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The No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (17-2, 8-1 ACC) will go for their 6th straight win on Sunday when they take a trip to Raleigh to handle the No. 20 NC State Wolfpack (15-5, 5-4 ACC). The video game will be transmitted nationally on ESPN and tip-off at 3 p.m. ET.
It’s been an unbelievable season for the Irish so far; they have their finest record through 19 video games given that the 2018-19 season, when they reached the NCAA Championship video game. Notre Dame is presently outscoring its challengers by 29.6 points per 100 ownerships — the seventh-best net score in Division I — sustained mainly by its defense, which is enabling simply 77.3 points per 100 ownerships.
Another strength of the Irish is their guard play, which took a struck when graduate transfer Dara Mabrey went down with an ACL injury in the group’s current win over Virginia. Mabrey, who was balancing 9.3 points, 2.4 helps and 1.2 takes per video game, will miss out on the remainder of the season as she rehabs, though she plans to stay with the group, as described in a sincere declaration she published on Twitter:
Luckily for the Irish, they still have an ACC Player of the Year competitor in their backcourt in Olivia Miles. In her 2nd complete season at Notre Dame, Miles is packing the stat sheet, balancing 15.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 7.1 helps and 2.2 takes per video game while shooting 51.5 percent from the field. Not just is Miles a deserving prospect for end-of-season ACC honors, however she’ll likewise be a preferred to win the Nancy Lieberman Award, offered every year to the country’s finest point player. If there’s one gamer Notre Dame can lean on to increase her production, it’s Miles.
NC State, on the other hand, counters with Diamond Johnson, who is living evidence that height isn’t whatever in basketball. The 5-foot-5 Johnson is presently leading the Wolfpack in both scoring (12.8 points) and helps (3.7) and is shooting 40.9 percent on 5.5 3s tried per video game. While she’s best understood for her outdoors shooting, she’s simply as important to the Wolfpack as a gamer who can produce shots for her colleagues.
While the Wolfpack don’t have as dynamite of an offense as the Irish, they’ve been outstanding on the glass this season, tidying up over 75 percent of readily available protective rebounds (Her Hoop Stats). NC State likewise hardly ever fouls — just 7 Division I groups nasty at a lower rate than the Wolfpack — so the 4.4 totally free toss efforts Miles shoots per video game might not exist.
It’s likewise worth pointing out that this is a vengeance video game of sorts for the Irish, as they were bounced in the Sweet Sixteen in the 2022 NCAA Tournament by NC State. It was a video game in which the Wolfpack originated from behind and outscored the Irish 20-10 in the last quarter. Sunday’s video game will be the only time the 2 groups satisfy in the routine season, though it’s totally possible that they’ll play each other once again in the ACC Tournament, which will start on March 1.
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