Gakdeng leads No. 17 North Carolina against No. 3 Notre Dame after 21-point game

Updated Jan. 5, 2025 3:42 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-2, 2-0 ACC) at North Carolina Tar Heels (13-2, 1-1 ACC)

Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Sunday, 1 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: No. 17 North Carolina takes on No. 3 Notre Dame after Maria Gakdeng scored 21 points in North Carolina's 69-60 win over the Miami Hurricanes.

The Tar Heels are 7-1 on their home court. North Carolina ranks ninth in the ACC with 11.2 offensive rebounds per game led by Gakdeng averaging 2.8.

The Fighting Irish are 2-0 against ACC opponents. Notre Dame averages 89.3 points while outscoring opponents by 28.4 points per game.

North Carolina makes 43.4% of its shots from the field this season, which is 7.9 percentage points higher than Notre Dame has allowed to its opponents (35.5%). Notre Dame averages 8.6 made 3-pointers per game this season, 3.8 more made shots on average than the 4.8 per game North Carolina allows.

The matchup Sunday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Gakdeng is scoring 11.4 points per game and averaging 6.4 rebounds for the Tar Heels.

Olivia Miles is averaging 16.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.8 steals for the Fighting Irish.

LAST 10 GAMES: Tar Heels: 9-1, averaging 77.7 points, 36.4 rebounds, 16.7 assists, 8.6 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 45.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 51.9 points per game.

Fighting Irish: 8-2, averaging 86.2 points, 41.2 rebounds, 20.0 assists, 12.8 steals and 5.8 blocks per game while shooting 48.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 62.7 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.