Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: Irish & USC announce home-and-home series

Notre Dame announced a major home-and-away series against a well-known football rival – the USC Trojans.

From the ND press release about Ashton Pollard:

SOUTH BEND, Indiana. – One of Notre Dame’s annual football rivalries returns to the basketball court, and it looks like it could be a top-10 matchup.

On Friday, the Irish announced that Notre Dame and USC will meet in Los Angeles on Nov. 23, followed by a 2025-26 season game in South Bend. The Irish are the No. 4 team in ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25, while the Trojans are No. 2.

There are numerous connections between these squads. The matchup pits last year’s rookie phenoms: Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo against USC’s JuJu Watkins. Hidalgo ranked sixth nationally in scoring with 22.6 points per game (which was also the Notre Dame program record) and led the nation with 4.6 steals per game, while Watkins ranked second in scoring with 27.1 points per game.

Both programs also added notable, high-profile transfers this offseason. Notre Dame welcomed All-ACC forward Liatu King and All-BIG EAST forward Liza Karlen. King played her first four years in Pittsburgh while Karlen was at Marquette. USC acquired both Kiki Iriafen and Talia von Oelhoffen from Stanford and Oregon State, respectively. Iriafen was the Pac-12’s most improved player last season, and both players were on the All-Pac-12 team.

Also of note, Notre Dame freshman Kate Koval will be in Los Angeles to meet her high school teammate and fellow rookie Kayleigh Heckel. They were both McDonald’s All-Americans last season and five-star recruits according to the 2024 ESPN HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings.

Notre Dame has an overall record of 8-2 against the Trojans and last faced the Trojans on November 25, 2011, as part of the Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas. The Irish last visited SC in 2006.

Details of the televised match will be announced at a later date.