Pitt Welcomes #16 Notre Dame To The Pete Thursday Night

Thursday, January 4

Pittsburgh, PA

6 PM

Pitt

#16 Notre Dame

Tickets

Pitt Welcomes #16 Notre Dame To The Pete Thursday Night

1/3/2024 12:18:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Women's Basketball

vs Pitt-Johnstown

Oct 26, 2025 at TBA

Days

Hours

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GAME 15

Pitt vs. #16 Notre Dame

Jan. 4, 2024 / 6:00 PM / Pittsburgh, PA (Petersen Events Center)

GAME NOTES

SCHEDULE

PITTSBURGH – The Pitt women’s basketball team (6-8, 0-1 ACC) welcomes #16 Notre Dame to the Petersen Events Center Thursday night for their first of three straight at home. Thursday’s ACC game will tip at 6:00 pm and air live on ACC Network with Pam Ward and Jasmine Thomas on the call.

HOW FOLLOW

Thursday’s game will air on ACC Network or it can be streamed by clicking HERE.
Live stats for Thursday’s game can be found by clicking HERE.
You can also listen to the game on pittsburghpanthers.com as the voice of Pitt women's basketball, Josh Rowntree, will have the call from the Pete starting at 5:45 pm. To listen, click HERE.
Live updates throughout the game will also be posted on Twitter by following the Pitt women's basketball account @Pitt_WBB.

THE OPENING TIP

Pitt returns home Thursday night for the first of three straight as they welcome #16 Notre Dame to the Pete for a 7:00 pm tip.
The Panthers have proven they can share the ball and when they do it at a high rate they win games. Pitt is the only team in the ACC to have at least four players with at least 27 assists on the season.
Aislin Malcolm is becoming one of the more consistent players for the Panthers this season as she has scored in double figures a career-high eight times so far this season. On the year, Malcolm ranks second on the team in scoring (10.8 ppg) while adding 2.8 assists per game. She currently leads the ACC in three-point field goal percentage as she is shooting 42.9% from behind the arc.
Senior Liatu King has been the best player on the floor all year long as she currently ranks inside the top-5 in the ACC in multiple categories including fifth in points per game (19.6 ppg), fourth in rebounds per game (9.5 rpg), fourth in steals per game (2.2 spg), fifth in blocks per game (1.6 bpg), fourth in field goal percentage (54.4%) and second in double-doubles (7).
Marley Washenitz is doing a little bit of everything for Pitt of late. In the win over Le Moyne last week, she had four points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks and three steals in 36 minutes. She is the only player in the ACC over the past 15 seasons to post a game with 10 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks and three steals.

KING OF THE COURT

After a slow start to the season, sophomore point guard Marley Washenitz has picked up her play of late for the Panthers.
So far this year, Washenitz is averaging career-highs in minutes (30.1 mpg), points (4.9 ppg), assists (4.5 apg) and rebounds (4.9 rpg) while ranking first on the team in charges taken (13) and second on the team in steals (21).
Last time out, Washenitz did a little bit of everything for Pitt as she had four points, a career-high 10 rebounds, seven assists, a career-high five blocks and three steals in 36 minutes. Her five blocks are the most by a Pitt guard in program history and the most by a player 5-7 or shorter in the NCAA this season.
Washenitz is the only ACC player and one of six players in the NCAA (Kaitlyn Slagus, Breanna Stewart, Jamila Thompson, Skyler Gill, Anna Freeman) over the last 15 seasons to record at least 10 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks and three steals in a game.
In the win over Lehigh, Washenitz had the best game of her young career as she notched her first career double-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in 36 minutes of work.
The 13 points and 10 rebounds were both career-highs while she added two steals and just one turnover in the win over Lehigh.
She is one of just eight players in the NCAA this year to post a game with at least 13 points, 10 rebounds and six assists to go along with one or fewer turnovers.
Over her last five games, she is averaging 8.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.8 steals per game. She has also grabbed an average of 2.8 offensive rebounds per game in those five contests.
Her 4.5 assists per game so far this season ranks seventh in the ACC while her 58 assists are a career-high through only 13 games.
She has grabbed at least two offensive rebounds in five straight games and in six of her past seven contests.

