Notre Dame women’s basketball reset: How the Irish face a pivotal week

This is the type of week that can make or break the Notre Dame season.

The schedule shows one game against a ranked opponent, and it’s a monumental one; No. 3 NC State (19-2, 10-0 ACC) heads to Purcell Pavilion for a clash with No. 20 Notre Dame (16-4, 7-2) at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Irish might as well have another ranked game two nights later with Virginia Tech (15-5, 7-2) coming to South Bend in what will be Notre Dame’s third game in five days. The Hokies checked in as the third team receiving votes in the most recent Associated Press Top 25.

“It’s going to be a hard turnaround, but I think we’re prepared for our schedule,” head coach Niele Ivey said. “We had a tournament over Thanksgiving where we played a back-to-back with Oregon State and Georgia. My performance staff has done a great job of preparing this team for these types of moments.”

Freshman point guard Olivia Miles said her teammates wasted no time in physically preparing for Tuesday’s game. While Miles was at the podium taking questions in a postgame press conference following her 30-point outburst in a win over Boston College on Sunday, the rest of the Irish roster was already receiving treatment from trainers to get their bodies right to go against one of the three best teams in the nation.

Notre Dame lost to Georgia in overtime in the Thanksgiving tournament Ivey mentioned. The Irish responded 24 hours later with a 64-62 win over then-No. 16 Oregon State. Notre Dame led by 20-plus points, though, and nearly squandered the lead late. It’s going to take a full 40 minutes to compete with NC State. An upset bid isn’t farfetched if Ivey’s team brings it in all four quarters. The recipe might be right for one.

Notre Dame men’s basketball

• Notre Dame faces Duke with first place in ACC on the line

The Irish are a perfect 9-0 at home. NC State has won its last three ACC games by an average margin of less than 10 points. Albeit, one of those was a very impressive nine-point victory over then-No. 3 Louisville, but the Wolfpack’s six-point win over Virginia Tech and eight-point win over North Carolina were not the most convincing of triumphs considering the lofty standards head coach Wes Moore has pinned to the program in recent years.

The Hokies and Tar Heels are not slouches. Those tight scores might have had more to do with what the Hokies and Heels did and not so much with what the Wolfpack didn’t do. Both present problems for foes in the ACC, but both’s records might be a bit inflated. The Hokies beat Duke twice while the Blue Devils were ranked. Yes, the same Blue Devils team that beat Notre Dame in early January, but Duke has since fallen out of the polls entirely. North Carolina’s best win? Duke. The Heels don’t have a victory over a currently-ranked team.

Virginia Tech also boasts victories over some of the cellar dwellers of the conference. Virginia has yet to win an ACC game in eight tries. The Hokies have handled them twice. Wins over Florida State, Wake Forest and Pitt aren’t NCAA Tournament resume boosters, either. Notre Dame has some wins of that sort. Pitt twice. Syracuse twice. Wake Forest. That’s why this week is so important for Ivey and company.

Per Monday’s updated NET rankings, Notre Dame has three Quadrant 1 victories this season (at Michigan State, at DePaul, vs. North Carolina). The Irish have two Q1 opportunities this week alone. It might be asking too much to get both of them, so even a split would be impactful moving forward. Two losses, on the other hand, would be devastating — for psyche and standings purposes.

“We’re going to take advantage of being at home, and we’re excited for these incredible matchups,” Ivey said.

Notre Dame national team statistic rankings

Scoring offense: 76.9 ppg (19th)

Scoring defense: 62.2 ppg (151st)

Rebound margin: 8.0 (26th)

Assists per game: 17.9 apg (12th)

Turnovers per game: 15.8 (163rd)

Turnovers forced per game: 17.8 (112th)

Assist to turnover ratio: 1.14 (34th)

Irish in the polls/rankings

AP Poll: No. 20

NET Rankings: No. 18

ACC standings

No. 3 NC State (19-2, 10-0)

No. 4 Louisville (18-2, 8-1)

No. 12 Georgia Tech (17-4, 8-2)

No. 20 Notre Dame (16-4, 7-2)

Virginia Tech (15-5, 7-2)

No. 24 North Carolina (16-4, 6-4)

Boston College (14-7, 5-5)

Miami (11-7, 4-5)

Duke (13-6, 4-5)

Florida State (10-9, 4-5)

Syracuse (9-10, 2-7)

Pitt (11-10, 2-8)

Wake Forest (12-9, 2-8)

Clemson (7-14, 1-9)

Virginia (3-15, 0-8)

Upcoming schedule

Feb. 1: vs. NC State (7 p.m. ET)

Feb. 3: vs. Virginia Tech (8 p.m. ET)

Feb. 6: at Florida State (2 p.m. ET)

Feb. 10: vs. Miami (6 p.m. ET)

Feb. 13: at Louisville (2 p.m. ET)