Tag: purcell pavilion

Notre Dame women’s hoops sells 1,000 new season tickets for 2024-25

Time to jump on the bandwagon!

Notre Dame’s women’s basketball team in 2024-25 will have its highest expectations since [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] took over the program. Fans have taken notice of that, and they want to watch the Irish play at Purcell Pavilion. If you need proof of this, look no further than this announcement the Irish made on social media:

If you haven’t gotten on board with Notre Dame women’s basketball, now is the time. [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] is coming off being named First Team All-American as a freshman. All-American [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] will be back after missing all of last season. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] and [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] also are returning, and the Irish added two quality transfers in [autotag]Liatu King[/autotag] and [autotag]Liza Karlen[/autotag].

Anything less than the Final Four for the Irish in 2024-25 will be a disappointment. Ivey has been blessed with the most talent she’s had while leading the program, and it’s up to her to get that talent to mesh.

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Photos I took while reporting at Notre Dame this past year

Miss being on campus?

Some of you loyal site readers, particularly of the basketball coverage, may know I traveled to Notre Dame several times over the past year. As I was there, the fact that I was doing my reporting on a prestigious campus was not lost on me. I had been to campus once for the football team’s 2012 game against Michigan, so I needed to re-familiarize myself with my surroundings.

There were a couple of instances in which I found myself with more downtime than I needed, so I took those opportunities to explore the campus. A few photos came from sitting inside Purcell Pavilion while the women’s team held a practice that was open to the public (after which I introduced myself to [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag]). The rest came from other places around campus that I thought were interesting, some of them better known than others. So while you continue to count down the days to football season, I hope these photos tide you over:

College Football Playoff unveils 2025 schedule, first with 12 teams

The future is here.

If you ever have wanted the college football season to extend to almost throughout January, you’re in luck. With the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams, the calendar also had to be expanded.

Now, we know exactly how many weeks will be required to determine the national champion, when each game will be played and which network will televise each game. Here’s the 2025 schedule:

While Notre Dame is expected to contend for the playoff this season, we obviously don’t know if they’ll be good enough to host a first-round game assuming they even make it. Just to play it safe, it would be wise if neither of the Irish basketball teams had games scheduled at Purcell Pavilion that weekend, at least until that Sunday.

This new format undoubtedly will take some getting used to, but this is the way college football is now. It’s now as much about timing as regular-season performance. Traditionalists might not like it, but it is what it is.

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Notre Dame to play North Dakota for first time in over 80 years

Mark Nov. 19 on your calendars.

We slowly but surely are starting to see the college basketball schedule leak out. We haven’t seen much for Notre Dame except for a tournament in Las Vegas. However, we now know the Irish will be playing a program it hasn’t faced since the year the U.S. entered World War II.

The Grand Forks Herald is reporting that the Irish will welcome North Dakota to Purcell Pavilion on Nov. 19. To find the only other meeting between the teams, you have to go back to Feb. 4, 1941. The Irish won that game, 46-38, at the long-demolished Notre Dame Fieldhouse.

North Dakota athletic director Bill Chaves indicated his appreciation for the Irish and their history:

“I think back to my childhood when Notre Dame was playing UCLA. UCLA had all those amazing teams. (The Fighting Irish) were the ones to break up the 88-game winning streak. It’s kind of a neat thing for history buffs, and certainly it’ll be exciting for this year’s team.”

The Fighting Hawks are coming off an 18-14 season in which they placed second in the Summit League. When the Irish last played a team from that conference in December 2013, they lost, 73-69, to North Dakota State, which went on to upset a ranked Oklahoma team in that season’s NCAA Tournament.

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Micah Shrewsberry learns one ‘can’t just walk into’ Notre Dame Stadium

The new Irish coach still is feeling his way around campus.

New Notre Dame coach [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] spent Thursday at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. He made the interview rounds on ESPN, which was covering the event. By far the highlight for him during the broadcast was revealing that he learned a hard truth about Notre Dame Stadium when he first arrived on campus. Specifically, he learned just how exclusive the stadium is:

It’s nice that Shrewsberry was able to be let into the stadium, but it most likely would not have happened if he weren’t a university employee. I made several trips to Purcell Pavilion for basketball coverage this past season and never once gave into the temptation to try and get inside the next-door stadium. For one, I could see that the gates were locked every time, and I surely would have come away disappointed had I decided to go for it. So I guess the only way I or anyone else in the general public can see the stadium again is to buy a ticket.

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Fighting Irish Wire makes Notre Dame Stadium debut at Blue Gold Game

Major stepping stone for our site.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The first Notre Dame event Fighting Irish Wire covered on location was the final edition of the Crossroads Classic. That was in late 2021. Since then, we have covered many Irish men’s and women’s basketball games at Purcell Pavilion and elsewhere. We also traveled to Boston a year ago when the baseball team played at Fenway Park.

