No. 4 Notre Dame Women's Basketball Visits Slumping No. 18 North Carolina

Where: Chapel Hill, NC – Carmichael Arena
When: Sunday, Jan. 8 – 4:00 PM EST
Network: ACC Network – Jenn Hildreth (Play by Play); Debbie Antonelli (Analyst)
Radio: ND Radio Network, 99.9 FM WQLQ in South Bend – Sean Stires PBP

Let's take a look at today’s matchup:

NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (12-1, 3-0 ACC)

Head Coach: Niele Ivey (46-20 – 3rd season at Notre Dame)

The Fighting Irish improved to 3-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play with last Sunday’s 85-47 win over Boston College at Purcell Pavilion. KK Bransford scored a career-high 17 points, 13 of them in the first half, in the dominating victory. The freshman was a perfect 5 for 5 from the field and 7 of 9 at the free throw line.

Meanwhile, midseason enrollee Cassandre Prosper finished her first week with the team with a near double-double. The freshman from Montreal, Canada scored seven points with nine rebounds, two steals and two assists. Her first career-points came on a 3-pointer in front of the Irish bench.

Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron scored 17 and 15 points, respectively. Each of the sophomores has scored in double figures in 12 of Notre Dame’s 13 games this season. The Irish outrebounded the Eagles 46-28 and held a resounding 56-36 advantage scoring in the paint.

Last week's two wins moved the Fighting Irish up to No. 4 in both the Associated Press and Coaches Polls this week.

Projected Irish Starting Lineup

G Olivia Miles- 5-10, Soph. - 15.2 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 7.5 APG
G Sonia Citron - 6-1, Soph – 14.9 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 2.2 APG
G Dara Mabrey - 5-7, 5th – 10.7 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.6 APG
F Maddy Westbeld - 6-3, Jr. – 10.3 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 23 BLK
F Kylee Watson - 6-4, Jr – 7.3 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 17 BLK

NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (9-5, 0-3 ACC)

Head Coach: Courtney Banghart (63-37 in 4th Season at school, 317–140 in 16th year overall)

North Carolina started the season with a No. 12 preseason ranking and rose all the way to No. 6 in both the AP and Coaches polls thanks to a 6-0 start. Back to back wins over then No. 18 Oregon and then No. 5 Iowa State in November were their sixth and seventh wins of the season.

The Tar Heels’ fortunes changed quickly once the calendar flipped to December.

Then No. 5 Indiana handed them their first loss by a lopsided 87-63 score in the ACC/BIG Challenge. UNC won three straight after that against UNC Wilmington, Wofford and South Carolina Upstate, but they come into Sunday’s game against the Irish in the midst of a four-game losing streak to current No. 14 Michigan, unranked Florida State, current No. 9 Virginia Tech, and most recently to unranked Miami on Thursday night.

The four-game losing streak is North Carolina’s longest since dropping eight straight games to end the 2019-2020 season.

Projected Starting Lineup

G Deja Kelly - Stats – 16.5PPG, 4.1 RPG, 3.9 APG
F Alyssa Ustby - Stats – 13.8 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 14 BLK
G Kennedy Todd-Williams - Stats – 13.7 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.7 APG
G Eva Hodgson – Stats – 12.2 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 3.3 APG
F Anya Poole - Stats – 5.5, 6.4 RPG

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

North Carolina’s recent struggles are hard to peg down. They are a solid rebounding team (No. 6 in the ACC) and they take care of the basketball with the No. 1 turnover margin and No. 3 assist to turnover ratio in the conference. The Tar Heels also have the No. 5 scoring offense and No. 9 scoring defense in the ACC.

They also have not suffered any injuries in their main rotation. Alyssa Ustby, Kennedy Todd-Williams, Eva Hodgson, and Anya Poole all started in all 14 games, while Deja Kelly has 13 starts. Their top two reserves have played at least 17.0 minutes in all 14 games and two other reserves have played at least 11 games each.

Their current four consecutive losses have been by a combined 22 points and their biggest issue in those losses has been putting the ball in the basket. The Tar Heels shot just 36% overall from the field and just 26% from 3-point range in that stretch.

Notre Dame brings the No. 1 field goal percentage offense, No. 2 scoring offense and 3-point shooting offense in the conference into Sunday’s matchup. The Fighting Irish defense is also No. 3 in the ACC, allowing opponents to hit a mere 35% of their shots on the season.

Niele Ivey’s starting five has been the same through all 13 games to date. Irish guard Sonia Citron comes into the game as the hottest shooter in the conference. She was 12 for 17 (.706) with a pair of 3-pointers in the Miami and Boston College games last week.

The Tar Heels will be the fourth ranked team Notre Dame has faced this season. They are 2-1 in the previous three games against ranked foes.

Irish Breakdown Fans be sure to get your Notre Dame tickets from SI Tickets HERE

Be sure to check out the Irish Breakdown message board, the Champions Lounge

Irish Breakdown Content

2023 Scholarship Chart
2023 Football Schedule

Notre Dame 2023 Scholarship Offers
Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers

2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Offense
2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Defense

———————

Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content and our premium message board! Click on the link below for more.

BECOME A MEMBER

Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes
Follow me on Twitter: @SeanStires
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter