The No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (17-2, 8-1 ACC) will aim for their sixth straight win on Sunday when they travel to Raleigh to take on the No. 20 NC State Wolfpack (15-5, 5-4 ACC). The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN and tip-off at 3 p.m. ET.
It’s been an incredible season for the Irish thus far; they have their best record through 19 games since the 2018-19 season, when they reached the NCAA Championship game. Notre Dame is currently outscoring its opponents by 29.6 points per 100 possessions — the seventh-best net rating in Division I — fueled largely by its defense, which is allowing just 77.3 points per 100 possessions.
Another strength of the Irish is their guard play, which took a hit when grad transfer Dara Mabrey went down with an ACL injury in the team’s recent win over Virginia. Mabrey, who was averaging 9.3 points, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game, will miss the rest of the season as she rehabs, though she intends to remain with the team, as explained in a heartfelt statement she posted on Twitter:
Luckily for the Irish, they still have an ACC Player of the Year contender in their backcourt in Olivia Miles. In her second full season at Notre Dame, Miles is stuffing the stat sheet, averaging 15.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 2.2…
