SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The hope was that Notre Dame’s medical and training staff could help freshman guard Emma Risch manage chronic hip pain effectively enough to defer surgery until after the end of the 2023-24 women’s college basketball season.
The persistent reality finally overtook the hypothetical best-case scenario, as Niele Ivey told a small group of reporters Wednesday before practice that Risch would be undergoing hip surgery on Thursday, effectively ending her season when it was barely off the on-ramp.
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"I thought our performance team did a good job of trying to get her back," Ivey said. "So, wishing her a great surgery, healthy recovery and looking forward to having her next year."
The seven games logged of the 11 that the 16th-ranked Irish (9-2, 0-1 ACC) have played heading into Thursday night’s road matchup at Pittsburgh (6-8, 0-1) are few enough for Risch to petition to get the season back as a medical redshirt.
But she’ll be missed this season. Not just because she’s one of five injured players who have missed at least four games. Two of those five, junior All-American guard Olivia Miles and sixth-year grad senior guard Jenna Brown, haven’t played as much of a minute yet.
What Risch brought in small sample sizes was elite 3-point shooting as well as rebounding in her 12.1 minutes per game. But the expectation was once the 6-1 sharpshooter adapted to the speed and physicality of the college game, her impact would expand.
The coaching staff openly compared her, walking in the door, to Alicia Ratay, a member of the 2001 national championship team who not only is Notre Dame’s most accurate 3-point shooter in program history (.476), but the NCAA career record-holder as well.
Risch was averaging 4.6 points and 3.0 rebounds while shooting .429 from the arc when, following a Nov. 29 road win at Tennessee, she left the lineup. A lineup that would benefit from more 3-point threats.
Currently the Irish are a respectable 41st nationally in 3-point percentage (.365) but 302nd out of 348 Division I teams in 3-point attempts per game (15.2).
“We’re trying to pivot, navigate,” Ivey said, “doing everything we can to keep our team healthy and get those who are potentially coming back ready.”
But when?
The details regarding timetables for expected returns, beyond Risch in 2024-25, remain shrouded by consistently vague responses.
Miles (knee) hasn’t played since last February. When pressed Wednesday about the prospect of Miles sitting out the entire season, Ivey responded: “Honestly, it’s just individual, day by day for her. She’s back into practice a lot more. She feels great. She’s getting stronger day by day, so it’s an individual decision for her. And I’m ready for whatever she does. Obviously, we’re in ACC play now.”
On All-ACC junior guard Sonia Citron, who’s missed the last eight games: “She’s healing,” Ivey said. “She’s in a good direction. She’s getting stronger every day, so I’m looking forward to her when she rejoins us.”
But no specifics about when.
On Brown, Ivey was only willing to acknowledge she was still part of the program. With sophomore guard Cass Prosper, out with a leg injury for the past six games, there were no breadcrumbs to follow.
The Irish continue to push forward with a rotation of six healthy core players and eight overall, led by freshman guard Hannah Hidalgo, who’s third in the nation in scoring (24.5), first in steals (6.09) and 17th in assists (6.2).
Pepperdine transfer Becky Obinma and former walk-on guard Sara Cernugel sometimes don’t get off the bench. Obinma logged four scoreless minutes in ND’s 86-81 loss Sunday at Syracuse. Cernugel didn’t play at all.
“I’m always very conscious of what I’m doing,” Ivey said about structuring practices and leaning into sports science to limit injuries. “It’s very purposeful. I’m not practicing very long. It’s like an hour and a half, getting in and out, a lot of recovery.
“But I’m really focused on using Catapult (tracking). We’re using numbers — analytics, science to make sure that we’re having the best-case scenario for having great recovery for our team.”
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