Notre Dame will host the opening round of NCAA tournament

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind -- Notre Dame hosting the opening rounds of the NCAA for the first time since 2019.

March Madness starts with selection Sunday and the selection committee determined #3 Notre Dame will host #14 Southern Utah in the Greenville regional.

A few first for head coach Niele Ivey.

After winning the ACC regular season and ACC coach of the year, Ivey and her team have earned homecourt advantage in this year’s tournament.

It couldn’t have come at a better time as the Irish are still without star guard Olivia Miles.

Notre dame finished the season 25-5 and will face the 23-9 Southern Utah thunderbirds of the Western Athletic conference.

A few facts on the Irish in March during the NCAA tournament:

• 69-25 all-time in the tournament
• 23-4 in the first and second round
• 22-2 at home

“We put in the work to be able to host. That’s something that we were trying to fight for last year and so, to obtain that accomplishment to be able to be here, it's going to be something great, something special. Again, we've had the opportunity to be here for forever. So, there's definitely an advantage,” said Ivey.

“It's comforting knowing that we'll be right here in South bend. It's familiar. You know, we have our same routines and all that. So, it'll be good for us to get that goal and it's been a great week of practice. So, I think we're going to go in with a lot of momentum,” said Notre Dame Forward Maddy Westbeld.

“It's what we know. So obviously, we'll definitely be comfortable. We've been shooting on these rims for a while now. Playing in front of our fans is just I mean, it's what we know. So, I know. We'll be good,” said Notre Dame guard Sonia Citron.

As for the news that everyone wants an update on, coach Ivey says that Olivia Miles is still day to day with her injury and will see more attention from the doctors this week leading up to Friday’s game. The time of the game is still to be determined.