #22 Recap: Pittsburgh
Skylar Diggins answered Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw’s challenge to be a better rebounder.

Diggins grabbed 10 rebounds to go with her 23 points, both season highs, to lead the third-ranked Fighting Irish to an 86-76 victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday at Purcell Pavilion.

“The rebounding is something we’ve been working on,” McGraw said. “She just did an outstanding job of trying to go get the rebound. That was the last piece that was missing.”

Pitt coach Agnus Berenato said the Panthers struggled to defend Diggins.

“She had a hot hand and Notre Dame did a great job of feeding the hot hand,” she said.

Diggins, a freshman, said she is feeling more comfortable in Notre Dame’s offense.

“I’m just playing. That’s what I’m doing better. I’m not playing not to make a mistake,” Diggins said. “I’m just being competitive and let the game come to me.”

Diggins, who also had six assists and two blocked shots with no turnovers, said she went into the game focusing on rebounding.

“I wanted to see how many I could get,” she said.

Diggins, whose previous high for rebounds was six against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, said she watched tape of recent games and found she was standing around too much.

“I was getting in there, I just wasn’t being aggressive to the ball,” she said.

Diggins was 9-of-11 from the free-throw line and the Fighting Irish (21-1, 8-1 BIG EAST) were 21-of-29. Pittsburgh (12-10, 1-8) was 9-of-15.

The Irish outscored the bigger Panthers 46-34 in the paint and had a 38-32 rebounding advantage. Lindsay Schrader added 18 points for Notre Dame and Becca Bruszewski had 10.

Taneisha Harrison led the Panthers with 20 points. Jania Sims had 13 and Chelsea Cole and Selena Nwude had 12 points each.

“We have to have at least four players in double figures,” Berenato said.

After the Irish went on a 14-2 run in the first half to open a 13-point lead, the Panthers gradually cut the deficit to four late in the first half. But the Irish led 45-37 at halftime, then used a 10-2 run early in the second half take a 48-45 lead.

Notre Dame extended the lead to 81-62 when Ashley Barlow hit a three as the shot clock sounded with 5:13 left. Pitt used a 14-3 run to cut the lead to 84-76 on a jumper by Sims, but couldn’t get any closer.

Noting The Pittsburgh Game

• Notre Dame led wire-to-wire in Saturday’s win over Pittsburgh, the fifth time this season the Fighting Irish have led start to finish in a victory, and the first since Dec. 20, when they posted a 90-31 win over Charlotte at Purcell Pavilion.
• Notre Dame improves to 18-3 all-time against Pittsburgh, including a 9-0 record at Purcell Pavilion.
• This marks the ninth time in the past 11 series games that the margin of victory was 12 points or fewer.
• The Fighting Irish logged their highest point total against the Panthers (86) since Feb. 17, 1996, when they earned an 89-51 win at Pittsburgh.
• Notre Dame has scored at least 65 points in 19 of the 21 series games against Pittsburgh.
• The Fighting Irish tied their season low by committing only nine turnovers, a mark they had reached twice before (Jan. 4 at Purdue and Jan. 9 at home vs. Villanova).
• Notre Dame shot at least 50 percent from the field for the seventh time this season, and first since Jan. 19, when the Fighting Irish connected at an even 50-percent clip in a 78-60 win at Louisville.
• Notre Dame dished out 25 assists, matching its second-highest output of the season (also Dec. 8 vs. IPFW and Jan. 12 vs. South Florida, both at home) and topped only by a 31-assist night in the season opener on Nov. 15 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (also at Purcell Pavilion).
• Freshman guard Skylar Diggins set or tied career highs for points (23, previous: 21 vs. San Diego State on Nov. 26 and at Syracuse on Jan. 30), rebounds (10, previous: 8 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 15), assists (6, previous: 6 at Syracuse on Jan. 30), and free throws made and attempted (9-11, previous: 8-10 vs. Iona on Nov. 22).
• Diggins also notched her first career double-double and is the third Notre Dame player with a double-double this season (fifth-year senior guard/tri-captain Lindsay Schrader has five, while junior forward Becca Bruszewski has one).
• Schrader tied her season high with 18 points (previous: vs. #18/16 Vanderbilt on Dec. 31 and vs. South Florida on Jan. 12) and four assists (previous: vs. Iona on Nov. 22 and at Purdue on Jan. 4).
• Notre Dame set a school record with its third sellout of the season (9,149), after having two sellouts each in 2000-01 and 2007-08; it’s also the ninth sellout in program history, with seven of those nine sellouts and 15 of the top 20 crowds in Notre Dame history coming in the past five seasons.
• The Fighting Irish now are averaging a school-record 8,559 fans per game, and with Saturday’s sellout, Notre Dame has attracted more than 100,000 total fans (102,707) for the fourth consecutive season and the fifth time in program history.

Schrader Added To State Farm Wade Trophy Watch List
Fifth-year senior guard/tri-captain Lindsay Schrader was one of seven players added to the 2009-10 State Farm Wade Trophy Watch List, it was announced Jan. 28 by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). Schrader and her fellow mid-season additions earned their spots on this year’s Wade Watch List by virtue of their on-court performances to date during the ’09-10 campaign, and they expand the player pool for this season’s national player-of-the-year award to 32, as selected by the State Farm Wade Trophy Committee.

Schrader, a preseason all-BIG EAST Conference selection and three-time BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll choice this year, becomes the fifth Notre Dame player named to the Wade Watch List in the past seven seasons, and the first since Charel Allen in 2007-08.

In addition, Schrader is the third Notre Dame player this season to earn a place on a national player-of-the-year award watch list. Senior guard/tri-captain Ashley Barlow was both a preseason Naismith Trophy candidate and a midseason John R. Wooden Award Top 20 choice, while freshman guard Skylar Diggins joined Barlow on this year’s preseason Naismith Trophy candidate slate.

