# 2019–20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team

The 2019–20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 2019–20 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Fighting Irish, led by 33rd year head coach Muffet McGraw, played their home games at Edmund P. Joyce Center as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Fighting Irish finished the season 13–18 and 8–10 in ACC play to finish in a tie for ninth place. As the tenth seed in the ACC tournament, they lost to Pittsburgh in the First Round. The NCAA tournament and WNIT were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

## Previous season

The Fighting Irish finished the 2018–19 season at 35–4, 14–2 in ACC play to finish in a tie for first place. With a bye in the second round of the ACC women's tournament they would beat North Carolina in the quarterfinals and then would go on to beat Syracuse in the semifinals. In the rematch of the 2017 championship game the Fighting Irish would avenge that lose by beating Louisville. They received an automatic bid for the NCAA women's tournament as a number one seed in the Chicago Regional. The Fighting Irish made it to the Championship game by beating Bethune-Cookman, Michigan State, Texas A&M, Stanford, and Connecticut. In the championship game against Baylor, the Lady Bears got out to and early lead in the first quarter 25–14 and would lead at halftime by double digits 43–31. The Fighting Irish would outscore the Lady Bears in the third and fourth quarters and would have the lead 77–76 late in the fourth quarter, but Baylor found a way to win 82–81.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Jordan Nixon | 0 | G | 5'8" | Freshman | New York City, NY | Transferred to Texas A&M |
| Marina Mabrey | 2 | G | 5'8" | Senior | Belmar, NJ | Drafted in the 2019 WNBA draft (2nd round, 19th overall) |
| Jackie Young | 5 | G | 6'0" | Junior | Princeton, IN | Drafted in the 2019 WNBA Draft (1st round, 1st overall) |
| Brianna Turner | 11 | F | 6'3" | Red-shirt Senior | Pearland, TX | Drafted in the 2019 WNBA Draft (1st round, 11th overall) |
| Arike Ogunbowale | 24 | G | 5'8" | Senior | Milwaukee, WI | Drafted in the 2019 WNBA Draft (1st round, 5th overall) |
| Jessica Shepard | 32 | F | 6'5" | Senior | Fremont, NE | Drafted in the 2019 WNBA Draft (2nd round, 16th overall) |
| Danielle Patterson | 33 | F | 6'2" | Sophomore | Brooklyn, NY | Transferred to Indiana |
| Maureen Butler | 40 | F | 6'1" | Senior | Lionia, MI | Graduated |

### 2019 recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Samantha Brunelle F | Ruckersville, VA | William Monroe High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 98 ||||||
| Anaya Peoples PG | Danville, IL | Schlarman Academy | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 98 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: ||||||
Source:

### Incoming Transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Marta Sniezek | 13 | G | 5'8" | Graduate Transfer | McLean, VA | Transferred from Stanford |
| Destinee Walker | 24 | G | 5'10" | Graduate Transfer | Orlando, FL | Transferred from North Carolina |

