TCU<\/a> and to Utah) \u2014 this was proof that, at its best, the Irish just might have the most stacked roster in America. <\/p>\nHidalgo was electric, playing the entire game until garbage time in the final minute. She possesses a level of showmanship that can only belong to the greats, and she put it on full display under the bright lights of ESPN against the ultimate measuring stick opponent.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe always wears her heart on her sleeve,\u201d Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said after the game. <\/p>\n
\u201cI know I\u2019m that energy piece for my team,\u201d Hidalgo said. \u201cSo, I try and bring it.\u201d <\/p>\n
UConn\u2019s apparent game-plan was to pack the paint to cut off Hidalgo\u2019s forays to the rim. She responded by ripping the nets from deep, hitting 6-of-11 shots from behind the arc. Each one of Hidalgo\u2019s 29 points felt like a spike through UConn\u2019s soul, and there wasn\u2019t an adjustment Geno Auriemma could make to stop her.<\/p>\n
With Notre Dame up two near the end of the third quarter, Hidalgo punished the cardinal sin of a defender going under a screen on her to extend the lead to five. The period closed with Hidalgo probing the defense, retreating her way behind the arc, and dropping a dagger to halt UConn\u2019s momentum for a potential late comeback.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe does what she does, and I don\u2019t know that there\u2019s a lot of strategies that you can use,\u201d Auriemma said.<\/p>\n
Bueckers was phenomenal in this game in her own right, but her 25 points didn\u2019t come easy with Notre Dame\u2019s Swiss army knife Sonia Cintron hounding her all night. It\u2019s tempting to anoint Hidalgo as the best player in America after she\u2019s out-dueled both Bueckers and Juju Watkins in recent weeks, but if anything Notre Dame\u2019s win was proof of just how balanced and well-tailored this Notre Dame roster is. Everyone plays their role, and Hidalgo\u2019s just so happens to be hitting back-breaking jumpers.<\/p>\n
Miles and Cintron will be first-round WNBA draft picks after this year. Miles is the college game\u2019s resident Point God, a heady floor general who has overcome a torn ACL without losing the mastery of her floor game. Cintron is the type of player every team covets: a wing who can impact the game without holding the ball, a floor spacer who knock down spot-ups with range on one end and lock up a talent like Bueckers at the other. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur unsung hero,\u201d Ivey said of Cintron after the game. \u201cShe was working so hard on defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ivey complemented this core well in the transfer portal, with former Pitt wing Liatu King (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Marquette forward Liza Karlen rounding out a short rotation.<\/p>\n
Who wouldn\u2019t want to play for Ivey? In only her fifth year on the job, Notre Dame\u2019s head coach already has a palpable presence. She exudes a coolness and charm that attracted a top-five recruit like Hidalgo to South Bend, and she figures to land many more McDonald\u2019s All-Americans in the ensuring years. <\/p>\n
The pieces on Notre Dame just fit so well. Hidalgo is a speed demon who can shoot from anywhere while also using her scoring gravity to set up her teammates. Miles is never rushed with ball in her hands, and has the type of passing vision that can\u2019t be taught. Cintron is a basketball sicko\u2019s fever dream, a subtle star whose skill set amplifies everyone else around her. Notre Dame is a little weak inside with true freshman Kate Koval learning on the job in the middle, but the perimeter is so strong that she can afford to take her time getting up to speed.<\/p>\n
Bueckers looked dejected speaking to a small group of reporters after the game. As a recruit, she was supposed to be the next big thing in the sport before Clark claimed that title. She left her Midwest roots to extend UConn\u2019s championship lineage, but as she navigates her fifth year, the Huskies still haven\u2019t won it all since Breanna Stewart was on campus. Perhaps UConn can win a rematch against Notre Dame in March if Azzi Fudd is in the lineup. Maybe Sarah Strong \u2014 an absurdly talented true freshman forward who feels destined to be a future No. 1 overall WNBA draft pick \u2014 will grow up quickly in the spotlight the way so many Huskies have.<\/p>\n
On this night, the Irish were just too much. Get used to it, because this Notre Dame team isn\u2019t going anywhere, not with Hidalgo as its leader and Ivey as its figurehead. The Irish now have three wins over top-five teams before Christmas, but the matchups we remember always come in the tournament. Notre Dame instilled belief that they will be back, with Hidalgo and Co. counting down the weeks until this Irish team can prove it belongs among the program\u2019s very best.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Read More<\/a> Ricky O’Donnell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Basketball SOUTH BEND, IND. \u2014 Hannah Hidalgo counted the points on her fingers. Notre Dame\u2019s pint-sized sophomore supernova had just drilled a corner three off a feed from Olivia Miles to give the Irish a 10-point lead on the UConn Huskies mid-way through the second quarter of a nationally televised clash of power programs. Hidalgo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":812265,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124942,3681,3730,22131],"tags":[16302],"class_list":{"0":"post-812264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"category-basketball","9":"category-notre","10":"category-womens","11":"tag-nba"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}