McGraw Earns 600th Career Win
Irish head coach Muffet McGraw reached her second important career milestone of the season on Jan. 19, as she became the 19th Division I coach to record 600 career wins when the Irish posted a 78-60 victory at Louisville.

McGraw earned the milestone win in her 839th career game (she now has a 28-year mark of 605-239, .717), tying her with former Saint Peter’s coach Mike Granelli as the 10th-fastest to the 600-win plateau in Division I history.

In honor of the historic 600th victory, Notre Dame fans at Purcell Pavilion held up signs with the number “600” on them when McGraw and her staff took the floor prior to the Jan. 24 win over No. 16/11 West Virginia. The visibly-moved Irish coach later called the scene “one of the top five moments” of her Notre Dame career.

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 517-198 (.723) in 23 seasons at Notre Dame (1987-88 to present) and a 605-239 (.717) 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.

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 304 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 113 career starts, including a current streak of 71 in a row (putting her three 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, while the current Irish senior quartet is closing in on 10th place (127) in that category (Lechlitner at 118, the other three at 117).

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 13th in school history with 1,361 career points, while Schrader is 15th with 1,311 points. They could be joined by their fellow senior guard and tri-captain, Melissa Lechlitner, who has 884 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.

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.

Lechlitner Named Second-Team Academic All-District
Senior guard/tri-captain Melissa Lechlitner has been named to the 2010 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V Second Team, it was announced Feb. 4 by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

It’s the first time Lechlitner has earned the award, and she is the first Fighting Irish player to garner academic all-district status since 2006, when former Notre Dame point guard Megan Duffy received her second consecutive district award and parlayed that into first-team Academic All-America honors. What’s more, Lechlitner becomes the eighth Fighting Irish women’s basketball player in the past 12 seasons to be an academic all-district selection.

Lechlitner currently maintains a 3.377 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) in the College of Arts and Letters, where she is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in psychology. She earned dean’s list honors in the spring of 2007 with a 3.75 semester GPA, and is coming off a stellar fall 2009 term that saw her post a 3.583 GPA. In addition, she is a three-time BIG EAST Conference All-Academic Team selection and is a prime candidate to make that squad once again this year.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Half And Half
During the past decade, Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable when it has the lead at halftime. The Irish are 181-17 (.914) since the start of the 2000-01 campaign when they go into the dressing room with the lead, including wins in 109 of their last 120 such contests.

Notre Dame has led at the break in 18 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 204-14 (.936) record when they hold their opponents below 60 points in a game.

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

…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 135-4 (.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 12 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, South Florida, Providence and Pittsburgh.

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 185 of their last 209 games (.885) at the 9,149-seat Purcell Pavilion, including winning streaks of 51 and 25 games in that span. Notre Dame also has a 104-17 (.860) 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 335-85 (.798) 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 12 home games this season, Notre Dame is averaging 8,559 fans per game, putting the Irish more than 700 fans ahead of their school-record attendance average of 7,825 fans per game, also set in 2001-02.

Notre Dame has posted nine sellouts in program history, the most recent coming on Feb. 6, when the Irish drew 9,149 fans to Purcell Pavilion for their win over Pittsburgh — it also was the third women’s basketball sellout since the renovated arena opened this fall (the other capacity crowds coming on Dec. 31 vs. No. 18/16 Vanderbilt and Jan. 24 vs. No. 16/11 West Virginia), setting a new school record for sellouts in one season (Notre Dame had two each in 2000-01 and 2007-08).

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 158 televised games, including 105 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.

Irish Lend Hand For Haiti Earthquake Relief
Fundraising efforts held in conjunction with two University of Notre Dame home basketball games have resulted in more than $250,000 in donations that will go toward relief efforts in Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit the island nation on Jan. 12.

Through the generosity of fans and alumni, as well as contributions from the University and the Notre Dame Monogram Club, the money was raised at the men’s and women’s basketball games that were played Jan. 23 and 24, respectively, at Purcell Pavilion.

Notre Dame donated full gate receipts and net concession revenue from both games to the relief effort. In addition, a collection organized by the Notre Dame Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) — led by president and current Irish women’s basketball senior center Erica Williamson, as well as baseball player Ryan Connolly and rower Emily Crosby — raised more than $25,000 from fans and alumni who contributed during the games. The Monogram Club added a $10,000 matching gift to the student total.

Money raised will benefit short-term needs and long-term rebuilding efforts in Haiti and will be distributed to the Notre Dame Haiti Program, which works to eradicate the debilitating mosquito-borne disease lymphatic filariasis; the Congregation of Holy Cross, which has served in Haiti since 1944 and was heavily affected by the earthquake; and Catholic Relief Services, the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States.

Next Game: DePaul
Notre Dame returns home to Purcell Pavilion Sunday for a 3 p.m. (ET) Valentine’s Day contest against BIG EAST rival DePaul that will be televised live regionally by ESPN2 as part of its “February Frenzy” coverage (designed to mimic its regionalized NCAA Championship broadcast footprint).

Sunday’s game also will serve as Notre Dame’s annual “Pink Zone” contest, held in support of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) national initiative to raise money for breast cancer research — the Irish already have raised more than $35,000 for this cause even before Sunday’s gameday events (which will include a silent auction and feature Notre Dame players wearing special white and pink uniforms).

DePaul (16-8, 5-5) is coming off a 64-60 win at home over Villanova on Sunday. The Blue Demons will play host to top-ranked Connecticut Wednesday night before venturing down the Indiana Toll Road to take on Notre Dame this weekend.

— ND —