With less than a month to go until Notre Dame women’s basketball tips off, the times have been confirmed for a pair of Big Ten clashes, including a likely top-10 showdown.
Notre Dame’s first away game of the season against Purdue will air on FS1 at 7 p.m.
The Irish faced the Boilermakers last season and won 76-39 behind Hannah Hidalgo’s 23 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 7 steals plus Maddy Westbeld’s 15 points and 12 boards. It was the first time Purdue was held under 40 points since 2018.
The Boilermakers lost their leading scorers Abbey Ellis and Caitlyn Harper this offseason and will look to rising sophomore and South Bend native Rashunda Jones to build on a freshman season after which she was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. Also a rising sophomore, Sophie Swanson returns after averaging 7.1 points in just 12.6 minutes per game last year.
The Irish will play USC on NBC at 4 p.m. ET. The matchup will lead into Notre Dame football’s primetime matchup against Army at Yankee Stadium.
The two annual football foes have not played on the basketball court since 2011, but there are numerous connections between these rosters. The matchup will pit last year’s rookie phenoms against each other in Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo and USC’s JuJu Watkins. Hidalgo ranked sixth nationally with 22.6 points per game (which was also the Notre Dame program record) and led the nation with 4.6 steals per contest, while Watkins was second in scoring with 27.1 points per game.
Both programs also added notable, high-level transfers this offseason. Notre Dame welcomed All-ACC forward Liatu King and All-BIG EAST forward Liza Karlen. King played at Pittsburgh for her first four years, while Karlen was at Marquette. USC added both Kiki Iriafen and Talia von Oelhoffen from Stanford and Oregon State, respectively. Iriafen was the Pac-12’s Most Improved Player last season, and both players were on the All-Pac 12 Team.
Also of note, Notre Dame freshman Kate Koval will get to see her high school teammate and fellow rookie Kayleigh Heckel in Los Angeles. They were both McDonald’s All-Americans last season and five-star recruits according to the 2024 ESPN HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings.
Notre Dame’s full schedule is available here.