What to know, how to watch No. 3 Notre Dame women’s basketball vs. Stanford

Notre Dame puts a 14-game winning streak on the line against a program that used to be a perennial power but is now in transition. This is everything you need to know about the Fighting Irish hosting the Stanford Cardinal in South Bend tonight.

Notre Dame women’s basketball vs. Stanford game info

• Teams: No. 3 Notre Dame (19-2, 10-0 ACC) and Stanford (11-10, 3-7)
• Head coaches: Niele Ivey (108-34, fifth year at Notre Dame); Kate Pate (14-6, first year at Stanford and overall)
• All-time series: Stanford leads, 4-2; Notre Dame won the last meeting, 84-68, on April 1, 2019
• Date: Feb. 6, 2025
• Location: Purcell Pavilion (South Bend, Ind.)
• Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
• Television: ESPN
• TV broadcasters: Beth Mowins and Debbie Antonelli
• Radio: 96.1 FM WSBT in South Bend
• Radio broadcaster: Sean Stires

What to know about Notre Dame

• Notre Dame has won 14 games in a row, which is the longest winning streak of the Ivey era. The Irish have not lost since dropping back-to-back games in the Cayman Islands Classic, meaning they have yet to lose a game on American soil this season.

• Notre Dame’s eight-player rotation that it will likely use now through however long the season lasts is essentially set in stone barring injuries; Hannah Hidalgo (G), Olivia Miles (G), Sonia Citron (G), Maddy Westbeld (F) and Liatu King (F) are the starters, and Liza Karlen (F), Cassandre Prosper (G) and Kate Koval (C) come off the bench.

• Sophomore guard Emma Risch has not played at all since Jan. 23 and she has not logged double-digit minutes since Dec. 22. She’s been oft-injured early in her career, but she has also not cracked the regular rotation even when healthy.

• Hidalgo is closing in on breaking through as the leading scorer in the country. She averaged 26.1 points per game. Miles (16.4), Citron (13.1) and King (12.4) also average in double figures. Notre Dame is the fifth-best defensive team in the ACC, meanwhile, allowing 62.1 points per game.

What to know about Stanford

• The first year following the retirement of legendary coach Tara VanDerveer has been rough. The Cardinal went 30-6 last season with a trip to the Sweet 16. With a loss to Notre Dame, Stanford would drop to .500 this season and 3-8 in conference play.

• Stanford is 0-6 against teams ranked in the AP Top 25 at the time of tipoff. The Cardinal are coming off a loss to No. 15 North Carolina, 69-67. Stanford kept it close against No. 22 California, too, only losing 75-72, and the Cardinal even took No. 5 LSU to overtime in early December, eventually falling 94-88, but there have been some stinkers against ranked foes as well; Stanford lost to No. 11 Ohio State and No. 16 Duke by 25 points in each game.

• Stanford is led by sophomore guard Nunu Agara, who averaged 17.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. She had 22 points and 14 rebounds in the narrow loss to the Tar Heels on Sunday.

Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey: Quotable

On Stanford being in the ACC: “Historic program. Kate Pate taking over for legendary Tara VanDerVeer, very similar to myself. Great academic institution. Great matchup. We don’t get a chance to see Stanford as much. Last time, I think, was in the Elite Eight. So it’s been a while. I don’t think they’ve ever been here on campus. So, big for women’s basketball and I’m excited for the matchup.”

On matching up with Stanford: “I think we match up really well. They’re a different team. They run a very similar offensive system, so we’re very familiar with the plays we’ll see offensively. I think they have a lot of size. They play with a lot of heart. So we have to make sure we’re prepared. They know us pretty well just from history, so we have to understand we have to scheme and get to our Plan B if they take that Plan A away.”

On being back at home for the first time since Jan. 19: “It feels great. We feed off the energy of this crowd. We know they’re going to show up and show out for us. There are so many fans. The energy of the building is just electric. We’re always really excited to be able to be here and play in front of our home crowd.”

By the numbers

The team with the better average has a bolded number in each category.

Stat	Notre Dame	Stanford
Scoring offense	87.0	74.0
Scoring margin	24.9	7.3
FG%	49.9	44.5
3FG%	40.7	36.9
3FG made/game	7.8	7.8
FT%	76.2	74.2
FT made/game	12.7	12.6
Rebounds	44.7	39.2
Rebound margin	11.3	5.2
Assists	18.5	13.4
Turnovers	15.5	14.3
Turnover margin	2.2	-1.8
Assist/turnover ratio	1.2	0.9
Steals	11.3	6.3
Blocks	5.9	6.3