## Schedule and results

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference Regular season ||||||
| November 5, 2019* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 16 | at Fordham | W 60–55 | 1–0 | Rose Hill Gymnasium (3,200) Bronx, NY |
| November 8, 2019* 6:30 pm, ACCNX | No. 16 | Loyola-Maryland | W 84–60 | 2–0 | Edmund P. Joyce Center (7,613) South Bend, IN |
| November 11, 2019* 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 15 | Tennessee | L 63–74 | 2–1 | Edmund P. Joyce Center (7,801) South Bend, IN |
| November 14, 2019* 8:00 pm, ACCN | No. 15 | No. 16 Michigan State | L 69–72 | 2–2 | Edmund P. Joyce Center (7,556) South Bend, IN |
| November 20, 2019* 7:00 pm, ACCNX | | Toledo | W 54–51 | 3–2 | Edmund P. Joyce Center (7,269) South Bend, IN |
| November 23, 2019* 7:00 pm, BTN Plus | | at No. 21 Michigan | W 76–72 | 4–2 | Crisler Center (4,008) Ann Arbor, MI |
| November 28, 2019* 1:30 pm | | vs. Florida Gulf Coast Cancún Challenge | L 60–69 | 4–3 | Hard Rock Hotel Riviera (235) Cancún, Mexico |
| November 29, 2019* 11:00 am | | vs. South Dakota State Cancún Challenge | L 59–65 | 4–4 | Hard Rock Hotel Riviera (259) Cancún, Mexico |
| November 30, 2019* 11:00 am | | vs. No. 21 South Florida Cancún Challenge | W 67–51 | 5–4 | Hard Rock Hotel Riviera (174) Cancún, Mexico |
| December 4, 2019* 8:00 pm, ACCN | | Minnesota ACC-Big Ten Women's Challenge | L 67–75 | 5–5 | Edmund P. Joyce Center (7,093) South Bend, IN |
| December 8, 2019* 4:00 pm, ESPN | | at No. 4 Connecticut Jimmy V Classic/Rivalry | L 57–81 | 5–6 | Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (10,167) Storrs, CT |
| December 11, 2019* 6:30 pm, ACCN | | No. 16 DePaul | L 94–105 | 5–7 | Edmund P. Joyce Center (7,148) South Bend, IN |
| Exhibition ||||||
| December 21, 2019* 1:00 pm | | Guelph | W 92–61 | 5–7 | Edmund P. Joyce Center (7,286) South Bend, IN |
| ACC Regular season ||||||
| December 29, 2019 4:00 pm, ACCRSN | | Clemson | L 55–71 | 5–8 (0–1) | Edmund P. Joyce Center (8,569) South Bend, IN |
| January 2, 2020 7:00 pm, ACCNX | | at Pittsburgh | W 60–52 | 6–8 (1–1) | Petersen Events Center (1,368) Pittsburgh, PA |
| January 5, 2020 4:00 pm, ACCN | | at Syracuse | L 63–74 $^{OT}$ | 6–9 (1–2) | Carrier Dome (4,306) Syracuse, NY |
| January 9, 2020 7:00 pm, ACCNX | | Boston College | L 65–75 | 6–10 (1–3) | Edmund P. Joyce Center (7,487) South Bend, IN |
| January 12, 2020 4:00 pm, ACCN | | No. 9 NC State | L 56–90 | 6–11 (1–4) | Edmund P. Joyce Center (7,861) South Bend, IN |
| January 16, 2020 8:00 pm, ACCN | | at Duke | L 47–50 | 6–12 (1–5) | Cameron Indoor Stadium (3,022) Durham, NC |
| January 19, 2020 1:00 pm, ACCN | | Miami (FL) | W 76–53 | 7–12 (2–5) | Edmund P. Joyce Center (8,059) South Bend, IN |
| January 26, 2020 2:00 pm, ACCNX | | at Virginia | L 60–90 | 7–13 (2–6) | John Paul Jones Arena (5,117) Charlottesville, VA |
| January 30, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPNews | | No. 5 Louisville | L 54–86 | 7–14 (2–7) | Edmund P. Joyce Center (7,719) South Bend, IN |
| February 2, 2020 2:00 pm, ACCN | | at Georgia Tech | W 59–51 | 8–14 (3–7) | McCamish Pavilion (1,749) Atlanta, GA |
| February 6, 2020 7:00 pm, ACCNX | | at Wake Forest | W 75–71 | 9–14 (4–7) | LJVM Coliseum (760) Winston-Salem, NC |
| February 9, 2020 4:00 pm, ACCN | | Pittsburgh | W 74–52 | 10–14 (5–7) | Edmund P. Joyce Center (7,916) South Bend, IN |
| February 13, 2020 7:00 pm, ACCNX | | at Boston College | L 55–56 | 10–15 (5–8) | Conte Forum (1,318) Chestnut Hill, MA |
| February 16, 2020 3:00 pm, ACCN | | at No. 9 Louisville | L 49–82 | 10–16 (5–9) | KFC Yum! Center (12,086) Louisville, KY |
| February 20, 2020 8:00 pm, ACCRSN | | Virginia Tech | L 62–68 | 10–17 (5–10) | Edmund P. Joyce Center (7,401) South Bend, IN |
| February 23, 2020 12:00 pm, ACCN | | Syracuse | W 72–70 | 11–17 (6–10) | Edmund P. Joyce Center (8,086) South Bend, IN |
| February 27, 2020 7:00 pm, ACCNX | | North Carolina | W 83–65 | 12–17 (7–10) | Edmund P. Joyce Center (7,639) South Bend, IN |
| March 1, 2020 2:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at No. 19 Florida State | W 70–67 | 13–17 (8–10) | Donald L. Tucker Center (4,360) Tallahassee, FL |
| ACC Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 4, 2020 3:30 pm, RSN | (10) | vs. (15) Pittsburgh First round | L 65–67 | 13–18 | Greensboro, NC (2,795) Greensboro Coliseum |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern. ||||||

## Rankings

2019–20 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings
Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | No Change |
| (RV) | Received Votes |
| (NR) | Not Ranked |