#5/6 Irish Back Home Tuesday To Take On Mercer

Nov. 19, 2012

Full Notes Package in PDF Format

2012-13 ND Women’s Basketball: Game 3

#5/6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-0 / 0-0 BIG EAST) vs. Mercer Bears (3-0 / 0-0 Atlantic Sun)

DATE: November 20, 2012
TIME: 7:00 p.m. ET
AT: Notre Dame, Ind. – Purcell Pavilion (9,149)
SERIES: ND leads 1-0
LAST MTG: ND 128-42 (12/30/11)
VIDEO: UND.com (live-free)
RADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) (live) (Bob Nagle, p-b-p)
LIVE STATS:
TWITTER: @ndwbbsid
TICKETS: (574) 631-7356 / UND.com/tickets

Storylines

• Notre Dame is aiming to continue its recent success when playing on one day’s rest (or less), having posting a 28-9 (.757) record in the second half of such situations dating back to 2008-09.
• Senior guard Skylar Diggins needs 11 points to catch Alicia Ratay (1999-2003) for fifth place on Notre Dame’s career scoring list.

No. 5/6 Irish Back Home Tuesday To Take On Mercer
Following a successful effort in their home opener on Sunday, it’s a quick turnaround for No. 5/6 Notre Dame, as the Fighting Irish play host to Mercer at 7 p.m. (ET) Tuesday at Purcell Pavilion. The game will be streamed live and free of charge on the official Notre Dame athletics web site, UND.com.

Playing in front of the first sellout crowd for a home opener in school history, Notre Dame (2-0) rolled to its second win in as many outings on the young 2012-13 season, downing Massachusetts, 94-50 on Sunday afternoon at Purcell Pavilion. The Fighting Irish used a 17-0 run midway through the first half to take control, shooting 55.4 percent from the floor and forcing 34 UMass turnovers on the day.

Junior guard Kayla McBride led a four-player Fighting Irish contingent in double figures with 18 points, while senior guard Skylar Diggins added 15 points and seven assists.

Rankings

• Notre Dame is No. 5 in this week’s Associated Press poll and No. 6 in last week’s ESPN/USA Today poll (new poll released Tuesday).
• Mercer is not ranked.

Quick Hitters

• With its No. 5 ranking in this week’s Associated Press poll, Notre Dame has appeared in the media poll for 99 consecutive weeks, extending a program record that dates back to the 2007-08 preseason poll. In fact, every current Fighting Irish player has competed for a ranked Notre Dame squad throughout her career, with the vast majority of that time (49 weeks) spent in the AP Top 10.
• The Fighting Irish also held down the No. 7 spot in the preseason AP poll, making the first media poll in 13 of the past 14 years (since 1999-2000), something only six other schools in the country can match.
• Senior guards Skylar Diggins and Kaila Turner have helped Notre Dame win 97 games to date, easily the most victories by a Fighting Irish class in its first 115 games, surpassing the one-player 2001-02 senior class of Ericka Haney, who was a part of 88 wins at this point early in her senior year (a run that was highlighted the 2001 national championship).
• With 593 victories in her 26 seasons at Notre Dame, head coach Muffet McGraw ranks second on the Fighting Irish athletics all-time coaching wins list (across all sports), trailing only men’s/women’s fencing coach Michael DeCicco (774-80 from 1962-95).
• McGraw also is 19 wins away from becoming the 13th coach in NCAA Division I history to amass 700 victories (and should she do so within the next 62 games, she would be the 11th to compile 700 victories in less than 1,000 games coached). What’s more, when McGraw reaches the 700-win milestone, she will be the third BIG EAST Conference skipper to hit that landmark, along with C. Vivian Stringer (Rutgers) and Geno Auriemma (Connecticut), both of whom are enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Other Notre Dame Notables

