SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Waiting patiently outside of the celebratory Notre Dame women’s basketball locker room on Friday afternoon stood former Irish linebacker Marist Liufau.
Who sort of had a feeling what the Stephen F. Austin players were feeling in the other locker room, having been on the wrong side of a 106-54 NCAA Tournament verdict, which included ND honorable mention All-American Sonia Citron at the top of her game.
In fact, very early in Liufau’s relationship with Citron, the two ended up playing one-on-one. And haven’t played since.
“Sonia dominated. It wasn’t close,” the 6-foot-2 Liufau said weeks after the impromptu competition.
“I told him to stick to football,” the 6-1 Citron recalled with a laugh.
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Liafau, who had 50 tackles in 17 games — including nine starts — as a rookie with the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, will be a Purcell Pavilion again Sunday, rooting for the best version of Citron to show up again, when the third-seeded Irish (27-5) face 6 seed Michigan (23-10) in a second-round NCAA Tourney matchup.
Tipoff is 1 p.m. EDT on ABC, and the game is a sell-out. The Irish are looking to advance to the Sweet 16 for a fourth straight year, this time for a Saturday date in Birmingham. Ala.
The best of Citron has shown up a lot lately. The senior guard is shooting 57.3% from the field over Notre Dame’s past 11 games, and against the Ladyjacks Friday she did a lot of everything else well too.
Her final stat line: 24 points — which included four 3s, seven rebounds, two assists and four steals in 31 minutes of court time.
“I would say I just did what I always do and got shots up in the gym and just kept getting those reps,” Citron said of her recent extended surge. “I think the biggest change was in my mentality, just trying to be confident and know that even if I don't make one, the next one is going in. When I play confident, that's when I play my best.”
Olivia Miles update
Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey met with the media just ahead of her team’s close practice Saturday in preparation for the 22nd-ever matchup with Michigan and the first since the 2020-21 season, Ivey’s first as head coach.
At that time on Saturday, Miles hadn’t been approved or denied clearance to practice by team trainers, Ivey claimed, but the Irish coach still felt good about the chance of her starting point guard playing against the Wolverines despite the second-team All-American suffering a left ankle injury in the fourth quarter of Friday’s game with SFA.
“Olivia says she feels pretty good,” Ivey said. “She got a ton of treatment this morning and a ton of treatment last night, so we’ll see. I’m sure she’s going to do whatever she can to compete tomorrow.”
As for Miles herself, she stayed out of the open locker room during the media’s access to it for 30 minutes Saturday ahead of the team’s practice.
“She's doing well,” offered teammate Hannah Hidalgo, who served as the team’s primary point guard last season when Miles was out rehabbing an ACL tear. “But if she doesn't play, we have been in this situation before. And it's just a matter of trusting in each other and playing for her if she's out.”
No mas on the mask
For the first time in 11 games, grad senior forward Liatu King played a basketball game without a protective mask. It also happened to be her first-ever NCAA Tournament contest after 137 college games without one.
Both miltestons felt great for the Pittsburgh transfer, who had the added bonus of her mom, Patricia Opurum, at Purcell to witness the game in person.
“She’s my support system,” King said. “I was raised in a single-parent household, My mom’s my everything. Being able to fly her out here and see some of my last games is just very special to me.
“It makes me warm inside. She is so caring and hard-working. So just seeing how all her hard work is paying off.”
King had 10 points and six rebounds in 15 minutes against Stephen F. Austin, her first mask-free game since she started wearing it against Stanford on Feb. 7. King had injured her nose in ND’s previous game, taking a blow to the face in a road win at Louisville.
“The doctors told me that it takes about six weeks to heal,” she said. “I was just trying to be cautious, so I wore it a little longer until we started the NCAA Tournament. I didn’t want anything to happen between the end of the ACC and now, and so I had the mask on [in practices]. I’m pretty solid. I think I’m back to where I was, baseline, before the incident.”
Michigan memories and new challenges
Though the Irish and Michigan have played 21 times in their respective program histories, just one of those meetings took place in the NCAA Tournament. And the starting point guard that day for Notre Dame was none other than current Irish head coach Niele Ivey in an 88-54 second-round rout at Purcell Pavilion back on March 19, 2001.
“I do remember them coming in,” Ivey said Saturday. “We won. That was a great memory.”
And so were the four games that followed, as Notre Dame captured its first national title in women’s basketball. Ivey had eight points, eight assists, four rebounds and three steals in the Michigan victory.
“I’m excited for THIS matchup,” she said.
Michigan typically starts five guards, including the only pair of freshman teammates nationally averaging more than 15 points a game in Olivia Olson (16.2) and Syla Swords (15.9). Swords is a former high school teammate of Irish freshman center Kate Koval at Long Island (N.Y.) Lutheran, and a former Canadian Olympic teammate this past summer of Irish junior guard Cass Prosper.
Notre Dame is actively recruiting Swords’ younger sister Savvy, a 6-1 junior wing at Long Island Lutheran and the No. 13 player nationally, per ESPN2, in the 2026 class.
What this Michigan team, that features five freshmen and three new transfers, does well is score and shoot 3s. The Wolverines are 21st nationally in scoring offense (78.2 ppg) and 27th in 3-point percentage (.357).
They have four notable fault lines — a No. 219 ranking nationally in scoring defense (66.0), coupled with a No. 218 ranking in field goal-percentage defense (.413). Michigan is 254th in fewest fouls committed (17.8) and 292nd in blocked shots (2.2).
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