Women's basketball: What to know about Notre Dame's matchup with Clemson
No. 7 Notre Dame (14-2, 5-1 ACC) vs. Clemson (12-7, 3-4)
- WHEN: Thursday, 7 p.m.
- WHERE: Littlejohn Coliseum (10,325), Clemson, S.C.
- WATCH: RSN (Marquee / 202 on Comcast).
- LISTEN: WQLQ (99.9 FM; link at UND.com).
More:Notre Dame pulls away, earns ACC win over Syracuse
ABOUT NOTRE DAME
At 5-1, the Irish are now in sole possession of second place in the ACC after No. 12 Virginia Tech edged Louisville last week and Louisville beat Florida State on Sunday. No. 13-ranked Duke remains in front at 6-0 (ND visits the Blue Devils on Feb. 5), while the Cardinals, Seminoles and Miami are each 5-2 for a third-place tie. … Olivia Miles, coming off a season-high 23 points on 11-of-15 shooting in Sunday’s 72-56 win at Syracuse, continues to lead ND in scoring (15.5 points per game), rebounding (7.8), assists (7.1, sixth in the nation) and steals (2.3). Fellow sophomore guard Sonia Citron is averaging 13.9 points and 5.9 rebounds; Maddy Westbeld 10.6 points, 6.5 boards and 1.4 blocks; Dara Mabrey 10.3 points and 2.6 assists; and Lauren Ebo 9.9 points and 7.1 rebounds. … Surging freshman KK Bransford is averaging 9.8 points over her last four games on 12-of-17 from the field and 15-of-21 at the line. She leads the Irish over that stretch in getting to the stripe. … Citron (54% on 2s, 45% on 3s, 87.8% at the line) rates among the country’s most efficient offensive performers. She’s in the top 2% of all individuals in points per shot attempt at 1.3 (a metric accounting for field goal tries and free throw trips) and top 3% in points per play at 1.06 (factoring in turnovers). Her net effective field goal percentage of 60.0 (81-of-150 from the field with 18 made 3s) is particularly rarefied among non-post players and is in the nation’s top 4% among all players.
ABOUT CLEMSON
Fourth-year Tiger starter Amari Robinson, the daughter of former ND men’s standout Keith Robinson, leads the team in scoring (13.1) and rebounding (6.6). The 6-foot forward’s father averaged a club-leading 14.7 points and 7.9 rebounds as a senior for the Irish in 1989-90, 12.3 points and 9.2 rebounds as a junior, and 9.6 and 7.1 as a sophomore. Those were coach Digger Phelps’ final three NCAA Tournament teams. … Freshman 6-foot guard Ruby Whitehorn is at 11.7 points; senior guard Daisha Bradford 9.8 points, 3.1 assists and 2.2 steals; grad guard Brie Perpignan 8.6 points and 2.9 assists; junior guard Ale’Jah Douglas 6.1 points; and 6-2 junior forward Hannah Hank 5.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.0 blocks. … Clemson, 10-2 at home, is coming off a 72-57 win at Pittsburgh on Sunday that snapped a three-game skid. Fifth-year coach Amanda Butler’s Tigers are 1-4 against ranked teams, the win being 64-59 over visiting Virginia Tech on Dec. 29 and one of the losses an 85-31 thrashing by top-ranked South Carolina in mid-November. … Clemson ran off three straight wins over Notre Dame from December 2019 to March 2021 before the Irish snapped that streak with a 77-56 home victory last February.
QUOTING IVEY
“Soni always does the little things. Sometimes they don’t show up in the stat sheet. … She knows the offense really well and she’s such a great teammate, and I know they have a lot of confidence in her, so sometimes, even if she’s not scoring, she’s doing a lot of little things, and that’s why she’s on the floor.” — Niele Ivey, Notre Dame coach, on Citron after Citron matched season lows of eight points and four shots over 35 minutes at Syracuse.
— By Anthony Anderson