• Notre Dame is among the nation’s winningest programs during the past 17 seasons (1996-97 to present), ranking fourth with 411 victories.
• Notre Dame has ranked among the top 20 in the nation in attendance annually since 2000-01 (including top-five rankings the past three years). Last season, the Fighting Irish ranked fifth in the nation with 8,571 fans per home game, setting a school record for average attendance for the third consecutive season. The Fighting Irish also have drawn 5,000-or-more fans to 177 of their last 179 home games, logging 26 Purcell Pavilion sellouts, including 20 in the past four seasons (a school-record eight in 2011-12). Notre Dame tipped off this year with its first home-opening sellout, packing the house for Sunday’s win over Massachusetts.
• The Fighting Irish have become a regular fixture in the WNBA Draft in recent years, as nine Notre Dame players have been selected in the past 12 seasons. Devereaux Peters and Natalie Novosel were the most recent Fighting Irish players to be chosen, with both going in the first round (Peters third overall to Minnesota; Novosel eighth overall to Washington) of the 2012 WNBA Draft. Last year’s draft marked the first time Notre Dame has had two first-round picks in the same year, while Peters was the highest-drafted player (and first lottery selection) in program history. Ruth Riley (Chicago) was active in the league during the ’12 season, helping the Sky contend for a playoff berth into the final weeks of the season. Three of Notre Dame’s 10 all-time WNBA alums have won a total of four league championships — Riley won a pair of crowns with the Detroit Shock (2003 Finals MVP, 2006), Coquese Washington toiled for the 2000 Houston Comets, while Jacqueline Batteast was Riley’s teammate on the 2006 title-winning squad in Detroit. Peters nearly joined that list in 2012, helping Minnesota return to the WNBA Finals, but the Lynx could not defend their title, falling to Indiana in four games.
• For the sixth year in a row, the Fighting Irish posted a perfect 100-percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR), according to figures released by the NCAA in October. What’s more, Notre Dame was one of only four schools in the previous five years to record a 100-percent GSR and play for a national championship in the same season (and the only program to do it twice, pulling off that feat in 2011 and 2012).

Scouting Mercer
Mercer (3-0) is off to its best start since the 1999-2000 season after reeling off consecutive victories at home over Brevard (57-50), at Troy (96-90) and at home over Jacksonville State (63-51). Those three wins have been made all the more impressive when considering that the Bears currently are missing their top two returning scorers from last season (junior guard Briana Williams and senior guard Ry’van Buchanan) due to injuries.

In its most recent victory last Saturday over Jacksonville State, Mercer rode a frenzied defense that forced 24 turnovers and converted those takeaways into 21 points. The Bears also were sharp at the foul line (24-of-31) and got some strong bench play to secure the win.

A pair of sophomore guards did the most damage for Mercer against JSU, with Precious Bridges scoring a game-high 18 points and Tabitha Bradshaw coming on as the Bears’ super-sub to add 16 points (6-11 FG, 3-5 3FG).

Bridges comes into Tuesday’s contest at Notre Dame averaging a team-high 17.3 points per game, while Bradshaw is second on the squad in scoring (13.0 ppg.). Redshirt junior guard Kendra Grant is well on the road to recovery after being sidelined last year by injury, averaging 12.0 ppg., while 6-foot-5 sophomore center Teanna Robinson is collecting 6.3 points and a team-high 10.0 rebounds per game.

Head coach Susie Gardner is in her third season at Mercer with an 11-50 (.180) record at the Macon, Ga., school. Adding in her prior stops at Austin Peay (1996-2003) and Arkansas (2003-07), Gardner has a 14-year career coaching record of 187-197 (.487), including an 0-1 mark against Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame-Mercer Series
Notre Dame and Mercer will be playing for the second time in series history when they tangle on Tuesday night. This year’s matchup is the back end of a home-and-home series between the Fighting Irish and Bears (in order to facilitate a homecoming game for now-graduated Notre Dame guard and Atlanta native Fraderica Miller (’12)), with Notre Dame winning the first meeting, 128-42, on Dec. 30, 2011, in Macon, Ga.

The Last Time Notre Dame And Mercer Met
After watching Notre Dame set a school record with 72 points in the first half, coach Muffet McGraw had a simple message for her players:

“Let’s keep doing it.”

The No. 3 Fighting Irish kept piling up the points — and the school records, including for most points in a game — and overwhelmed Mercer, 128-42 on Dec. 30, 2011, at University Center (now Hawkins Arena) in Macon, Ga.

Markisha Wright had a career-high 24 points and Skylar Diggins had 21 on a perfect shooting night (8-8 FG, 1-1 3FG, 4-4 FT) as Notre Dame stretched its winning streak to 10 games.

“I thought we executed really well,” McGraw said.

The rout was painful, said Mercer’s Ry’van Buchanan.

“We’ve got to go get some ice, put it on our behinds and just keep learning,” Buchanan said.

Mercer coach Susie Gardner, who played on two Final Four teams at Georgia, called Notre Dame “just a great team.”

“They’re not huge, they’re not overly `wow’ athletic, but they play so hard,” Gardner said. “They just know the game. They’re just basketball players.”

The Fighting Irish needed only the first 10 minutes of the second half to reach 100 points.

