How Olivia Miles is helping Notre Dame women's basketball even without suiting up for NCAAs

SOUTH BEND — One of the most accomplished — and now virtually back to full-tilt — women’s basketball players practicing on the Notre Dame campus the past few days in conjunction with NCAA Tournament first and second-round games is one who isn’t suiting up for the contests.

Irish All-American junior point guard Olivia Miles has been engaging in “live five-on-five” workouts for “maybe a couple months” now, coach Niele Ivey shared Sunday as second-seeded ND (27-6) continued its preparation for Monday’s second-round game against seventh seed Mississippi (24-8) (2 p.m. on ESPN).

It was in late January that Notre Dame confirmed Miles would not return to a playing role at all this season as she continued recovering from the February 2023 knee injury she suffered at Louisville and the surgery that followed in April.

Miles’ road back has entailed an extended, many-pronged progression, but lately she’s looked so back to herself, according to teammates and Ivey, that it’s easy to wonder if there are second thoughts about that decision to shut her down for all of 2023-24.

Ivey did not speak Sunday to how that choice came about, but she surely whetted Irish appetites moving forward.

“She’s playing at a high level, she’s in great shape, she’s really strong, really confident in her game,” Ivey said of Miles, “and outside of her play, which is just elite when she’s on the floor, she just brings a level of competitiveness and experience that really helps our team just preparing for other matchups.”

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Irish stars Sonia Citron and Maddy Westbeld concurred.

“She definitely makes us better,” Citron said. “I think no one wants to guard her (in practice), so when she is the player I have to guard, she definitely challenges me and challenges all of us. She’s an amazing player.”

Like Citron, Westbeld spoke of Miles as if the latter is playing games right now.

“She’s one of the best players in the country,” Westbeld said. “Just having that to prepare against, we can (be prepared) against anybody we’ve got to play against.”

ND’s set up to potentially have a backcourt of two All-Americans next winter in Miles, an AP second-teamer a year ago, and Hannah Hidalgo, a first-teamer this year as a freshman.

“I think Hannah and Liv playing together is going to be something special for college basketball,” Ivey said, scoffing at any notion that both being point guards will be even remotely problematic. “It wouldn’t be a problem at all.”

As for the present, “I would love for her to be running the team and be on the floor,” Ivey acknowledged of Miles, but more than that, the coach continued, “when I see her on the (practice) court, honestly, it warms my heart and brings a smile to my face because, like I said, she worked really hard to get in this position.”

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Notre Dame's big three, and more

Having a so-called “Big Three” has become something of a measuring stick in basketball, and the Irish have a trio that has inspired the tag a few times in Hidalgo, Citron and Westbeld, but the group’s not necessarily buying the plaudits.

“I think it’s huge for us to be a big six,” said Westbeld, given that that’s how deep the Irish are typically going now with all their injuries.

Acknowledged Westbeld of the bigger three among the big six, “I think the important thing for one of the three of us is to set the tone early. I think that’s kind of where we are at this point. The three of us are kind of the leaders whether it’s on the defensive end or offensive end … but yeah, I think the big six is really what we need to lock in on.”

Those other three in that big six are Anna DeWolfe, a fifth-year shooting guard who was pivotal in triggering the team’s hot start during its 81-67 first-round win over Kent State on Saturday; senior post Nat Marshall, who has acclimated smoothly while making her first two career starts in the ACC championship and Saturday; and sophomore KK Bransford, the sophomore swing who has become the sole rotation regular off the bench.

Seeing Soni Citron's knee

Citron confirmed that Saturday’s win marked the first time since she suffered her right knee sprain on Nov. 15 against Northwestern that she wasn’t wearing a brace or sleeve that at least partially covered the knee during a game.

“And yeah, I mean, it’s feeling great,” Citron said. “Definitely feel like I’m back to my pre-injury self, so it’s a good feeling.”

“I (also) think she was feeling pretty good,” Westbeld interjected with a smile while alluding to Citron’s 29-point performance that matched a career high.

Citron missed nine games before returning Jan. 7 with a brace.

Packing Purcell Pavilion

Saturday’s game marked just the third home sellout ever for Notre Dame in NCAA Tournament play.

It was also, including regular-season games, ND’s 50th win overall in front of a home sellout crowd, against 11 losses.

While Purcell Pavilion’s normal capacity is listed at 9,149, seating is modified by the NCAA for tourney play and Saturday’s sellout figure was 8,687, according to a school official.

Further, the Irish set at least a postseason record for single-game student ticket sales with 635, according to another school spokesperson.

“That’s incredible. I didn’t know that,” Westbeld said. “I think historically, we’ve had kind of an older demographic for our fan (base), which is great, and everybody is extremely loyal, and now it’s amazing to hear that we have more students coming, and yeah, we do like walking around campus. I’ve noticed more students have been coming up to me and noticing who I am, and are just really excited about women’s basketball in general.”

ND’s only other NCAA Tourney home sellouts, each recorded at 8,774, came in 2014 regional semifinal and championship games against No. 21-ranked Oklahoma State and No. 5-rated Baylor.

The Irish rolled 89-72 and 88-69 in those contests on the way to a program-best 37-1 record, the lone loss coming in the NCAA title game against Connecticut.

Overall ahead of Monday's game, ND’s won 19 straight home NCAA Tourney games since a 2009 loss to Minnesota to stand 25-2 all-time in such contests.

The current Irish will carry a nine-game winning streak into Monday’s game, while the aggressive Rebels come in having won nine of 10, including Saturday’s 67-55 first-rounder over Marquette at Purcell.

Ole Miss also comes in owning some familiarity with large road crowds.

Just last year, the Rebels stunned top-seeded host Stanford 54-49 in a second-round game. Further, they’re 13-4 away from home this season. Two of the losses came to No. 1 South Carolina and No. 8 Baylor in front of 18,000 and 12,784 fans.