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

Notre Dame is in the heart of the ACC schedule, one that has not tripped up the Irish through eight games. The Fighting Irish’s undefeated conference record is on the line Thursday night at Virginia Tech.

Here’s everything you need to know about the matchup.

Notre Dame women’s basketball vs. Virginia Tech game info

• Teams: No. 3 Notre Dame (17-2, 8-0 ACC) and Virginia Tech (14-6, 5-4)
• Head coaches: Niele Ivey (106-34, fifth year at Notre Dame); Megan Duffy (14-6, first year at Virginia Tech; 168-72, 8th year overall)
• Date: Jan. 30, 2025
• Location: Cassell Coliseum (Blacksburg, Va.)
• Time: 6 p.m. ET
• Television: ACCNX
• TV broadcasters: Jason Patterson, Mack McCarthy and Kyle Marshak
• Radio: 96.1 FM WSBT in South Bend
• Radio broadcaster: Sean Stires

What to know about Notre Dame

• The Irish are currently riding the longest winning streak of the Niele Ivey era at 12 games. They have not lost since Nov. 30 against Utah in the Cayman Islands Classic.

• Notre Dame has won its last three games by double digits. The Irish’s scoring margin of 25.7 points per game is the eighth-best mark in the country.

• The Irish are healthy as ever right now; are 10 scholarship players who are not out with long-term injuries saw the floor the last time out against Boston College. Every one of them scored at least two points except for former walk-on Sarah Cernugel.

• The positive health report includes graduate senior forward Maddy Westbeld, who’s scored at least 14 points in three of her six games since making her season debut coming back from a foot injury. Westbeld is shooting 59.1 percent from the floor in those six games.

What to know about Virginia Tech

• The Hokies got clobbered by NC State in their last game, 85-57. That came after back-to-back wins vs. Louisville and Pittsburgh.

• Four Hokies average in double digits in scoring and two more are close at 9.7 points and 8.1 points per game. It’s a balanced offensive attack for Virginia Tech, ranking fifth in the ACC in team points per game. Virginia Tech is in the bottom half of the league, though, in points allowed per game at 66.8.

• Virginia Tech is coached by former Notre Dame guard Megan Duffy, who played for the Fighting Irish from 2002-06. She had a brief professional playing career before getting into coaching as an assistant at St. John’s in 2009. This is her first season at Virginia Tech. Her first head coaching gig was at Miami (Ohio) from 2017-19. She was the head coach at Marquette from 2019-24.

Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey: Quotable

On the catalyst for the current 12-game winning streak: “Our resilience. Even with all the injuries we’ve had and had to recover from, the adversity that we’ve had, I have a team that is very aware of being consistent. So having that consistency when we step on the court practice-wise and we bring that energy every time we play an opponent.”

On if it feels like Notre Dame has not lost since late November: “I’m happy about that, but I try to focus on being prepared, being present for each game. That’s what I talk about a lot. We have two huge games on the road, Virginia Tech and Louisville. Just making sure we’re focused and bringing that same energy every game and trying to be our best and play at an elite level every game.”

By the numbers

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

Stat	Notre Dame	Texas
Scoring offense	87.5	75.6
Scoring margin	25.7	8.8
FG%	49.7	46.1
3FG%	41.2	35.9
3FG made/game	7.8	6.9
FT%	74.8	75.7
FT made/game	12.4	13.7
Rebounds	45.3	35.5
Rebound margin	11.5	1.7
Assists	19.1	15.6
Turnovers	14.9	15.4
Turnover margin	2.7	0.8
Assist/turnover ratio	1.3	1.0
Steals	11.5	6.1
Blocks	6.1	3.4