Mercer couldn’t run its offense effectively against the pressure of Notre Dame’s man-to-man defense. The Bears had 28 turnovers, leading to 55 points for the Fighting Irish.

Wright and Diggins led seven Notre Dame scorers in double figures. Kaila Turner had a career-high 17 points, while Natalie Achonwa and Natalie Novosel each had 13 for the Fighting Irish.

Briana Williams led Mercer with 10 points but made only 2 of 12 shots from the field.

Notre Dame led 72-30 at halftime to easily set a team record for the most points in a half, topping the 62 points it scored in the second half against West Virginia on Jan. 9, 1997.

The Fighting Irish made 24 of 30 shots (80 percent) from the field in the dominant half.

Notre Dame came within one point of matching the team record for the biggest halftime lead — 43 points at 58-15 against Indiana State on Nov. 13, 2011.

Buchanan opened the game with a basket for Mercer. Notre Dame scored the next 17 points, as its defense caused an immediate rash of turnovers for the Bears.

Mercer managed to attempt only two shots from the field before Sharmesia Smith scored with 15:13 remaining in the half to end Notre Dame’s 17-0 run.

McGraw said she scheduled the game to give Atlanta native Fraderica Miller a chance to play in her home state. Miller, a senior guard, made her first career start and had eight points, 11 rebounds and three steals.

Other Notre Dame-Mercer Series Tidbits

• In last year’s win, Notre Dame set or tied eight school records — points in a game, points in a road game, margin of victory, points in a single half, points in the first half, field goal percentage, free throws made and free throws attempted.
• Notre Dame’s 128 points also tied for 17th-most in a single game in NCAA Division I history, and most since Nov. 29, 2002 (Tennessee scored 136 points against Puerto Rico-Mayaguez).
• The 72 points in the first half tied for eighth-most in a single half in NCAA Division I history and most since Nov. 30, 1996 (Richmond scored 73 in a half against Delaware State).
• The Fighting Irish shot 80 percent (24-of-30) from the floor in the first half, the fourth-highest single-half field goal percentage in school history and best since Jan. 25, 1990 (second-best in a first half behind record .824 on Dec. 4, 1987, at Wisconsin-Green Bay).
• Diggins’ 8-for-8 shooting night was the best by a Fighting Irish player (minimum seven attempts) since Dec. 11, 2004, when Crystal Erwin made all nine of her shots in a win over Washington at Purcell Pavilion.
• Mercer set a Notre Dame opponent record with 37 fouls, topping the old mark of 35 fouls set by Xavier on Feb. 8, 1986, at Purcell Pavilion.
• Mercer is the first Georgia school to visit Purcell Pavilion since Nov. 25, 2008, when Notre Dame defeated Georgia Southern, 85-36. The Fighting Irish are 4-2 all-time against Georgia schools, including a 1-1 record at home (Notre Dame lost to visiting Georgia, 81-75 on Dec. 21, 1992 – the last time the Fighting Irish lost a game to a team from the Peach State).
• While Notre Dame doesn’t currently have a Georgia native on its roster (with Miller’s graduation), the Fighting Irish will re-establish some Peach State representation in 2013-14 when forward Kristina Nelson joins the roster (Nelson, a product of Buford High School, signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Notre Dame on Nov. 14).

Notre Dame vs. The Atlantic Sun Conference
Prior to last year’s win at Mercer, Notre Dame had never played a current (or former) member of the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The Atlantic Sun is based in Macon, Ga., was established in 1978 as the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) before changing to its current name in 2001. Mercer (which also is located in Macon, Ga.) is the lone remaining charter member of the conference, which currently includes 10 teams.

48 Hours
Since the start of the 2008-09 season, Notre Dame has played 37 times when it has had a short one-day break (or less) between games.

When faced with such a tight turnaround, the Fighting Irish have risen to the occasion in recent seasons, going 28-9 (.757) on the back half of these two-game (or more) blitzes during the past four years (12-2 last season).

The only Notre Dame losses last season when playing on short rest came at No. 4 Connecticut (March 6 in BIG EAST Championship final when Notre Dame was playing for third consecutive day) and against No. 1 Baylor (April 3 in the NCAA national championship game at the Pepsi Center in Denver).

Game #2 Recap: Massachusetts
Notre Dame used a tenacious defense and balanced offense to rout Massachusetts in its home opener.

Junior guard Kayla McBride scored 18 points and senior guard Skylar Diggins added 15 to help the No. 7/6 Fighting Irish beat UMass 94-50 on Sunday at Purcell Pavilion.

