Notre Dame Fighting Irish schedule barn burner home and home series
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish women’s basketball team this fall and winter is expected to be even better than the squad that went all the way to the Sweet 16. It also is apparently not scared to face off against anyone.
That was evidenced again with the announcement of a very impressive home and home series. That home and home series, against the USC Trojans is extra impressive considering that most Power Conference teams tend to want as many cupcakes on its schedule as possible.
Hoops in Hollywood✨
— Notre Dame Women's Basketball (@ndwbb) July 12, 2024
The Irish and Trojans have agreed to a home-and-home, with Notre Dame heading west on Nov. 23, 2024 and USC visiting South Bend in 2025-26. pic.twitter.com/H3Zt0A3ctM
On Friday afternoon, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish announced the home and home series that will see Hannah Hidalgo and company visit JuJu Watkins and her gang in Southern California on November 23.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish taking on USC in battle of the Titans
After the Irish play that road game this year, USC will come to South Bend in 2025-2026.
In addition to being a battle of two teams who will be expected to compete for the National Title, there are other connections between the two teams that will make this a must watch game.
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.
This is also a continuation of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women’s basketball team not being afraid to take on allcomers. Last season, they opened the series against National Title contending South Carolina.