Women's basketball: All you need to know about Notre Dame's ACC battle vs. Wake Forest

Wake Forest (11-6, 2-4 ACC) vs. No. 7 Notre Dame (12-2, 3-1).

• WHEN: Thursday, 7 p.m.
• WHERE: Purcell Pavilion (9,149), Notre Dame.
• TICKETS: Available.
• WATCH: ACCNX.
• LISTEN: WGLQ (99.9 FM; link at UND.com).

More:Grading No. 4 Notre Dame at mid-season

ABOUT WAKE FOREST

The Demon Deacons are coming off a 51-50 home victory Sunday over Georgia Tech — a win they earned without the services of reigning ACC scoring champ Jewel Spear. An all-league first-teamer last winter as a sophomore, Spear is averaging 15.9 points this season. She had started all 72 games of her Wake Forest career prior to Sunday. The school’s athletic communications department did not acknowledge the 5-10 guard’s absence in its recap of the game and did not immediately reply to a request Tuesday regarding Spear’s status for Thursday’s contest, but she is still listed on the team’s roster and in pregame notes. Spear, the ACC’s most prolific 3-point shooter over the last three years, is 194-of-508 from distance for 38.2%. … Other Deacon regulars include sophomore guard Elise Williams (9.6 ppg, 3.7 assists), senior guard Kaia Harrison (8.2 ppg, 20-of-55 on 3s), 6-2 senior forward Olivia Summiel (8.1 ppg, 7.3 rebounds, 1.7 blocks), senior Alexandria Scruggs (6.4 ppg) and 6-2 junior forward Demera Hinds (5.9 ppg, 6.8 rebounds). … Wake’s win over Georgia Tech was its second one-point game in three outings, those contests sandwiched around a 60-50 loss to No. 16 Duke (16-1, 4-0), the ACC’s last remaining unbeaten. The Blue Devils are the lone ranked team the Deacons have faced. … First-year coach Megan Gebbia arrived in Winston-Salem after nine years at American University, where she went 160-105 with three NCAA Tourney appearances.

ABOUT NOTRE DAME

The Irish are coming off a 60-50 loss at No. 22 North Carolina that dropped them from fourth to seventh in both the AP and coaches’ polls. They’ve not lost back-to-back games since the 2020-21 season. … Olivia Miles continues to lead ND in scoring (15.1), rebounding (7.9), assists (7.4, fourth in the nation) and steals (2.4). Fellow sophomore guard Sonia Citron is at 14.8 points and 6.2 rebounds to go with 87% free throw accuracy. … Center Lauren Ebo’s averaging 10.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and coming off a career-high 19 boards that is the most by any Irish player since Natalie Achonwa’s 20 in March 2013. Fellow grad student Dara Mabrey is at 10.3 points with 29 triples, but on pace for a career low in 3-point percentage at 33.3. … Maddy Westbeld’s averaging 9.9 points and 6.4 boards, while KK Bransford and Kylee Watson have combined for 14.2 and 6.2. … ND shot 28.1% from the field at Carolina, by far its lowest mark of the season (the previous low was 42.6% at Virginia Tech). Its 50 points were 13 fewer than that previous low, also against the No. 13 Hokies — in a 63-52 Irish win. ND finished 2-of-22 outside the arc in Chapel Hill, its most attempts and lowest percentage of the season. The Irish also allowed the Tar Heels to make 46% of their shots in the decisive second half, including 5-of-6 on 3-pointers. … ND is 10-0 all-time against Wake Forest, the only ACC school that has never defeated the Irish.

QUOTING

“The biggest thing is to stay together, remain confident and obviously be better defensively. … It’s just acknowledging where we need to grow. We watched film, had a really good team meeting to just kind of focus on the things we need to work on.” — Niele Ivey, Notre Dame coach, on responding to Sunday’s loss.

— By Anthony Anderson