“I thought we did a lot of good things on the offensive side, but I thought we could have rebounded a little bit better,” said Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw. “We’ve got a lot of things to work on. It’s early in the year, we’re still finding our way.”

The Fighting Irish (2-0) only led by four early on before using a 17-0 run to blow the game open. Notre Dame used its defense to take control, forcing 20 turnovers in the first half that led to 30 points.

“We’ve really been working hard at double-teaming, running at the ball, and trying to have our defense get their offense to feel really uncomfortable,” McGraw said. “I was disappointed we didn’t take more charges but overall I thought we had a good awareness today of where their shooters were.”

Offensively the Fighting Irish had four players in double figures and had 26 assists.

“I think we’re a good passing team. It’s like last year’s team,” said Diggins, who had seven assists. “We have a lot of weapons. We have a lot of people who can score. It’s just a matter of finding the open player. I think sometimes we overpass a little bit and try to think too much for each other. But that’s something that we’re learning. I like that we’re sharing the ball.”

UMass coach Sharon Dawley scheduled the game for her senior center, Jasmine Watson, a South Bend native. Watson and Diggins led South Bend Washington High School to the state title game their senior year (2008-09).

Watson was one of four Minutewomen to lead the team in scoring with eight points. She led both teams with eight rebounds, but fouled out with 7:25 left in the game.

Dawley, noting she has three other players from Michigan and one from Ohio, said her team might have been caught up in the moment.

“We wanted to bring Jas home and I think everyone just got too caught up in the emotional side, where we’re playing, who we’re playing, how good they are,” Dawley said. “Sometimes you can try too hard and look awful, and I think that’s what happened. I think we played better in the second half because we just decided to play basketball.”

Beyond The Box Score: Massachusetts

• Notre Dame is 28-8 (.778) all-time in home openers and has won 18 consecutive South Bend lidlifters, while improving to 22-4 (.846) in its annual Purcell Pavilion debut during the Muffet McGraw era (1987-88 to present).
• The Fighting Irish have won their last six home openers (beginning with the 2007-08 season) by an average of 40.5 points per game.
• Notre Dame moves to 2-0 all-time against UMass, with the other win coming in the third-place game at the 1995 postseason National Women’s Invitation Tournament (NWIT) — precursor to today’s WNIT — in Amarillo, Texas.
• The Fighting Irish are 14-6 (.700) all-time against teams from the state of Massachusetts, with a 9-1 mark against the Bay State at Purcell Pavilion.
• Notre Dame rises to 86-24 (.782) all-time against the current Atlantic 10 Conference alignment, along with a 40-11 (.784) record at home.
• Notre Dame also has won 21 consecutive games against current A-10 schools, a streak that dates back to Feb. 18, 1995 (84-68 at La Salle, when the Fighting Irish and La Salle were in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, now known as the Horizon League).
• McBride had a career-high five steals (previous best was four on two occasions, most recently on March 20, 2012, vs. California in the second round of the NCAA Championship at Purcell Pavilion), and just missed her career scoring high of 20 points (set on Dec. 30, 2010, in a win over Loyola Marymount at the State Farm Holiday Hoops Classic in Seattle).
• Freshman guards Hannah Huffman and Michaela Mabrey made their college debuts on Sunday, while sophomore forward Markisha Wright earned her first career start (the third different first-time starter for the Fighting Irish this year, following debuts by sophomore guard Madison Cable and freshman guard Jewell Loyd in the Nov. 9 season-opening win over No. 19/21 Ohio State at the Carrier Classic in Mount Pleasant, S.C.).
• Wright had a career-high four assists on Sunday, two more than her previous best that she set on three occasions, the last on Jan. 17, 2012, in a win over Pittsburgh at Purcell Pavilion.
• Notre Dame had a sellout crowd of 9,149 for Sunday’s win over UMass, the first sellout for a home opener in school history and the 26th capacity crowd in the program’s 36-year tenure, as well as the 20th sellout in the past four seasons (2009-10 to present).

