SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Friday’s final prep work for No. 2 seed Notre Dame’s NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament opener on Saturday with 15 seed Kent State (21-10) was more of a walkthrough than an intense dive into matchups and strategy.
But important enough for 2023 All-American Olivia Miles to take part.
The 5-foot-10 junior guard has committed to sitting out the entire season when it comes to games to fully recover from a February 2023 knee injury, something she finally confirmed publicly on Feb. 19. On Friday she wore a protective sleeve on her right leg Friday and went full speed through various drills at Purcell Pavilion.
The rest of her practicing Irish teammates start the program’s 29th March Madness run at 2:15 p.m. EDT Saturday at Purcell Pavilion (ESPN) in a game announced Friday morning as a sellout. Notre Dame (26-6) has won eight straight games heading into the tourney and is 24-4 all-time in NCAA first-round games.
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No. 7 seed Ole Miss (23-8) and 10 seed Marquette (23-8) square off at 4:45 p.m. (ESPNU), with Saturday’s survivors returning to Purcell on Monday for a second-round clash that will send the winner to an Albany 1 Sweet 16 matchup on March 29.
None of the four other recovering players beyond Miles — post Kylee Watson as well as guards Cass Prosper, Jenna Brown and Emma Risch — were involved in Friday’s practice. Nor were the male students who are routinely part of the practice regimen, even when head coach Niele Ivey has a full roster of healthy players.
The latter never happened this season, though the Irish were only three players down when they started the season against current No. 1 South Carolina in Paris.
“We have a rotation of 10 or 12 guys that are committed to our program that help us now,” Ivey said Friday during a press conference. “They have different requirements as far as academics and classes and exams, so sometimes we don't have the same guys [every practice]. But we have like a rotation of 10 to 12, and they're awesome.
“They come to all the [home] games. Sometimes they travel to our games. A lot of programs in the country have practice players that help, so I'm very fortunate that I have a group that's committed to help us.”
The limited number of ND players available for games, though, does alter how Ivey and the Irish approach game prep. With grad senior forward Becky Obinma returning from a concussion that sidelined her for ND’s three ACC Tourney games (March 8-10), Notre Dame has eight available scholarship players. Only six, though, have played in more than half of ND’s games or averaged more than 8 minutes of court time in those games.
“I still do the same concepts,” Ivey said of her adapted practice format. “I'm really big on player development. I always find time within practice to work on individual skill work — guard-, forward-type position work.
“My practice is always energetic, so I'm always trying to cultivate energy within the drills I do with a full roster. Without a full roster, you just have to be smarter. Some things you have to do more half-court.
“I try to limit full-court activity when it's closer to the games. I just try to implement things, concepts that are going to help us, but also be very intentional with the number that we have.
“Now, early on, when I had a full roster, I could get up and down more. I could do a lot of things more. Practices could have been a lot longer. Now practices are shortened, just because once we get the reps, I move on.”
Family matters
Five time zones away and busy with her own professional basketball career Kathryn Westbeld continues to be a beacon for her younger sister, Notre Dame senior forward Maddy Westbeld.
Kathryn was a key piece on Notre Dame’s 2018 national championship team that also had to battle attrition during the season and on its postseason run. The 6-3 forward is currently playing in Hungary, for Atomeromu KSC Szekszard, after having previously been part of pro teams in Australia, Italy, Puerto Rico, Spain and Israel.
“It's hard to communicate sometimes [because of the time difference], but we've always talked about it [playing in the NCAA Tourney],” Maddy, also a 6-3 forward, said on Friday. “I've watched her for a long time, and we have conversations of just how locked in you got to be with your team and how much it doesn't matter anything off the court.
“The only thing that matters is the chemistry that you guys have on the court and how much you guys are on the same page. So, I think we're in a good spot with that. But, yeah, Kathryn's always said just make sure that you're in rhythm with your teammates, no matter what it is, if it's high or if it's low.”
Kathryn played in two Final Fours during her Irish career and started 91 games. The Irish were 82-9 in those 91 contests.
“She was my biggest role model since I was a little kid,” Maddy said. “I wanted to be just like her. I did literally everything just like her, because everything that she is about is true. She's so authentic to herself, and she's just somebody who works so hard and she's a champion in everything that she does.