King is the only player in the nation this season averaging at least 19.6 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.6 blocks

More Notes

SERIES HISTORY – NOTRE DAME

This meeting marks the 39th of all-time between the two programs with Notre Dame owning the 34-4 lead in the series.
The Fighting Irish have won five straight in the series including a pair of games last season.
The last meeting between the two came on Feb. 19 in Pittsburgh, a game that the Irish won 83-43.
The Panthers are just 2-17 all-time against the Irish in Pittsburgh.
Pitt’s last win in the series came in the ACC Tournament First Round on Mar. 4, 2020 as they collected a 67-65 victory on a last second shot by Dayshanette Harris.

SCOUTING THE FIGHTING IRISH

Notre Dame enters Thursday’s game with a 9-2 record and a 0-1 ACC mark. They are currently ranked 16th in the nation in the latest AP Top-25 Poll.
The Fighting Irish lost their ACC opener on the road Sunday to Syracuse by the score of 86-81.
The Irish are being led offensively by the best freshman in the country, Hannah Hidalgo. The dynamic playmaker is averaging an ACC-high 24.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 6.1 steals while shooting 50.7% from the floor and connecting on a team-high 19 three-pointers. She has already been named ACC Freshman of the Week six times and ACC Player of the Week twice.
Maddy Westbeld is enjoying a nice start to her season as she is averaging 14.5 points and a team-high 9.7 rebounds while shooting 50.8% from the floor. Transfer Anna DeWolfe has started all 11 games and is averaging 10.4 points and 3.7 assists while ranking second on the team with 21 steals and 15 three-pointers.
As a team, Notre Dame owns the best scoring offense in the ACC averaging 88.9 points while allowing just 59.5 points per contest. They shoot an ACC-high 49.8% from the floor while owning the ACC’s best +13.7 rebound margin on the season.

LAST TIME OUT – AT #14 VIRGINIA TECH

The Panthers were handed the 91-41 road defeat by #14 Virginia Tech Sunday afternoon in their ACC opener.
Senior Liatu King led the Panthers with 19 points, four rebounds and two assists in the loss. Aislin Malcolm added nine points and two assists while Gabby Hutcherson came off the bench and scored eight points in a season-high 28 minutes.
As a team, Pitt shot just 29.4% from the floor while the Hokies shot 51.5% in the dominant win. The Hokies also connected on 14 triples in the win.
With the loss, Pitt fell to 0-11 all-time in ACC openers.

LET ME ASSIST YOU

The Panthers have shown that their best offense is one that shares the basketball and they’ve had some early success passing the basketball.
So far this season, Pitt ranks eighth in the ACC in assists per game (15.1 apg) while ranking fourth in total assists (212).
Last time out, the Panthers were held to a season-low eight assists in the road loss to #14 Virginia Tech.
The Panthers are the only team in the ACC so far this season with four players who have at least 27 assists (Washenitz - 59, Malcolm - 39, Battle - 34, King - 27).
Washenitz leads the team with a career-high 59 assists while also ranking tied for ninth in the ACC in assists per game (4.2 apg) with former teammate Dayshanette Harris.
Last season, Emy Hayford led the Panthers with 53 assists in 29 games. Washenitz has surpassed that total in just 13 games this season.
In the win over Saint Francis earlier this year, Pitt dished out a season-high 26 assists on 31 made field goals. Marley Washenitz (eight) and Aaryn Battle (seven) led the way as Pitt saw six players record at least two assists in the win over Saint Francis.
Washenitz (eight) and Battle (seven) are the first set of ACC teammates since Kayla Jones and Raina Perez (NC State) in 2021 to each have at least seven assists and one or fewer turnovers in the same game. They are one of four sets of teammates in the ACC over the past 15 years to have a game like that.
The 26 assists on 31 made field goals marked the highest percentage (.839) of assisted baskets in a game for Pitt since Nov. 25, 2017 against Arkansas State (.852).