Sweet 16: Game time set for Notre Dame women’s basketball vs. TCU
The game time for Notre Dame’s revenge match vs. TCU is set. The No. 3 seed Fighting Irish (28-5) will face the No. 2 seed Horned Frogs (33-3) at 1 p.m. ET this Saturday, March 29, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ala. It’ll be televised on ABC.
According to ESPN, Notre Dame is a 5.5-point favorite. TCU won the first edition of this matchup four months ago in the Cayman Islands Classic. The Horned Frogs overcame a 14-point deficit to down the Irish, 76-68.
Notre Dame lost that game to TCU then another one to Utah in the Cayman Islands the very next day. After that, the Irish did not lose for 19 consecutive games. Their next defeat came to NC State on Feb. 23. That started a string of three losses in five games, though, that ultimately costed head coach Niele Ivey’s team a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
TCU, meanwhile, blistered through the Big 12 and won the conference’s regular season and conference tournament titles. The Horned Frogs only losses were to South Carolina, Oklahoma State and Kansas State. The Gamecocks and Wildcats are both in the Sweet 16. The Cowgirls lost to South Dakota State as a No. 7 seed in the tournament.
Notre Dame advanced to a fourth consecutive Sweet 16 with tournament wins over No. 14 seed Stephen F. Austin and No. 6 seed Michigan. The Irish beat the Ladyjacks by 52 and the Wolverines by 21. TCU beat No. 15 seed Fairleigh Dickinson by 22 and No. 7 seed Louisville by 15.
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The winner of the Irish and Frogs will take on the winner of No. 1 seed Texas and No. 5 seed Tennessee on Monday, March 31, in the Birmingham 3 Regional Championship Game. Whoever takes that earns a spot in the Final Four, which will be played in Tampa, Fla., on April 4 and 6.
Notre Dame has not advanced to the Elite Eight since 2019. The Sweet 16 has been Ivey’s ceiling during the first handful of seasons of her tenure. This year, though, feels different. She’s working with a rotation that goes eight players deep, and three of those players earned All-America honors of some sort. Sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo is a First Team All-American, senior guard Olivia Miles is a Second Team All-American and senior guard Sonia Citron is an Honorable Mention All-American.
That trio played well in South Bend this past weekend to put the Irish into the Sweet 16 again. A couple more performances like the ones they had at home could very well put them into the Final Four. First order of business is stopping a familiar face in TCU guard Hailey Van Lith.
