GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands — After a dominant showing in Los Angeles last weekend, No. 3 Notre Dame (5-0) is back on the road for the holiday week. The Irish head to the Cayman Islands to face off against No. 17 TCU (6-0) and Utah (5-1) in the 2024 Cayman Islands Classic at John Gray Gymnasium.
Notre Dame’s backcourt duo of Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles is firing on all cylinders this season. Hidalgo leads the team and ranks third nationally with 24.8 points per game and is the reigning AP National Player of the Week. Miles continues to wow with her court vision, dishing out assists that defy odds and scoring 18.6 points per game while doing it.
The Notre Dame-TCU matchup will be full of stars, including former Louisville and LSU guard Hailey Van Lith, who the Irish have seen numerous times while she was in the ACC. Van Lith is TCU’s second-leading scorer at 19.7 points per game, and she is pacing the group with 42 assists this season. Former Texas and Oregon center Sedona Prince leads TCU with 20.7 points per game, and she ranks second nationally with 23 blocks. Notre Dame’s Kate Koval is the country’s leader with 24.
“They’re an incredibly gifted team,” Karen and Kevin Keyes Family 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 that have helped them with experience and guard play. It’s going to be a tough matchup.”
Notre Dame is 3-0 all-time against the Horned Frogs and last saw them in 2016.
As for Utah, the Utes recently lost former head coach Lynne Roberts to the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. Gavin Petersen has taken over a team that has reached the NCAA Tournament the last three years, but the Utes suffered an early-season loss to Northwestern and have had other close calls. Similar to the Irish, Utah brings a balanced offensive attack; five players are averaging double-figures, and the team is averaging 87.0 points per game. Utah also ranks seventh nationally with 11.0 shots knocked down from deep per game.
The Irish are also 3-0 all-time against Utah and last faced off in the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
Notre Dame’s games against both TCU and Utah tip off at 5 p.m. The contests can be streamed on FloCollege.com.