MM 7.12: Maryland women’s basketball to face Notre Dame on road in 2022 ACC/Big Ten Challenge

This is the Maryland Minute, a short story followed by a roundup of Terps-related news.

Maryland women’s basketball will travel to Notre Dame to take on the Fighting Irish in the 2022 ACC/Big Ten Women’s Basketball Challenge on Dec. 1, the Big Ten announced Monday. The game time and TV information will be announced at a later date.

The Terps will face the Fighting Irish for the first time since Dec. 3, 2014, when they lost, 92-72, on the road in the 2014 rendition of the annual challenge between the two conferences. Maryland has since won five of its last six games in the interconference competition and most recently defeated Miami at home last season, 82-74.

Notre Dame owns a 5-4 all-time series edge over Maryland, including four straight victories over head coach Brenda Frese’s program. Maryland’s last victory over the Fighting Irish came on Nov. 16, 2007, when it defeated Notre Dame, 75-59, in College Park.

Monday’s news adds another high-caliber opponent to a Maryland nonconference schedule that was already difficult. The Fighting Irish check in at No. 9 in ESPN’s “Way-Too-Early” top-25 rankings from June 14. Maryland also has scheduled home nonconference matchups with reigning national champion South Carolina (No. 1 in the ESPN rankings) and perennial national power Connecticut (No. 2 in the ESPN rankings) for the 2022-23 season.

The Fighting Irish return plenty of impactful players from the 2021-22 season, including their leading scorer in sophomore guard Olivia Miles. Three of Notre Dame’s other top-five scorers from last season — sophomore guard Sonia Citron, junior forward Maddy Westbeld and graduate guard Dara Mabrey — also return to the program.

Maryland, on the other hand, only brings back three rotation players from the 2021-22 season. Stars Ashley Owusu (Virginia Tech) and Angel Reese (LSU) transferred, while starters Katie Benzan and Chloe Bibby exhausted their college eligibility. Frese brings in eight newcomers to reload her roster, pairing highly-touted transfers like Lavender Briggs and Abby Meyers with a top-10 recruiting class.

In other news

Maryland women’s basketball sophomore forward Emma Chardon had a massive game to push Switzerland to victory in the FIBA U20 European Championships.

Maryland men’s soccer shared a photo of head coach Sasho Cirovski and new D.C. United manager Wayne Rooney.

Maryland volleyball released its 12-match non-conference slate.

Just over five weeks away from its season opener at Temple, Maryland women’s soccer shared some shots of Monday’s practice at Ludwig Field.

Former Maryland men’s basketball player Travis Garrison announced an alumni game between the Terps and Georgetown. Game info and rosters have yet to be released.

Three Maryland tennis players were recognized as International Tennis Association Scholar-Athletes.