However, we never have had media access to any football events, let alone one at Notre Dame Stadium. That changes today with the annual Blue Gold Game to wrap up spring practices. Yes, you read that correctly. Fighting Irish Wire is covering its first event inside the House That Rockne Built.

As of this writing, we aren’t entirely sure what we’ll be writing about today. What we are sure of is we’re excited to be here, and we hope this will serve as a dress rehearsal to covering at least some regular-season games here this fall. We appreciate your support on this big day for our site.

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Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo named Wooden Award finalist

She had an incredible season, no?

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] racked up one record and honor after another during her freshman season at Notre Dame. Now, she’s going about as far as she can go as far as awards in women’s basketball. She has been announced as one of five finalists for the Wooden Award, which is given to the best player in the country.

Even though the winner will be announced Monday, merely being a finalist means Hidalgo will be invited to the ceremony April 12 in Los Angeles regardless if she wins the award or not. She also is one of 10 Wooden Award All-Americans.

In 35 games this season, Hidalgo became one of the country’s top scorers with 33.9 points a game. She also led the country in steals at 4.6 a game, and she averaged 5.5 assists a game. All that and more made her a First Team All-American and First Team All-ACC selection as well as the top rookie and defensive player in the ACC.

Hidalgo faces some incredibly stiff competition for this award. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark is the clear favorite to win it for the second straight year, but Hidalgo also is up against 2021 winner Paige Bueckers of UConn, fellow freshman phenom JuJu Watkins of USC and Stanford’s Cameron Brink. Still, the fact that she can be in the conversation with these players is a good indicator that she’ll keep the South Bend faithful coming to Purcell Pavilion for the next few years.

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Photos of Notre Dame’s second-round victory over Ole Miss

See how the win appeared at Purcell.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – One never wants to say an NCAA Tournament is going to be easy. Sometimes though, the result of a game becomes impossible to ignore. Notre Dame dominated Ole Miss in the second round, 71-56, and will play in the Sweet 16 for the third straight season. Up next is Oregon State in the Albany Regional 1 semifinals.

There could be no more games at Purcell Pavilion this season after this game, and the Irish certainly went out on a high note. Even when the Rebels threatened to make the game close in the second half, it was little more than a passing threat, and the Irish’s lead never fell below double digits once it got there late in the first quarter.

It’s understandable if your job kept you from tuning into this game on a Monday afternoon, but that’s why there are photographs. Here are some that were taken at this game:

BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY’s NCAA tournament bracket contest, create a pool and invite your friends!

Notre Dame goes back to Sweet 16 with second-round win over Ole Miss

Make your plans for Good Friday.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Never mind that it was a Monday afternoon. Notre Dame fans packed Purcell Pavilion in droves one final time this season to see the Irish play in the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Ole Miss. The Irish didn’t want to let their fans down, and they accomplished that with a 71-56 win that placed them in their third straight Sweet 16. They next will play Oregon State in the semifinals of Albany Regional 1 on Good Friday.

BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY’s NCAA tournament bracket contest, create a pool and invite your friends!

There never really was a moment in which the Irish (28-6) were seriously threatened by the Rebels (24-9). Once [autotag]Anna DeWolfe[/autotag] and [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] hit back-to-back 3s to end the scoring in the first quarter, they never led by less than double digits. They had good looks both inside and out on offense, and their defense not only forced the Rebels to make mistakes but unnerved them into unforced errors. The result was a lead that grew by as much as 23.

In what could have been her final game in South Bend, Westbeld made it count with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting and the game’s only two blocks, both coming in the first quarter. [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] was just behind Westbeld with 19 points, and she also collected four steals.[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] advanced her reputation as perhaps the Irish’s best all-around player, achieving a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds to go with a game-high six assists.

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Pete Bavacqua officially takes over as Notre Dame athletic director

A new age has dawned at the university.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The [autotag]Jack Swarbrick[/autotag] era at Notre Dame officially has come to an end. Taking over as athletic director starting Monday was [autotag]Pete Bevacqua[/autotag], and the athletic department was quick to recognize that on social media:

The only athletic event on the Notre Dame schedule for the day was the women’s basketball team’s game against Ole Miss for the second of the NCAA Tournament. Fittingly, it took place at Purcell Pavilion. It served as a reminder of how much Notre Dame athletics thrived under Swarbrick and what Bevacqua has to build upon.

We don’t know what the future holds for the university’s athletic programs, but we know that overall, the outlook is as rosy as it’s ever been. So for the moment at least, Bevacqua deserves the benefit of the doubt as he settles into his new role. Best of luck to him, and we can’t wait to see how the programs do under his leadership.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

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