Notre Dame women’s basketball to play Tennessee early in 2023-24 season
One of the great NCAA women’s basketball rivalries since the turn of the century is being renewed this season. Notre Dame and Tennessee will play in Knoxville at 5 p.m. ET on Nov. 29 as part of the ACC/SEC challenge, ESPN announced Wednesday morning.
The two programs that have claimed a combined 10 national championships have met 30 times in their storied histories. Thanks to the late, great head coach Pat Summit, the Lady Volunteers own a 22-8 edge in the all-time series. Summit went 20-2 versus Notre Dame. It’s almost been all Irish since Summit stepped down in 2012 because of a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, though.
Notre Dame has won eight of the last 10 meetings in the series dating back to 2011. That stretch began with a regional championship victory that sent Irish head coach Muffet McGraw to her third Final Four. She went on to reach six more before retiring at the end of the 2019-20 season.
Tennessee won the last game between the two teams, 74-63, in South Bend on Nov. 11, 2019. The Lady Vols are 9-3 against the Irish in Knoxville.
Both programs are coming off back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances. Tennessee went 25-12 and was ousted by Virginia Tech in the tournament in March. Notre Dame went 27-6 and was eliminated by Maryland. The Irish played the postseason without both of their starting guards in the backcourt; Olivia Miles and Dara Mabrey suffered season-ending ACL injuries.
It’s not yet clear if Miles will be ready to go by Nov. 29. She had surgery on her knee in April. Tennessee’s leading scorer, Rickea Jackson, is back for a fifth season. She began her career at Mississippi State and stayed in Starkville for three seasons before averaging 19.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game for the Lady Vols.
Kellie Harper is going into her fifth season as the Tennessee head coach after taking over for Holly Warlick. Harper has a 88-39 (.693) overall record. The Lady Volunteers have qualified for the NCAA Tournament in every season a tournament has been played since 1982.
Niele Ivey enters her fourth season as the Notre Dame head coach with a 61-25 (.709) record. She put together a 2023 recruiting class that was comprised of three five-star players, all of whom ranked inside the top 20 in ESPN’s overall player rankings.
Notre Dame will begin the 2023-24 season with a game against South Carolina in Paris on Nov. 6.
