Fighting Irish Today

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – As the third quarter of Thursday’s highly anticipated showdown between No. 8 Notre Dame and No. 2 UConn unfolded, the Irish’s once-comfortable 13-point lead had dwindled to just one after a Huskies surge. Notre Dame was in desperate need of a momentum shift – and sophomore Hannah Hidalgo answered the call. With the clock ticking down, Hidalgo calmly stepped back beyond the arc and drained her sixth 3-pointer of the night, silencing UConn’s comeback and restoring Notre Dame’s control. The buzzer sounded, the shot swished through the net, and Purcell Pavilion erupted in a roar.

Among the jubilant crowd were three legendary Notre Dame guards—Skylar Diggins-Smith, Arike Ogunbowale, and Marina Mabrey—sitting courtside just a few feet away. Ogunbowale, who had famously hit a buzzer-beating triple against UConn in the 2018 Final Four, stood cheering another iconic moment from an Irish player. This time, it was Hidalgo’s turn to shine.

“When I hit that shot, I was looking over at [Ogunbowale] like, ‘We in it too,'” Hidalgo said after the game, which Notre Dame won 79-68.

The 2024 season is still young, but Hidalgo is already staking her claim as one of the nation’s best, with hopes of leading the Irish to a national championship like Ogunbowale did in 2018. Hidalgo is also making a case for something that none of her legendary predecessors—Ogunbowale, Diggins-Smith, or Jewell Loyd—achieved during their time in South Bend: winning National Player of the Year honors.

Thursday’s performance—29 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists—was another standout moment in Hidalgo’s growing Player of the Year candidacy. For the second time in less than a year, she was the best player on the floor in a game against UConn. With this dominant outing, she became the first player in the past 25 seasons to record multiple games against UConn with at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. She also tied Sabrina Ionescu for the most such games against an AP top-10 opponent. Remarkably, Hidalgo accomplished both stat lines before her 20th birthday.

While UConn’s Paige Bueckers—who has won a National Player of the Year award herself—put up a solid 25 points on 11-of-20 shooting, it was Hidalgo who made the biggest impact. Her defensive presence disrupted the Huskies’ offensive rhythm, and her career-high six 3-pointers were twice as many as UConn made from beyond the arc. Despite standing at just 5-foot-6, Hidalgo grabbed 10 rebounds, helping Notre Dame win the battle on the glass 42-34. On countless occasions, she’d snare a defensive board, race up the court, and either score or assist on a bucket, contributing directly to 48 of Notre Dame’s 79 points (61%).

It was a similar story three weeks ago in Los Angeles, where Hidalgo led the Irish to a 74-61 win over then-No. 3 USC. She finished with 24 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, and 5 steals, outplaying USC’s JuJu Watkins, another preseason Player of the Year candidate. Now, after dominating UConn, Hidalgo has arguably positioned herself as the frontrunner for that award.

Heading into the season, many fans wondered how Hidalgo and Olivia Miles, who returned from an ACL injury that sidelined her for the entire 2023 season, would mesh in the backcourt. Those concerns have been quickly erased. Both guards are thriving, with each amplifying the other’s strengths.

Hidalgo is averaging 25.0 points per game—second in the country—and shooting an impressive 46.2% from the field, including 42.6% from 3-point range. She’s also contributing 7.1 rebounds, 4.0 steals, and 3.8 assists per game.

Before Thursday’s tip-off, Hidalgo was honored for surpassing the 1,000-point milestone, achieving the feat in a school-record 44 games. She followed that up by reaching 200 career steals in her 45th career game, tying for the fastest in Division I over the past 25 seasons.

Her competitiveness is evident every time she steps on the court. Off the floor, Hidalgo is quiet and reserved, but on it, she transforms into a fierce competitor, constantly challenging herself and her opponents. UConn head coach Geno Auriemma, after watching her lead Notre Dame to victory, had high praise for the young star.

“There’s a talent level that she has that’s pretty unique,” Auriemma said. “But more importantly, it’s the way she attacks everything. The way she attacks your defense, the way she attacks your offense, and the way she leads her team in so many different ways. It’s just a really, really difficult matchup for anybody.”

Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey, who recruited Hidalgo out of Merchantville, New Jersey, was not surprised by Hidalgo’s rapid rise. She recalled realizing just how special Hidalgo was during the team’s summer foreign tour.

“She always played with a chip on her shoulder. She always wore her heart on her sleeve, having that passion, that energy, and love for the game,” Ivey said. “She’s just different in such a unique way. She’s growing and blossoming. She’s one of the best in the country.”

If Hidalgo continues at this pace, she could become Notre Dame’s first National Player of the Year since Ruth Riley in 2001—the same year the Irish captured their first national title. And with this squad, which includes potential WNBA lottery picks Miles and Sonia Citron, along with a strengthened frontcourt with the return of Maddy Westbeld and Liza Karlen, the Irish are serious championship contenders.

The Irish (8-2) have bounced back from early-season losses to TCU and Utah in the Cayman Islands, and with their third top-five win, they’ve reaffirmed their place as one of the nation’s elite teams. Auriemma, ever the realist, acknowledged that Notre Dame is a team that could go all the way.

“Obviously, they lost two games, but there’s probably no team out there you can say is unbeatable,” he said. “If you put Notre Dame against any other team in the country, I don’t think anybody would be surprised if they won that game.”

After the game, Diggins-Smith—who helped lead the Irish to their first three Final Fours—embraced Hidalgo, offering words of encouragement. The moment underscored the passing of the torch, as a new generation of Irish stars, led by Hidalgo, continues to write its own chapter in Notre Dame’s storied basketball history.