Diggins Challenging School Records
Throughout the 2012-13 season, senior guard Skylar Diggins will continue to close the gap that separates her from the highest eschelon of Notre Dame women’s basketball players in a number of the program’s top career categories. Here’s a look at just a few of the notable milestones Diggins will have a shot to reach this season:

• Diggins is 70 rebounds away to become the first women’s basketball player in school history with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists in her career. Only one Notre Dame men’s basketball player has ever compiled that impressive combination of statistics (Chris Thomas from 2001-05).
• Diggins is 248 points away from becoming the fourth 2,000-point scorer in school history, and she needs 570 points to catch current Notre Dame associate coach Beth (Morgan) Cunningham as the program’s all-time leading scorer. On the way to both marks, Diggins can move into the top five on the Notre Dame career scoring list on Tuesday, sitting just 11 points shy of catching sharpshooting honorable mention All-America guard Alicia Ratay (1999-2003) for the No. 5 spot.
• In addition, Diggins is 76 steals away from assistant coach Niele Ivey’s school record for career thefts, having tied former teammate Brittany Mallory (2007-12) for fifth on the school’s all-time steals list with 272 after three swipes on Sunday against Massachusetts.
• Diggins has an outside shot at the Fighting Irish all-time record for assists held by Mary Gavin, needing 249 helpers to reach the mark (Ivey is second, currently 198 ahead of Diggins). Diggins also is closing in on the top five in that category, currently ranking sixth with 529 assists, just 25 behind Coquese Washington (1989-93).

The Best Things In Life Are Free
Though it’s quite early in the 2012-13 season, Notre Dame already is displaying an early penchant for making opponents pay at the free throw line.

Through their first two games, the Fighting Irish are shooting a remarkable .889 (40-of-45) from the charity stripe, including a season-high .905 (19-of-21) in Sunday’s home-opening win over Massachusetts.

Last year, Notre Dame set a school record by connecting at a .763 clip from the foul line, leading the BIG EAST with a stellar .807 percentage during conference play.

Junior guard Kayla McBride has had the most success cashing in on this strategy during the past two seasons, shooting .872 from the stripe last year (a league-leading .919 in BIG EAST games) and making all four of her free throws so far this season.

For her career, McBride has logged an .874 free throw percentage, moving slightly ahead of Alicia Ratay’s .872 school-record mark from 1999-2003.

Anchors Aweigh
Notre Dame made a bit of women’s basketball history on Nov. 9, joining with Ohio State to play the first women’s game ever on the deck of an aircraft carrier, as the teams squared off outdoors in the second annual Carrier Classic aboard the decommissioned USS Yorktown in Mount Pleasant, S.C. (on the shores of Charleston Harbor).

The game was played to benefit the Wounded Warriors Project, which aids returning veterans who have been injured while in the service of our country, and the Fighting Irish were exceptionally proud and honored to have former Notre Dame guard, U.S. Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient Danielle Green (`00) join the team on the bench for their historic game against Ohio State. Green, who lost her left (shooting) hand in May 2004 during a rocket-propelled grenade attack while on patrol on the roof of a police station in Baghdad, Iraq, delivered an inspiring pre-game speech to the current Fighting Irish squad before they came out to face Ohio State.

Notre Dame won this year’s Carrier Classic game, 57-51, behind the second career double-double (17 points, 10 rebounds) from junior forward Natalie Achonwa and 16 points from junior guard Kayla McBride. After the game, head coach Muffet McGraw said the victory was dedicated to Green.

Notre Dame Picked Second In 2012-13 BIG EAST Coaches’ Preseason Poll
Following its second BIG EAST Conference regular-season title (and first outright championship) in 2011-12, Notre Dame was selected as the No. 2 team in the annual BIG EAST preseason women’s basketball poll, according to a vote of the league’s 15 head coaches released Oct. 18 during the 2012-13 BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Media Day at the New York Athletic Club in New York City.

Connecticut was the preseason BIG EAST favorite by the conference coaches, earning 194 total points, including 12 of a possible 15 first-place votes. Notre Dame was second, collecting 182 points along with the remaining three first-place votes. Louisville (167 points), St. John’s (144 points) and Rutgers (143 points) rounded out the top five in the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches Poll, with league skippers not allowed to vote for their own teams or players.

Diggins AP Preseason All-American/BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year
Even before the ball has been tossed for the first time in 2011-12, Notre Dame senior guard Skylar Diggins already has been tapped for numerous accolades.

Most notably, she was a unanimous choice for the Associated Press Preseason All-America Team, appearing on that squad for the second consecutive year. She is the first Fighting Irish player to garner AP Preseason All-America honors twice in her career.

In addition, Diggins was chosen as the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, becoming the first Fighting Irish player to receive that accolade more than once. A year ago, Diggins followed up her preseason selection by earning BIG EAST Player of the Year honors at the end of the 2011-12 campaign.

