SOUTH BEND, IND. — Hannah Hidalgo counted the factors on her fingers. Notre Dame’s pint-sized sophomore supernova had simply drilled a nook three off a feed from Olivia Miles to provide the Irish a 10-point lead on the UConn Huskies mid-way by way of the second quarter of a nationally televised conflict of energy applications. Hidalgo stared at her flaming scorching proper hand and lifted three fingers, slowly and dramatically, earlier than operating again to defend, as if to savor the chance to step into the highlight created for her by the Irish legends sitting on the different finish of the courtroom.
It’s arduous to discover a rivalry that has meant extra to its sport over the past 15 years than Notre Dame vs. UConn in ladies’s basketball. So most of the trendy sport’s defining abilities have been solid in its warmth, with 4 Remaining 4 matchups and two nationwide championship showdowns since 2012 serving as its basis. Notre Dame’s well-known WNBA alums lined the ground seats, with Arike Ogunbowale, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Jewell Loyd, and Marina Mabrey bearing witness not simply to the lengthy shadow of their legacy, however maybe additionally the induction of this system’s subsequent star.
Legends are born in March on this sport, not mid-Dec., a truth Notre Dame’s glamorous grads know greater than anymore. It was Ogunbowale’s time beyond regulation dagger within the 2018 nationwide championship between these two groups that energized the game across the similar time Caitlin Clark was trying her first emblem threes in West Des Moines. Hidalgo must look ahead to the NCAA event to really form her personal legacy, however the define is already simple to see.
Notre Dame beat UConn, 79-68, in a possible 2025 nationwide championship preview. It was the Huskies’ first lack of the 12 months, and a sobering reminder that Paige Bueckers can’t actually maintain the world on her shoulders, it solely feels that means. For Notre Dame, this was greater than a palette cleanser after it ended Nov. with back-to-back losses on the Cayman Islands Basic (to TCU and to Utah) — this was proof that, at its finest, the Irish simply may need probably the most stacked roster in America.
Hidalgo was electrical, taking part in all the sport till rubbish time within the last minute. She possesses a degree of showmanship that may solely belong to the greats, and he or she put it on full show below the brilliant lights of ESPN towards the final word measuring stick opponent.
“She all the time wears her coronary heart on her sleeve,” Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey mentioned after the sport.
“I do know I’m that power piece for my staff,” Hidalgo mentioned. “So, I attempt to convey it.”
UConn’s obvious game-plan was to pack the paint to chop off Hidalgo’s forays to the rim. She responded by ripping the nets from deep, hitting 6-of-11 pictures from behind the arc. Every considered one of Hidalgo’s 29 factors felt like a spike by way of UConn’s soul, and there wasn’t an adjustment Geno Auriemma might make to cease her.
With Notre Dame up two close to the top of the third quarter, Hidalgo punished the cardinal sin of a defender going below a display screen on her to increase the result in 5. The interval closed with Hidalgo probing the protection, retreating her means behind the arc, and dropping a dagger to halt UConn’s momentum for a possible late comeback.
“She does what she does, and I don’t know that there’s plenty of methods that you need to use,” Auriemma mentioned.
Bueckers was phenomenal on this sport in her personal proper, however her 25 factors didn’t come simple with Notre Dame’s Swiss military knife Sonia Cintron hounding her all evening. It’s tempting to anoint Hidalgo as the very best participant in America after she’s out-dueled each Bueckers and Juju Watkins in latest weeks, but when something Notre Dame’s win was proof of simply how balanced and well-tailored this Notre Dame roster is. Everybody performs their position, and Hidalgo’s simply so occurs to be hitting back-breaking jumpers.
Miles and Cintron will probably be first-round WNBA draft picks after this 12 months. Miles is the faculty sport’s resident Level God, a heady ground normal who has overcome a torn ACL with out dropping the mastery of her ground sport. Cintron is the kind of participant each staff covets: a wing who can affect the sport with out holding the ball, a ground spacer who knock down spot-ups with vary on one finish and lock up a expertise like Bueckers on the different.
“Our unsung hero,” Ivey mentioned of Cintron after the sport. “She was working so arduous on protection.”
Ivey complemented this core properly within the switch portal, with former Pitt wing Liatu King (16 factors, 12 rebounds) and Marquette ahead Liza Karlen rounding out a brief rotation.
Who wouldn’t need to play for Ivey? In solely her fifth 12 months on the job, Notre Dame’s head coach already has a palpable presence. She exudes a coolness and attraction that attracted a top-five recruit like Hidalgo to South Bend, and he or she figures to land many extra McDonald’s All-People within the guaranteeing years.
The items on Notre Dame simply match so properly. Hidalgo is a velocity demon who can shoot from wherever whereas additionally utilizing her scoring gravity to arrange her teammates. Miles is rarely rushed with ball in her arms, and has the kind of passing imaginative and prescient that may’t be taught. Cintron is a basketball sicko’s fever dream, a delicate star whose ability set amplifies everybody else round her. Notre Dame is a bit weak inside with true freshman Kate Koval studying on the job within the center, however the perimeter is so robust that she will afford to take her time getting on top of things.
Bueckers regarded dejected talking to a small group of reporters after the sport. As a recruit, she was presupposed to be the following large factor within the sport earlier than Clark claimed that title. She left her Midwest roots to increase UConn’s championship lineage, however as she navigates her fifth 12 months, the Huskies nonetheless haven’t received all of it since Breanna Stewart was on campus. Maybe UConn can win a rematch towards Notre Dame in March if Azzi Fudd is within the lineup. Possibly Sarah Sturdy — an absurdly proficient true freshman ahead who feels destined to be a future No. 1 total WNBA draft choose — will develop up rapidly within the highlight the best way so many Huskies have.
On this evening, the Irish have been simply an excessive amount of. Get used to it, as a result of this Notre Dame staff isn’t going wherever, not with Hidalgo as its chief and Ivey as its figurehead. The Irish now have three wins over top-five groups earlier than Christmas, however the matchups we bear in mind all the time come within the event. Notre Dame instilled perception that they are going to be again, with Hidalgo and Co. counting down the weeks till this Irish staff can show it belongs among the many program’s best.
