SOUTH BEND, IND. — Hannah Hidalgo counted the points on her fingers. Notre Dame’s pint-sized sophomore supernova had simply drilled a nook three off a feed from Olivia Miles to present the Irish a 10-point lead on the UConn Huskies mid-way by the second quarter of a nationally televised conflict of energy packages. Hidalgo stared at her flaming sizzling 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 most of the trendy sport’s defining abilities have been solid in its warmth, with 4 Ultimate 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 extra time dagger within the 2018 nationwide championship between these two groups that energized the game across the identical time Caitlin Clark was attempting her first logo threes in West Des Moines. Hidalgo must look ahead to the NCAA match to actually 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 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 might need probably the most stacked roster in America.
Hidalgo was electrical, enjoying your complete sport till rubbish time within the closing minute. She possesses a stage of showmanship that may solely belong to the greats, and she or he put it on full show beneath the intense lights of ESPN in opposition to the last 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 vitality piece for my group,” Hidalgo mentioned. “So, I attempt to carry 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 photographs from behind the arc. Every certainly one of Hidalgo’s 29 factors felt like a spike by 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 beneath 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 quite a lot of methods that you should utilize,” 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 evening. 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 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 function, 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 school sport’s resident Level God, a heady ground common who has overcome a torn ACL with out dropping the mastery of her ground sport. Cintron is the kind of participant each group covets: a wing who can influence 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 effectively 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 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 she or he figures to land many extra McDonald’s All-Individuals within the guaranteeing years.
The items on Notre Dame simply match so effectively. Hidalgo is a velocity demon who can shoot from anyplace whereas additionally utilizing her scoring gravity to arrange her teammates. Miles is rarely 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 ability set amplifies everybody else round her. Notre Dame is slightly weak inside with true freshman Kate Koval studying on the job within the center, however the perimeter is so sturdy that she will afford to take her time getting up to the mark.
Bueckers seemed dejected talking to a small group of reporters after the sport. As a recruit, she was speculated to be the following huge 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 in opposition to Notre Dame in March if Azzi Fudd is within the lineup. Possibly 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 way in which 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 group 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 all the time 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 group can show it belongs among the many program’s absolute best.