Diggins also was a unanimous choice for the preseason all-conference team for the third consecutive year. What’s more, she already has been named to the State Farm Wade Trophy Watch List, and is a prime candidate for all other major national honors in 2012-13.

Last season, Diggins was a consensus first-team All-America selection (including her spot on the State Farm Coaches All-America Team, as selected by the WBCA), and she was a finalist for every major national player-of-the-year award, taking home the Nancy Lieberman Award as the nation’s top point guard. She also was chosen as the BIG EAST Player of the Year (the third Notre Dame player to be so honored and the first since 2005) and is a two-time unanimous first-team all-conference selection.

The Diggins Factor
Notre Dame has posted a 97-18 (.843) record in the past four seasons (2009-10 to present), a mark that can be traced in no small part to the arrival of guard Skylar Diggins. The South Bend native has helped lead the Fighting Irish to a spot in the 2011 and 2012 NCAA national championship games and a berth in the 2010 NCAA Sweet 16, as well as a 20-11 record against AP Top 25 teams (10-9 vs. the AP Top 10) and a 63-game winning streak against unranked opponents (not appearing in the AP poll) from the start of the 2009-10 season before falling to West Virginia on Feb. 12, 2012 (now 69-1 vs. unranked teams).

Upon closer examination, Notre Dame’s 18 losses in Diggins’ career primarily have been ones that could have gone either way, with 11 decided by single digits (six were in doubt inside the final minute), and two that went to overtime.

With Diggins in uniform, the Fighting Irish have posted three of the top 10 most prolific offensive seasons in school history, averaging 78.9 ppg. last year, after logging 77.0 ppg. in 2010-11, and 77.2 ppg. in her freshman season of 2009-10.

In addition, thanks to Diggins’ penchant for steals (she has a 2.37 spg. career mark that is fourth-best in school history), the Fighting Irish have recorded the top three single-season steal marks in program history with 502 thefts last year, 495 steals in 2010-11, and 450 thefts in 2009-10.

The past two years also have seen Notre Dame post two of the four best defensive scoring average in school history, allowing a school-record 52.9 ppg., last season (well ahead of the previous mark of 55.1 ppg., in 1981-82) and giving up just 56.2 ppg., in 2010-11.

Polling Station
Notre Dame is ranked No. 5 in the latest Associated Press poll, its 29th consecutive week in the top 10 of the media balloting, dating back to the middle of the 2010-11 season.

The No. 5 ranking also marks the 99th consecutive AP poll appearance for the Fighting Irish, extending the program record that started with the AP preseason poll in 2007-08 (the old record was 59 consecutive weeks from 1998-2001). In fact, every current Notre Dame player has competed for a ranked Fighting Irish squad throughout her career, spending nearly all (49) of those appearances in the AP Top 10 (and never lower than 18th).

This year’s No. 7 preseason ranking also represented the 13th time in the past 14 years (starting with the 1999-2000 campaign) that Notre Dame has appeared in the preseason AP poll, something only seven schools in the nation have done — Connecticut, Duke and Tennessee have shown up in all 14 during that span, while Georgia, Oklahoma and Stanford join the Fighting Irish with 13 preseason AP poll berths.

Notre Dame has been ranked in the AP poll for 238 weeks during the program’s 36-year history, with every one of those appearances coming in the Muffet McGraw era (since 1987-88). McGraw ranks ninth among all active NCAA Division I head coaches for weeks in the AP poll, and 20th all-time in that category.

In addition, the Fighting Irish was No. 6 in last week’s ESPN/USA Today/WBCA coaches’ poll, the same place they held in the preseason balloting. The new coaches’ poll will come out on Tuesday, prior to the matchup with Mercer.

Notre Dame has been ranked in the coaches’ poll for 98 of the past 99 weeks, falling just outside the Top 25 in the final poll of the 2008-09 season. Nevertheless, the Fighting Irish have appeared in the coaches’ poll for a total of 231 weeks during their history (all coming during McGraw’s tenure).

This marks the fifth consecutive season Notre Dame has been ranked in the top 10 of the ESPN/USA Today/WBCA poll, as well as 11 of the past 15 campaigns (1998-99 to present).

More Polling Data
Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw is one of 32 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 238 AP poll appearances while coaching at Notre Dame, McGraw was the starting point guard at Saint Joseph’s (Pa.) as a senior in 1977, helping the Hawks to No. 3 in the nation.

Of the 32 people on this list, 15 currently are NCAA Division I head coaches (see accompanying chart), with McGraw and Baylor’s Kim Mulkey are the only active skippers to play for and coach a team in the AP poll, and coach that team to a national title (McGraw in 2001, Mulkey in 2005 and 2012).

