The No. 3 USC women’s basketball team will go toe-to-toe with the No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish this weekend. Tip from Galen Center is scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern time, 1 p.m. Pacific on NBC Sports. The two teams’ top-five rankings were announced earlier this week in the USA TODAY Sports Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll. Days before the big battle, Geoffrey Clark of Fighting Irish Wire spoke to the strengths that got the Fighting Irish to the No. 5 spot.
“The talent the Irish have speaks for itself. Look at the roster, and you’ll have two All-Americans, a freshman phenom in the making, high-producing veterans and younger players who are just itching to make a big impact once given quality minutes. Any rotational player can deliver perhaps the best performance of their collegiate career during any game, and you just have to guess who that’s going to be.”
Hannah Hidalgo, Olivia Miles, Kate Koval, and the rest of the Irish starters have elite talent. Notre Dame has a starting five every bit as good as USC’s. The Trojans, however, have greater depth due to the Irish’s injuries, which we will discuss more in the coming days.
The Trojans, who already have a top-20 win under their belt, will have a tough match on their hands this weekend. It will be the first true test to see if head coach Lindsay Gottlieb has her team poised to make another deep run after a Pac-12 Tournament championship last season. This duel on Saturday is certainly the biggest game in women’s college basketball so far this season.
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