Notre Dame women’s basketball announces home-and-home with USC
NCAA women’s basketball fans, get your popcorn ready. Two of the sport’s most high-profile teams are going head-to-head in a home-and-home. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and USC Trojans will meet in Los Angeles on Nov. 23 this season and then again in South Bend next season.
USC is No. 2 in ESPN’s preseason rankings. Notre Dame is No. 4.
USC brought in two of the 50 best recruits in the country in last year’s class in Juju Watkins, the top-rated prospect of 2023 per ESPN, and Malia Samuels. Watkins asserted herself as one of the top-five players in the NCAA as a true freshman. She averaged 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.3 steals per game for a Trojans squad that made it to the Elite Eight and only lost to UConn by seven points there.
Notre Dame had a freshman who was just as proficient and prolific.
Hannah Hidalgo put up 22.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 4.6 steals per game in getting the Irish to the Sweet 16. Hidalgo was the No. 5 player in Watkins’ class according to ESPN. Notre Dame also signed two other top-20 prospects in forward Cassandre Prosper and guard Emma Risch. All three of those players will be big factors in both games against USC.
As far as impact freshmen go for this season’s matchup, Notre Dame’s 11th all-time against USC, the Irish will put 6-5 center Kate Koval on the floor. She was the No. 5 player in the class of 2024 per ESPN, just like Hidalgo. USC has No. 6 overall recruit Kennedy Smith and No. 13 overall recruit Kayleigh Heckel. The latter ranked third in scoring among 12 star-studded players suiting up for Team USA at the FIBA U18 AmeriCup in Colombia last month. She averaged 12.8 points and 3.7 assists — which was a team-high — in 21.2 minutes per game on the way to earning a gold medal.
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That brings us to a freshman who will compete on both sides in next season’s edition of Notre Dame vs. USC. Class of 2025 Irish commit Leah Macy was also in Colombia for the AmeriCup. She averaged 6.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game as a deep reserve off the bench. She’s the No. 12 recruit in her class per ESPN and the No. 15 prospect in the class according to On3.
USC currently does not have any top 100 players in the class of 2025 committed, but multiple recruits are considering the Trojans including On3’s No. 2 prospect Jazzy Davidson.
Notre Dame owns an all-time record of 8-2 against USC. The two teams last met in an early-season tournament in the Bahamas in Nov. 2011. The Irish took care of business in that meeting, 80-58. The next two matchups won’t be nearly as easy for the blue and gold. Watkins and her supporting cast of uber-talented players won’t let it be.
Hidalgo and company will have something to say about it, though, too.