Half And Half
During the past 12 seasons, Notre Dame has been nearly unbeatable when it has the lead at halftime. The Fighting Irish are 249-19 (.929) since the start of the 2000-01 campaign when they go into the dressing room with the lead, including wins in 177 of their last 190 such contests (.932).

What’s more, in the past four seasons (2009-10 to present), Notre Dame is 86-2 (.977) when leading at the half, with the only losses coming on April 5, 2011, in the NCAA national championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (Notre Dame led Texas A&M, 35-33 at intermission before falling 76-70), and Feb. 12, 2012, against West Virginia (Fighting Irish led 33-30 at the break before the visiting Mountaineers rallied to win in the closing seconds, 65-63).

The Best Offense Is A Good Defense…
During the past 18 seasons, Notre Dame has discovered that a solid defensive effort can almost certainly guarantee a victory. In fact, since the beginning of the 1995-96 season (Notre Dame’s first in the BIG EAST Conference), the Fighting Irish have an amazing 260-15 (.945) record when they hold their opponents below 60 points in a game, including both outings so far this season.

…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 18 seasons (since 1995-96), the Fighting Irish are 169-6 (.966) when they score at least 80 points in a game. The only blemishes on that record are three overtime losses to Texas A&M (88-84) and Michigan State (87-83) in 1995 and UCLA (86-83 in double OT) in 2010, as well as a 106-81 loss to Connecticut in 1998, an 81-80 loss to DePaul in 2008, and a 94-81 setback at Baylor in 2011.

In the past four years (2009-10 to present), Notre Dame is 46-2 (.958) when topping the 80-point mark, having reached that level for the first time this season in Sunday’s win over Massachusetts.

Now That’s A Home Court Advantage
One of the hallmarks of Notre Dame’s success has been its stellar play at home. In fact, the Fighting Irish have been virtually untouchable at home in recent years, winning 222 of their last 250 games (.888) at the 9,149-seat Purcell Pavilion, including winning streaks of 51, 25 and 20 games in that span (the latter from 2011-12, ending Feb. 12 vs. West Virginia). Notre Dame also has a 120-20 (.857) record in BIG EAST Conference play at the former Joyce Center, sporting a program-record 31-game league winning streak at home before it ended with a 48-45 loss to Villanova in the `02 home finale.

The Fighting Irish have been particularly strong when it comes to non-conference games at home, winning 104 of their last 112 non-BIG EAST contests (.929) at Purcell Pavilion, dating back to the 1994-95 season. Five of the eight losses in that span came at the hands of Big Ten Conference opponents (four by 12 points or less) — Wisconsin in 1996 (81-69), Purdue in 2003 (71-54), Michigan State in 2004 (82-73 OT), Indiana in 2006 (54-51) and Minnesota in 2009 (79-71) — with the other defeats coming to Tennessee in 2005 (62-51) and 2008 (87-63), and to UCLA in 2010 (86-83 in 2OT). The Purdue loss also snapped a 33-game non-conference home winning streak which began after the UW setback.

Since its inaugural season in 1977-78, Notre Dame has played all of its games at the former Joyce Center, posting a 372-89 (.807) record at the venerable facility. Three times (1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2003-04), the Fighting Irish went a perfect 15-0 at home, which was the school record for home victories in a season prior to the 2009-10 campaign, when Notre Dame went 16-1, a mark that lasted only two seasons before the Fighting Irish posted a 17-1 record at Purcell Pavilion last year.

Irish Are The Hottest Ticket In Town
The past three seasons have seen an unprecedented surge in fan support for Notre Dame women’s basketball, as the Fighting Irish set new program records for the highest year-end NCAA attendance ranking (fourth in 2009-10), highest average attendance (8,571 fans per game in 2011-12) and most sellouts in a single season (eight in 2011-12). And, as the old saying goes — “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

For the fourth consecutive preseason, Notre Dame fans all but exhausted the program’s season ticket packages (approximately 7,500) and have snapped up single-game ducats at a rate that helped the Fighting Irish already sell out the Dec. 5 game with Baylor and March 4 Connecticut game.

Notre Dame got its home slate off to a fine start at the box office on Nov. 18, welcoming the first home-opening sellout in school history for its victory over Massachusetts. That capacity crowd also was the 26th in the program’s 36-year tenure, including the 20th in the past four years alone.

