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 via 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 working 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 during the last 15 years than Notre Dame vs. UConn in ladies’s basketball. So lots of the trendy sport’s defining abilities have been solid in its warmth, with 4 Last 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 reality 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 identical time Caitlin Clark was trying her first emblem threes in West Des Moines. Hidalgo should anticipate the NCAA match to really form her personal legacy, however the define is already straightforward to see.
Notre Dame beat UConn, 79-68, in a possible 2025 nationwide championship preview. It was the Huskies’ first lack of the yr, and a sobering reminder that Paige Bueckers can’t actually maintain the world on her shoulders, it solely feels that method. For Notre Dame, this was greater than a palette cleanser after it ended Nov. with back-to-back losses on the Cayman Islands Traditional (to TCU and to Utah) — this was proof that, at its finest, the Irish simply may need essentially the most stacked roster in America.
Hidalgo was electrical, enjoying all the sport till rubbish time within the ultimate minute. She possesses a stage of showmanship that may solely belong to the greats, and she or he put it on full show below the intense lights of ESPN towards the last word measuring stick opponent.
“She at all times 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 workforce,” Hidalgo mentioned. “So, I try to deliver 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 one in all Hidalgo’s 29 factors felt like a spike via UConn’s soul, and there wasn’t an adjustment Geno Auriemma may make to cease her.
With Notre Dame up two close to the tip of the third quarter, Hidalgo punished the cardinal sin of a defender going below a display on her to increase the result in 5. The interval closed with Hidalgo probing the protection, retreating her method 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 a number 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 straightforward with Notre Dame’s Swiss military knife Sonia Cintron hounding her all night time. It’s tempting to anoint Hidalgo as one of the best participant in America after she’s out-dueled each Bueckers and Juju Watkins in current 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 function, and Hidalgo’s simply so occurs to be hitting back-breaking jumpers.
Miles and Cintron can be first-round WNBA draft picks after this yr. Miles is the school sport’s resident Level God, a heady ground normal who has overcome a torn ACL with out shedding the mastery of her ground sport. Cintron is the kind of participant each workforce 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 nicely 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 wish to play for Ivey? In solely her fifth yr on the job, Notre Dame’s head coach already has a palpable presence. She exudes a coolness and allure that attracted a top-five recruit like Hidalgo to South Bend, and she or he figures to land many extra McDonald’s All-Individuals within the making certain years.
The items on Notre Dame simply match so nicely. Hidalgo is a pace demon who can shoot from anyplace whereas additionally utilizing her scoring gravity to arrange her teammates. Miles isn’t rushed with ball in her fingers, 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 talent 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 sturdy that she will be able to afford to take her time getting in control.
Bueckers appeared dejected chatting with a small group of reporters after the sport. As a recruit, she was purported to be the subsequent 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 yr, 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. Perhaps Sarah Sturdy — an absurdly gifted true freshman ahead who feels destined to be a future No. 1 general WNBA draft decide — will develop up shortly within the highlight the best way so many Huskies have.
On this night time, the Irish have been simply an excessive amount of. Get used to it, as a result of this Notre Dame workforce isn’t going anyplace, 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 at all times come within the match. Notre Dame instilled perception that they are going to be again, with Hidalgo and Co. counting down the weeks till this Irish workforce can show it belongs among the many program’s highest.
