Notre Dame women’s basketball announced its entire 2024-25 schedule last month except for two opponents. Now the Fighting Irish know who those will be.
Head coach Niele Ivey is taking her team to George Town, Cayman Islands, for the 2024 Cayman Islands Classic the week of Thanksgiving. The Irish knew they’d play two games there on Nov. 29 and 30, but they did not know who they’d play.
Notre Dame announced Tuesday it will be TCU on the 29th and Utah on the 30th.
The Horned Frogs went 21-12 overall and 6-12 in the Big 12 last season. They ended their year with a 68-61 loss to Mississippi State in the second round of the WBIT. The Utes, meanwhile, had a better season in going 23-11 overall and 11-7 in Pac-12 play. They lost, 77-66, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They were a No. 5 seed.
TCU has not made it to the NCAA Tournament since 2010. Second-year head coach Mark Campbell was a winner in the transfer portal over the offseason, though, trying to rebuild a tourney-worthy roster. He landed Hailey Van Lith of Louisville and LSU, a known thorn in the side of Notre Dame during her time as one of the ACC’s premier players. Van Lith is on her third school after spending one season in Baton Rouge. She’s averaged 14.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 134 career appearances, including 133 starts.
The Horned Frogs also welcomed Kentucky guard Maddie Scherr to Fort Worth, Texas. Scherr started her career playing for Campbell when he was the associate head coach at Oregon. Scherr was a role player there but blossomed into a double-digit scoring machine with the Wildcats. The fifth-year player is coming off a season in which she averaged a career-best 12.5 points per game.
Utah’s best player in 2023-24, forward Alissa Pili, moved on to the WNBA after putting up 21.4 points per game as a graduate senior in her second season after transferring from USC. The Utes are excited about the return of senior guard Gianna Kneepkens from injury, though. She was averaging 17.8 points per game until she was lost for the season in early December. Utah also brings back senior point guard Ines Vieira, who finished 13th in the NCAA with 200 assists last season.
Notre Dame is 3-0 all-time against both TCU and Utah.
2024-25 Notre Dame women’s basketball schedule
- Oct. 30: Davenport (Exhibition, 7 p.m. ET)
- Nov. 4: Mercyhurst (5 p.m. ET)
- Nov. 10: at Purdue
- Nov. 13: James Madison (7 p.m. ET)
- Nov. 17: at Lafayette (2 p.m. ET)
- Nov. 23: at USC
- Nov. 29: TCU (Cayman Islands Classic)
- Nov 30: Utah (Cayman Islands Classic)
- Dec. 5: Texas (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)
- Dec. 8: at Syracuse (12 p.m. ET, ACC Network)
- Dec. 12: UConn (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)
- Dec. 15: Eastern Michigan (2 p.m. ET)
- Dec. 22: Loyola Maryland
- Dec. 29: Virginia (12 p.m. ET, ACC Network)
- Jan. 5: at North Carolina (1 p.m. ET, ESPN)
- Jan 9.: Wake Forest (7 p.m. ET)
- Jan 12: at Clemson (12 p.m. ET, ACC Network)
- Jan 16: Georgia Tech (6 p.m. ET, ACC Network)
- Jan 19: SMU (6 p.m. ET, ACC Network)
- Jan 23: at Boston College (7 p.m. ET)
- Jan 30: at Virginia Tech (6 p.m. ET)
- Feb. 2: at Louisville (12 p.m. ET, ESPN2)
- Feb. 6: Stanford (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
- Feb. 9: California (2 p.m., ACC Network)
- Feb. 13: at Pitt (8 p.m., ACC Network)
- Feb. 17: Duke (ESPN/2)
- Feb. 20: at Miami (7 p.m. ET)
- Feb. 23: at NC State (12 p.m. ET, ESPN)
- Feb 27: Florida State (8 p.m. ET, ACC Network)
- March 2: Louisville (ESPN)