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

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

LeSEA originates all Notre Dame women’s basketball games, with those events carried on Pulse FM (96.9/92.1), marking a return to the FM side of the dial for the first time since the 1998-99 season. Combined, these two stations blanket the nation’s No. 91 media market (South Bend-Mishawaka-Elkhart), covering a 21-county area in northern Indiana and southwest Michigan that contains approximately 1.5 million listeners (better than 800,000 in the greater South Bend area alone). All told, Notre Dame’s women’s basketball network stretches from Kalamazoo, Mich., to the north, North Judson, Ind., to the west, Macy, Ind., (home of former Fighting Irish All-America center Ruth Riley) to the south, and LaGrange, Ind., to the east.

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

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

Notre Dame On The Small Screen
Notre Dame will have at least 22 regular season games televised during the 2012-13 season. Highlighting this year’s broadcast schedule are 15 nationally- or regionally-televised Fighting Irish women’s basketball contests, including the program’s sixth-ever appearance on network television, and third in as many years (Jan. 5 at Connecticut on CBS) and eight showings on the ESPN family of networks, including three appearances on that entity’s famed “Big Monday” telecast (matching the most by any women’s basketball program in the nation this season).

In addition, Notre Dame continues to expand its broadcast reach globally on the Internet. For the seventh consecutive season, all Fighting Irish home games not selected for commercial TV coverage will be streamed live and free of charge on the official Notre Dame athletics web site, UND.com.

This year’s TV slate continues a trend that has seen the Fighting Irish become a regular fixture on television. Beginning with the NCAA championship season of 2000-01 and continuing through Sunday’s home opener against Massachusetts (streamed live on UND.com), Notre Dame has played in 236 televised games, including 180 that were broadcast nationally.

Irish Fans Crave Another Big Mac Attack
Now in its sixth season, Notre Dame’s wildly-successful “Big Mac” promotion will once again look to send fans home with full bellies, offering a coupon for a free Big Mac from South Bend-area McDonald’s restaurants if the Fighting Irish score at least 88 points in a home game.

In the six-year history of the promotion (and counting exhibition games), Notre Dame has hit the 88-point mark 36 times, most recently on Sunday against Massachusetts.

Junior forward Ariel Braker and sophomore forward Markisha Wright are the leaders among current Fighting Irish players, with both players have registered three “Big Mac baskets” during their respective careers.

And for those tracking such things (or perhaps falling under the heading of “the media relations director has way too much time on his hands”), 20 different players have converted the “burger ball”, including seven current members of the Fighting Irish roster.

What’s more, of the 36 Big Mac games, 17 have been reached on two-point baskets, 13 on free throws, and six on three-pointers.

Oh Captain, My Captain
Senior guards Skylar Diggins and Kaila Turner are serving as Notre Dame’s team captains for the 2012-13 season. Both players received the captain’s honor for the first time in their respective careers following a preseason vote by their teammates.

Coming Soon: Irish in the ACC
On Sept. 12, 2012, the University of Notre Dame announced that it had accepted an offer of admission into the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all sports except football (the league does not offer championships in ice hockey or fencing).

The change in conference affiliation (for which a timetable has not yet been established) will be the first for Notre Dame since 1995, when the Fighting Irish moved from the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League) to the BIG EAST Conference.

In its 18 seasons in the BIG EAST, the Notre Dame women’s basketball program has been the one of the conference’s best, winning two BIG EAST regular-season titles (2001 and 2012) and compiling a 216-64 (.771) record in league play that remains the second-best regular-season winning percentage in BIG EAST women’s basketball history.

Next Game: UCLA
Notre Dame heads to southern California for the first time in six years on Friday when it travels to Westwood, Calif., for a noon PT (3 p.m. ET) matchup with No. 19 UCLA at legendary Pauley Pavilion. The game will be televised live to a regional television audience on the Pac-12 Networks (check local listings or cable operator for availability).

The Bruins (2-0) should come into Friday’s game well-rested, having last played on Nov. 14, when they went on the road to knock off No. 11/10 Oklahoma, 86-80. Senior forward Alyssia Brewer (a transfer from Tennessee) led UCLA with a double-double (15 points, 16 rebounds), while junior guard Thea Lemberger scored a team-high 18 points.

Notre Dame and UCLA will be playing for the 14th time in series history, with the Bruins holding a 9-4 lead (5-1 at Pauley Pavilion where the two sides haven’t met since 1997). The teams last squared off on Nov. 18, 2010, with UCLA edging the Fighting Irish, 86-83 in double overtime at Purcell Pavilion.

— ND —