Olivia Miles was locked in. After grabbing the rebound from a missed midrange jumper by Maryland’s Abby Meyers near the free-throw line, the Notre Dame point guard’s eyes were latched onto the basket down floor. But even as she pushed the pace—dribbling the ball down the left sideline and passing multiple defenders on the fast-break opportunity—her impeccable vision was on full display. Miles always “knows exactly where her teammates are,” says fifth-year Fighting Irish guard Dara Mabrey. “We have this connection where I don’t even have to look at her eyes.”
As the sophomore sensation crossed midcourt, Mabrey was running down the left sideline for a potential corner three while freshman guard KK Bransford lagged slightly behind Miles before converging to the paint. Instead of landing an assist from one of her usual jaw-dropping, no-look passes, Miles crossed three-point line, took a diagonal angle to the paint while sidestepping the Terps’ Diamond Miller to convert a layup with an oncoming free throw opportunity and a passionate high-five from Skylar Diggins-Smith’s dad courtside.
With less than 50 seconds remaining in the Dec. 1 clash—one that included 15 lead changes—the eyes of more than 3,100 fans were glued to the court inside Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center. The acclaimed arena, featuring Notre Dame’s two national championship banners from 2001 and ’18 hanging from the rafters marking legendary coach Muffet McGraw’s regime, is ready to erupt. McGraw spent more than three decades activating greatness in her players, which includes the one pacing Notre Dame’s sideline, coach Niele Ivey. The former All-American point guard, along with legend Ruth Riley, helped secure the program’s first national title.
But Ivey was more than an elite player. She became one of McGraw’s greatest students of the game, spending stints as an Irish assistant (2007 to ’15) and associate head coach (’15 to ’19) before dashing to the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies to serve as an assistant. When McGraw decided to retire after the ’19–20 season, following two back-to-back Final Four appearances in ’18 and ’19 and the program’s first losing season in more than three decades, Ivey’s number was called to lead the program, and she didn’t take the challenge lightly. “There’s a lot of expectation that comes with following one of the greatest of all time,” Ivey says. With the game on the line, these are the moments Ivey, now in her third season as head coach, remembers while playing for and learning under McGraw.
However, the luck was not in favor of the Irish, who committed 18 turnovers in addition to the late-game heroics from Miles and Sonia Citron that night in December. In the final seconds, Miller sank a pull-up jumper at the buzzer, giving the Terrapins their first win against Notre Dame since 2007.
The loss had similar shades to the Irish’s Sweet 16 departure from last year’s tournament when they suffered a heartbreaking defeat to NC State following Raina Perez’s timely steal, go-ahead layup and free throws to close the curtains on the season. But it was a lesson that ignited the program’s mentality. “We needed that punch in the face,” Miles says. “It’s still kind of scary to know we played that badly and lost by a buzzer beater.”
Since then Notre Dame has won six of its last seven, including three ACC victories with two on the road against Virginia Tech and Miami before winning at home against Boston College on New Year’s Day. Despite Sunday’s loss to then No. 22 North Carolina—a matchup in which the Irish committed 19 turnovers and were held to their lowest offensive output this season and a dismal 9.1% from beyond the arc—they’re still eager to reach the next tier of success in 2023. As Notre Dame (12–2) prepares to face Wake Forest in an ACC clash Thursday, the journey only gets more competitive. And for Ivey, it is imperative that her players maintain that hunger and dominance because the “target is on their backs now.” “It’s something they have not been used to. On any given night, anybody can win in the ACC.”
