Sunday Evening Hoops On Deck For No. 3 Notre Dame, SMU

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — No. 3 Notre Dame (15-2, 6-0) will get its first taste of the new ACC teams this weekend, as the Irish host SMU (10-8, 2-4) for a Sunday evening clash. The squads have not played since the 2008 NCAA Tournament, and the Mustangs have not visited South Bend since 1982.

Notre Dame is coming off an 81-66 victory over No. 17 Georgia Tech, its fifth ranked win of the season. All of them have come by 10+ points. The Irish are also 6-0 in conference play for the first time since 2018-19 and have won 10 games in a row by an average of 27.5 points per game.

Sonia Citron and Maddy Westbeld led the Irish against the Yellow Jackets with 21 and 20 points, respectively. Citron also had 6 rebounds and 6 assists, becoming the fourth Notre Dame player this season with a 20-5-5 game. No other D-I team has more than two. Additionally, Westbeld became the seventh Notre Dame player with at least 20 points in a game this year, tied for the most in Division I. 

SMU is coming off a pair of devastating losses to Pittsburgh and North Carolina. The Mustangs gave up a 32-point lead to the Panthers and scored just 33 points against the Tar Heels on Thursday. Sunday’s contest will feature the two best rebounding teams in the league, as Notre Dame leads the conference with 45.5 boards per game, and SMU sits in second with 43.3. The Mustangs lead the ACC with 16 offensive rebounds per game. 

Nya Robertson leads SMU with 20.0 points per game and is one of just three ACC players posting 20+ per contest (Hannah Hidalgo and Ta’Niya Latson), and forward Jessica Peterson is averaging a near double-double (9.7 points/12.1 rebounds). SMU has had eight players start at least one game this year.

Notre Dame is 2-1 all-time against SMU. The game tips off on the ACC Network at 6 p.m.