Women’s college basketball: 3 things to watch when No. 3 Notre Dame faces No. 17 North Carolina

On Sunday afternoon, the No. 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish travel south to Chapel Hill, NC to face the No. 17 North Carolina Tar Heels. It’s the first game for either side in a week, giving the time for both sides to rest and relax over the final week of the 2024 calendar.

While the matchup doesn’t have the long history of say a Notre Dame vs. UConn or North Carolina vs. Duke matchup, it features two teams that have a group primed for runs deep into the postseason.

Here are three things to pay close attention to when the two teams tip Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Olivia Miles History

Notre Dame guard Olivia Miles missed all of the 2023-24 season due to an ACL injury, but this year the senior’s picked up where she left off before going down. Against the Tar Heels, that could mean tying a historic moment of individual accomplishment with Miles’ ability to get triple-doubles.

Miles is already tied for sixth in college basketball history with six career triple-doubles and she enters Sunday with two in a row. Should Miles achieve it in a third consecutive game, she’ll be the second player in NCAA Division I basketball to accomplish the feat and the first since 2019.

In 2019, Lamar Cardinals guard Chastadie Barrs, who is now an assistant coach at Charleston, had three in a row, with the first nearly being a quadruple-double. In Lamar’s game at New Orleans, Barrs had 17 points, 12 steals, 10 rebounds and nine assists. The guard followed it up with triple-doubles in points, rebounds and assists in the next two games.

Barrs had nine in her four seasons of NCAA basketball, putting her third all-time, but far away from No. 1 and 2 on that list with Iowa’s Caitlin Clark hitting the mark 11 times and Sabrina Ionescu earning an amazing 26 triple-doubles in her career at Oregon.

While Miles is out of reach of hitting Ionescu’s record, earning three in a row will add to an already impressive career for the Notre Dame star.

This season, Miles is scoring a career high 16.7 points per game, and finding success paired alongside sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo in one of the strongest backcourts in basketball.

Perimeter Threats

The matchup between UNC and ND features deep shooting threats on both sides. For the Tar Heels, it’s guard Lexi Donarski, who leads the Tar Heels with 31 three-point shots this season.

Donarski is a good representation of North Carolina’s offense, a program that values moving the ball around and finding open shots. As opposed to putting the ball in one person’s hands and having them take over the offense.

Head coach Courtney Banghart’s team is unselfish with the ball and values taking open looks, whether they make it or miss it. While Donarski leads the team in shooting from beyond the arc, at least five players score at least 8.5 points per game.

That doesn’t sound like much, but UNC’s a team who prides itself on the defensive end of the court, and their work when they don’t have the ball is top of the ACC. North Carolina leads the conference and sits 10th nationally in defense, allowing 52.7 points per game.

However, UNC has a tall task ahead of them trying to stop the shooting of the Irish. Hidalgo is second in the country with 26 points per game, leading a ND team that not only shoots a lot but shoots efficiently. The Fighting Irish collectively shoot 49.4 percent from the floor, and 42.1 percent from deep, which is better than any other program in Division I college basketball.

UNC won’t be able to keep up shot-for-shot, and need to close down shooters like Hidalgo who isn’t afraid to pull up from deep, even on the fast break.

UNC’s Post Play

The Tar Heels have one advantage over ND, and that’s height and presence inside the paint. While the Irish have size in 6-foot-5 center Kate Koval, she’s a freshman still adjusting to the top tier of college basketball. North Carolina has a pair of experienced, senior, bigs in Maria Gakdeng and Alyssa Ustby.

For Gakdeng, the 6-foot-3 forward leads UNC in the post, using her size and movement to score over defenders. Gakdeng leads the Tar Heels with 11.4 points per game and shoots 71.4 percent, which would be top of the conference if not for Gakdeng missing four games due to injury this season.

Ustby is basically position-less, showing attributes of both a guard and a forward. Inside the paint, Ustby tracks opposing players well and times blocks effectively. The senior also leads the team with 9.1 rebounds per game.

Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images

The five-year Tar Heel also plays like a guard, finding open teammates, leading the team with 3.6 assists per game, and using her speed to drive to the basket or take a midrange shot.

In North Carolina’s last game, a 69-60 win over the Miami Hurricanes, the two post threats combined for 40 points and 15 rebounds, and Ustby added four steals and four assists on top of it.

What will free up UNC on the perimeter is for Ustby and Gakdeng to get started early. When the duo takes control of games early, it means more distribution for players outside of the paint, like Donarski.

Notre Dame isn’t a team that is scored on easily, with Hidalgo using her quick hands on defense to rack up steals and not let opposing teams just dribble down the court to set up their offense.

Should North Carolina get plays set consistently in the paint, and start dishing out to the wings, UNC will still have to contend with ND graduate senior Liatu King. After transferring from Pitt in the offseason, King’s defense makes her a potential candidate for ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

In 12 games, King leads the Irish with a defensive rating of 73.6, meaning per 100 possessions against King, opposing sides score that many points on average, which is third in the ACC. It means that King doesn’t relent and will force UNC into more passing situations, which could mean more turnovers for King and Hidalgo, who combine to average 6.6 steals per game.