Gonzaga (4-0) vs. No. 1 Notre Dame (3-0)
NOV. 22 | 12 P.M. | VANCOUVER, B.C. | VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTER
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO ***Fee required
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
Overall: Second meeting (Notre Dame leads 1-0)
In Spokane: 0-0 | In South Bend: 0-0| Neutral: 0-1
Current Streak: Notre Dame, Won 1
Last Meeting: Dec. 29, 2010; Notre Dame won 70-61 in the Holiday Hoops Classic in Seattle.
Series Notes: Gonzaga and Notre Dame meet for only the second time in program history. The Fighting Irish hold the edge in the series 1-0 following a 70-61 win at the Holiday Hoops Classic in Seattle. The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Bulldogs, and it was the second time that season the Zags had been bested by a ranked opponent: vs. No. 3/3 Stanford, Nov. 21, 2010, L 84-78; vs. No. 14/16 Notre Dame, Dec. 29, 2010, L 70-61.
- Against Notre Dame in 2010, the game saw 12 ties and 17 lead changes until the Fighting Irish outscored the Zags 23-9 in the final nine minutes to seal the victory.
- Gonzaga carries a 4-8 record against current ACC teams, logging wins against Louisville, Miami (FL), North Carolina and Virginia. The last time the Zags faced a team out of the ACC was Nov. 25, 2016; Gonzaga fell to Florida State 87-69 in the second game of the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
 
SCOUTING NOTRE DAME:
- The Fighting Irish boast a No. 1 ranking in both the AP Top 25 and the USA Today Coaches Poll; Notre Dame claims all 31 first-place votes in the AP poll and 30 of 31 in the USA Today Coaches Poll; UConn claimed the additional vote in the coaches poll.
- Notre Dame is coming off a 35-3 national championship season which saw UND earn its second-ever national championship title with a 61-58 come-from-behind win over No. 1-seeded Mississippi State.
- The Fighting Irish return four starters and nine letter winners from the 2017-18 national championship squad with two players joining the ranks after sitting out last season due to injury. UND's returning core is made of of six upperclassmen including four seniors and two juniors.
- Four of UND's returners averaged double-figures a season ago: Arike Ogunbowale (20.8 ppg); Jessica Shepard (15.6 ppg); Jackie Young (14.5 ppg) and Marina Mabrey (14.4 ppg). This season, UND is led by Ogunbowale with 25.0 points per game while Shepard adds 20.0. Young and redshirt senior Brianna Turner also average double-figures for the Fighting Irish at 16.0 and 11.7 points per game, respectively.
- Through three games, UND averages 93.0 points per game, good for ninth in the NCAA, while shooting 53.8 percent from the floor which ranks fourth in the nation. Notre Dame averages 49.3 rebounds per game with a +20.3 rebounding margin, good for sixth in the nation.
- The Fighting Irish have recorded two 100-point games so far this season, defeating Harvard 103-58 and besting No. 15 DePaul 101-77. Last season, UND logged three 100-point games over the entire season.
- This year, the Fighting Irish added the No. 6 ranked recruiting class to their ranks. Jordan Nixon, Katlyn Gilbert, Abby Prohaska and Danielle Cosgrove make up UND's freshman class. Nixon has made her way into the starting lineup each of the first three games and is averaging 3.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.0 steals per contest. Gilbert and Prohaska have each seen the floor in the first three games while Cosgrove has seen action in two.
 
TLC VANCOUVER SHOWCASE:
- This will be the event's first year, featuring four men's teams and eight women's teams competing Nov. 18-24 in the first regular-season NCAA Division I basketball tournament in Canada.
- The eight-team women's field includes: No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 9 Oregon State, No. 13 South Carolina, (RV) Drake, Rutgers, East Tennessee State, Western Kentucky and Gonzaga.
- The entire tournament will take place at the Vancouver Convention Center, located in the heart of downtown Vancouver.
- LIVE STREAMING: All 12 games will be streamed online for a streaming fee at VanShowcase.com.
 
RECORD AGAINST No. 1's
- This will be the fourth time in program history that Gonzaga has faced an opponent ranked No. 1. So far, the Zags are 0-3 all-time against No. 1's, starting with a 79-65 loss to then No. 2/1 Tennessee on Nov. 25, 2005 at a neutral site game in the U.S. Virgin Islands as part of the Paradise Jam tournament. The Bulldogs also fell 96-73 to No. 1 Tennessee on Dec. 16, 2007 in Knoxville. The last time the Zags face a No. 1 was against Stanford on Dec. 2, 2012. The Bulldogs fell to the Cardinal 69-41 in Spokane.
 
REBOUNDING IS KEY
Head women's basketball coach Lisa Fortier has challenged her team to improve its rebounding. At UNLV, a team that boasts eight players six-foot or taller, Gonzaga won the rebounding battle 37-36, and Fortier said she thought it was a much better effort from her team.
 
"When you watch the film [vs. UNLV], a lot of times we have people double-teaming rebounders, trying to make sure that even if they don't get the rebound, someone on our team will tip it to themselves or go clean it up," Fortier said. "That's an area that we need to continue to work on, especially as we play this week; there are going to be bigger teams with more post players and more physicality. That was an area of growth that we needed to make. I thought we did a nice job there; we only beat them by one on the glass, but I thought a much better effort."
 
Through Nov. 19, Gonzaga has four players rank among the top 16 in rebounding in the WCC, with three players in the top 10. Zykera Rice leads the rebounding effort with 8.3 per game (4th in WCC), while Chandler Smith and Jill Townsend are tied for 10th with an even 6.0 per game. Melody Kempton rounds out the top 16 with 5.3 rebounds per contest. As a squad, the Zags rank second in the WCC in rebounding offense with 40.2 boards per contest; in addition they also rank second in offensive rebounds with 13.8 per game.