Niele Ivey's Notre Dame lands ACC guard as squad deals with transfer portal exodus

Syndication: Tuscaloosa News - Source: Imagn

Head coach Niele Ivey and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are dealing with several players leaving through the transfer portal. The most notable player leaving the squad is star Olivia Miles. Miles was expected to leave the team to enter the 2025 WNBA draft as a likely top-five pick, but instead shocked the college basketball world by returning for her final season of eligibility and entering the transfer portal.

Miles committed to TCU and was one of four players who left the team in the transfer portal. Kate Kova started 10 games this past season and entered the portal to join the LSU Tigers. Emma Risch and Kylee Watson, who played minor roles this season, also entered the portal.

It has been a difficult situation for head coach Niele Ivey, but she got some good news on Friday when it was announced that Duke guard Vanessa De Jesus had committed to Notre Dame. This report came from insider Talia Goodman.

"BREAKING: Duke transfer Vanessa de Jesus has committed to Notre Dame, sources told On3 Sports. The 5-8 senior averaged 3.1 ppg this season."

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Vanessa De Jesus has been a member of the Duke Blue Devils for the past four seasons. However, she only played four games in her rookie season, and as a result, was granted redshirt status and still has one year of eligibility remaining.

De Jesus has played a small role at Duke throughout her career. This past season, she appeared in 36 games, averaging 3.1 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists. She will look to have a big final season at Notre Dame under Niele Ivey.

Niele Ivey also landed commitment from Kansas State transfer Gisela Sanchez

Vanessa De Jesus was not the first transfer commitment Niele Ivey and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish received. Kansas State forward Gizela Sanchez also committed to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Friday. She had been a member of the Kansas State Wildcats for two seasons after spending her freshman season at Arizona.

Last season, she averaged 4.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 27 games. However, she decided to enter the transfer portal and eventually committed to Notre Dame.

Although the additions of Gisela Sanchez and Vanessa De Jesus are good for the Fighting Irish, they do not make up for their losses. Notably, no one has been added yet to make up for the loss of Olivia Miles.

About the author

Alexander O'Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex's favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex's favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex's proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

Aside from sports, Alex likes to spend his time playing games. He is also very passionate about running and strives to improve at the half and full marathon distances.

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Edited by Dipayan Moitra