| GAME 35: | No. 2 Notre Dame (28-6) vs No. 3 Oregon State (26-7) |
|---|---|
| WHEN: | Friday, March 29 | 2:30 p.m. ET |
| WHERE | Albany, N.Y. | MVP Arena |
| WATCH: | ESPN |
| LISTEN: | Notre Dame Radio Network |
| SOCIAL: | @NDWBB | #GOIRISH |
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last year, the Irish women’s team made history as the first women’s basketball team to play on NBC. This year, Notre Dame is running it back.
The 16th-ranked Irish (2-1) will face Illinois (2-1) on Saturday in the second rendition of the Citi Shamrock Classic. It will once again be televised on NBC (1 p.m.), and it will lead into Notre Dame football’s game against Wake Forest.
The 2022 Citi Shamrock Classic was played in St. Louis between Notre Dame and California. Both head coaches — Karen and Kevin Keyes Family Head Coach Niele Ivey and Cal head coach Charmin Smith — had St. Louis roots. While there isn’t a personal tie to the nation’s capital for Ivey or Illinois head coach Shauna Green, Washington has obviously been the site of endless historic moments for the nation.
In keeping with the theme that this game is “bigger than basketball,” the Irish will once again have multiple events not directly tied to Saturday’s battle on the court. After practice on Friday, Notre Dame and Illinois will head to a leadership luncheon at Nationals Park. In addition to Ivey and Green, there will be four other speakers: Sheila Johnson (CEO of Salamander Hotels & Resorts & Co-Founder of BET), Erika Irish Brown (Citi Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer and Global Head of Talent), Kimberly Bolt (Chief Marketing Officer of the Washington Nationals) and Candy Cage (Associate Commissioner for Women’s Basketball, Atlantic 10 Conference).
After the lunch, the team will embark on a tour of various monuments around the National Mall. The group will reunite with Illinois for a tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Children from youth groups in the D.C. area will join them for the tour, giving the women the opportunity to be mentors as they visit the museum.
Once Saturday hits, it will be all basketball. Notre Dame and Illinois have not seen each other since 1999, and the Illini hold the series advantage, 4-1. Illinois has beaten Morehead State and St. Peter’s this year, but Marquette handed them a loss.
A pair of NC State transfers have played a massive role for them this year. Genesis Bryant is pacing the team with 16.3 points per game, and Camille Hobby is third at 10.3. As a team, Illinois shoots the 3 and keeps opponents from shooting the 3. The Illini are third in the Big Ten with a 44.4 percent success rate from deep, and they led the conference with an opponent 3-point field goal percentage of just 20.6.