Ranked No. 1 this preseason by ESPN, Athlon and Lindy’s, the reigning national champion Notre Dame women’s basketball team had their 2018-19 schedule unveiled Tuesday.
Not including the ACC Championship from March 6-10, the 30-game regular season features 16 teams who qualified for the 2018 NCAA Championship, five of whom reached the Sweet 16. Ten were ranked on ESPN's Too Early Top-25 from last spring.
There will be 14 non-conference games before the 16-game ACC league schedule (with Boston College and Georgia Tech the two repeat opponents) commences Jan. 3 with a home game versus Pitt.
Last season, the ACC was the No. 1-ranked conference in both RPI and strength of schedule, and had a league-tying record eight teams qualify for the NCAA Tournament. This will be the last season the ACC women will have a 16-game slate, as it will move to 18 in 2019-20.
The highlights of the schedule include:
• The eight-team Vancouver Classic during Thanksgiving weekend in which three games will be played over three days. The Irish will open with 2018 West Coast Conference Champion Gonzaga, and could potentially face 2017 national champ South Carolina in the final.
• Three days after hosting ESPN No. 17-ranked Iowa in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, the showdown with 11-time national champ UConn will be at the Purcell Pavilion Dec. 2.
• Senior guard/All-American Arike Ogunbowale will play in her Milwaukee hometown Dec. 22, versus Marquette.
• On Jan. 10, Notre Dame hosts Louisville, the 2018 ACC champion that handed the Irish two of their three defeats last season.
• The annual non-conference game with Tennessee in January will be in Knoxville this year. The dramatic Notre Dame rally to victory from 23 points down last January 19 was crucial in the path to the national title.
Eleven games will be nationally televised, with at least seven appearance on either ESPN or ESPN2. Here is the 2018-19 schedule, with home games in bold:
Nov. 9 — Harvard
Nov. 12 — Penn
Nov. 17 — at DePaul
Nov. 22-24 — Vancouver Classic (Drake, East Tennessee State, Gonzaga, Notre Dame, Oregon State, Rutgers, South Carolina, Western Kentucky)
Nov. 22 — vs. Gonzaga
Nov. 23 — To be determined
Nov. 24 — To be determined
Nov. 29 — Iowa (ESPN2)
Dec. 2 — Connecticut (ESPN)
Dec. 8 — at Toledo
Dec. 16 — Binghampton
Dec. 19 — Western Kentucky
Dec. 22 — at Marquette
Dec. 30 — Lehigh
Jan. 3 — Pitt
Jan. 6 — at Georgia Tech
Jan. 10 — Louisville (ESPN)
Jan. 13 — Wake Forest
Jan. 16 — at Virginia Tech
Jan. 20 — Boston College
Jan. 24 — at Tennessee (ESPN or ESPN2)
Jan. 27 — at North Carolina
Jan. 31 — at Clemson
Feb. 3 — Georgia Tech
Feb. 7 — at Miami
Feb. 10 — Florida State (ESPN)
Feb. 13 — at Boston College
Feb. 18 — at NC State (ESPN2)
Feb. 21 — Duke
Feb. 25 — at Syracuse (ESPN2)
March 3 — Virginia
The Greensboro Coliseum will play host to the 2019 ACC Championship from March 6-10.
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