SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Two historic programs. One in-state rivalry. Notre Dame-Purdue is back.
On Tuesday, the Fighting Irish and Boilermakers announced the two teams will resume what has been a dormant series with a Dec. 17 matchup at Purcell Pavilion. The schools sit just over 100 miles apart in a basketball-rich state, but it has been a while since they’ve taken the court against each other. The last time the foes faced off during the regular season was 2012, and the last meeting came in a 2017 NCAA Tournament second-round game.
The Boilermakers went 19-11 (9-8 Big Ten) last season and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. Purdue fell to St. John’s in the First Four, 64-66. This year, the team will look almost completely different.
Head coach Katie Gearalds — who played at Purdue from 2003-08 — will arrive in South Bend in December with just five returners from last year’s squad and seven freshmen, per the school’s 2023-24 roster. Lasha Petree led the Boilermakers last year with 14.7 points per game, but she has moved on to play professionally in Mexico. The top returning player is guard Jeanae Terry, who led the team with 7.6 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.3 steals during the 2022-23 campaign.
Of note, three of Purdue’s student-athletes are South Bend natives, and all three of them attended Washington High School: Rashunda Jones, Amiyah Reynolds and Mila Reynolds. Amiyah Reynolds was the No. 43 overall recruit in the 2023 ESPN HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings, while Jones was 79th. The Reynolds are the first sister pair in Purdue women’s basketball history after Mila transferred to West Lafayette from Maryland this offseason.
Notre Dame is 13-14 all-time against Purdue, but the Irish have won the last eight meetings. Of course, the most notable meeting between the in-state rivals came on April 1, 2001. Notre Dame — led by then-point guard Niele Ivey — defeated Purdue 68-66, winning the program’s first national championship.