“So, it's no wonder that she has a ring because of it, because in every detail of her life outside of the court, she's just like that. It's nice that she has an accolade to prove just those little details that she ensues in her whole life but, yeah, she's everything to me.”
Not in a foul mood
Notre Dame ranks a modest 128th nationally out of 349 Division I teams in fewest fouls per game, and has had five different players foul out of games, with injured post Kylee Watson (2) and current starting center Nat Marshall (3) the only players to do it multiples times this season.
Marshall will be making her second career start on Saturday, in place of Watson, who suffered an ACL tear in her left knee March 9 in an ACC semifinal win over top seed Virginia Tech.
Junior All-ACC guard Sonia Citron is one who hasn’t picked up a fifth foul this season, and she discussed the team’s strategy in trying to stay out of foul trouble.
“I would say we can't play as freely as we want to,” Citron said. “Definitely have to adjust, just because we can't afford any fouls, especially early on in the game. So, I'll always tell my teammates to be smart in the first half and then maybe [in the] second half if you have zero or if you have one foul, you can play more aggressive.
“We can't really afford people to get one or two fouls in the first half. So, we definitely got to play smarter and just adjust our game a little bit.”
Ivey knocked on wood when asked the question, remembering instantly ND’s 71-66 road escape against ACC bottom-feeder Pittsburgh on Jan. 4.
In that game Marshall fouled out in just 12 minutes off the bench, and four other Irish players had four fouls at game’s end. That included Maddy Westbeld, who left the game early with a broken nose and a concussion.
Citron had not yet returned from her 7 ½-week layoff due to a sprained knee, so Ivey’s last and only option had one more player fouled out was to insert former walk-on guard Sarah Cernugel into the game.
“We really adjusted from that [game],” Ivey said. “That was an example for us that we have to defend without fouling. It's definitely something you have to adjust to in the game. We talk about that a lot. I throw in a little bit of 2-3 zone to try to help us, but you have to see how the officials are calling the game and you have to adjust.
“I think my team is very, very smart, very experienced, so they understand what's at stake as far as us having a lower roster number where we can't afford to be in foul trouble. So, just praying that that continues.”
Scouting Hidalgo
Kent State coach Todd Starkey admitted he was enough of a fan of Notre Dame All-American Hannah Hidalgo that he watched the point guard for fun when he had the chance long before he had to study her game tape to try to limit the 5-foot-6 freshman.
“I use the analogy she looks like a kid at recess on a sugar high,” Starkey assessed Friday. “She’s just buzzing all over the court and just seems like there’s three of her out there at times.But the other pieces complement that and allow her the freedom to be able to do that.
“She just leaps off the screen, right. The ability she has to anticipate and disrupt the game on the defensive end is rare. She's got great instincts, and I think that's what makes her so good is she's not just a scorer, third in the nation, right. Leads the nation in steals. Leads the team in assists. Second in rebounding. She just affects the game in every statistical category.
“So, I'm coaching against her, but I'm a fan of hers, as well. I mean, she's fun to watch. She's a very entertaining player, and we're excited with the opportunity but it's a tall task.”
Notable numbers
• The player who’s been chasing Hannah Hidalgo all season for the nation’s leader in steals will be doing so as a spectator with her Siena team not advancing to postseason play.
So if Elisa Mevius, a 5-10 guard from Rendsburg, German, is going to win the national statistical title in steals per game, Notre Dame’s All-America freshman will have to come back to Mevius’ level.
Hidalgo begins NCAA Tournament play at 4.59 steals per game, while Mevius sits at 4.50. The latter never had a game with fewer than two steals. Hidalgo had one such game, but in that same game she scored 34 points and had 10 rebounds in an 82-67 win at UConn on Jan. 27.
• The last five games of Notre Dame’s current eight-game winning streak all came against ranked opponents, and Citron is shooting a collective 40% from 3-point range (8-for-20) during that stretch.
• The Irish are 22-0 this season in games in which they led at halftime.
Notre Dame national stat rankings
Out of 349 Division I teams
Kent State national stat rankings
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