Irish travel to Cayman Islands to face No. 17 TCU and Utah – Notre Dame Fighting Irish – Official Athletics Website

Irish travel to Cayman Islands to face No. 17 TCU and Utah – Notre Dame Fighting Irish – Official Athletics Website

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands – After a dominant performance in Los Angeles last weekend, No. 3 Notre Dame (5-0) is back on the road for the holiday week. The Irish travel to the Cayman Islands to face No. 17 TCU (6-0) and Utah (5-1) in the 2024 Cayman Islands Classic at John Gray Gymnasium.

Notre Dame’s backcourt duo, Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles, are hitting their stride this season. Hidalgo leads the team and ranks third nationally in scoring at 24.8 points per game and is the reigning AP National Player of the Week. Miles continues to impress with her vision on the court, providing assists that defy the odds while scoring 18.6 points per game.

The matchup between Notre Dame and TCU will be full of stars, including former Louisville and LSU guard Hailey Van Lith, who the Irish have seen several times during their time in the ACC. Van Lith is TCU’s second-leading scorer with 19.7 points per game and leads the group with 42 assists this season. Former Texas and Oregon center Sedona Prince leads TCU with 20.7 points per game and ranks second nationally with 23 blocks. Notre Dame’s Kate Koval is the nation’s all-time leader with 24.

“They are an incredibly talented team,” Karen and Kevin Keyes head coach Niele Ivey said of TCU this week. “Van Lith and Prince are both playing really well, and they have some other great transfers who have helped them with experience and guard play. It will be a tough duel.”

Notre Dame is 3-0 all-time against the Horned Frogs, last seeing them in 2016.

As for Utah, the Utes recently lost their former head coach Lynne Roberts to the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. Gavin Petersen took over a team that has reached the NCAA Tournament the last three years, but the Utes suffered a loss to Northwestern early in the season and had other close calls. Similar to the Irish, Utah brings a balanced offensive attack; Five players average double figures and the team averages 87.0 points per game. Utah also ranks seventh nationally with 11.0 shots from deep per game.

The Irish are also 3-0 all-time against Utah and last met in the 2011 NCAA Tournament.

Notre Dame’s games against TCU and Utah begin at 5 p.m. The competitions can be streamed on FloCollege.com.

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