Going into this NCAA season, Notre Dame knew it would have to make up for some missing pieces. Last offseason, they lost four of their top five scorers. Liatu King, Maddy Westbeld, and Sonia Citron left for the WNBA, and Olivia Miles entered the transfer portal. The Fighting Irish brought in players like Iyana Moore from Vanderbilt, Malaya Cowles from Wake Forest, and Vanessa de Jesus from Duke. While all three of those players have shown up, everyone knew going into this season that Hannah Hidalgo's impact would need to be felt every night.
Notre Dame started the year at No. 15 in the nation, but quickly found itself out of the rankings entirely. By midseason, they had suffered losses to Michigan, Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, and Duke. Over the next 10 games, Notre Dame went 5-5 against mostly ACC opponents — leaving them a bit low in the conference rankings.
Since then, they have turned things around just enough. The Fighting Irish have closed out the regular season with a five-game winning streak, including a season finale thriller against No. 10 Louisville. But without Hannah Hidalgo's efforts, I'm not sure where Notre Dame would be this March.
Hidalgo has been a star at Notre Dame since first setting foot on the court as a freshman in 2023. She's averaged 20+ points per game in each of her three collegiate years and has played a major role in leading the Fighting Irish to three straight Elite Eight appearances. Her performances this season have been no different, especially with her larger role.
Hannah Hidalgo's game-saving defense
We should've known Hidalgo would be giving us a season full of masterclasses in stealing when she was setting records in just the third game of the season. Back in November, Hidalgo recorded 16 steals against Akron, establishing a new NCAA D-1 record. And that was just the first of four games this season that she'd record 10+ steals.
Hidalgo leads the nation in steals with an average of 5.6 per game. Notre Dame is 13-3 in matchups where Hidalgo records 5 or more steals. The most recent win was over the weekend when the Fighting Irish took down No. 10 Louisville in their biggest win of the season.
During this matchup, we saw firsthand how Hidalgo can completely take over a game. She recorded 30 points, 10 assists, and 7 rebounds along with 5 steals. Her fifth steal was arguably her most important of the season.
With a 1-point lead and about 17 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Notre Dame needed a stop. Hidalgo took full advantage of a dribbling Louisville player, recording her fifth steal of the game and her 162nd of the season. With that, she set a new ACC single-season record in steals — surpassing herself, who had 160 during the 2023-24 season.
Now Notre Dame is heading into the ACC and NCAA tournaments. It's in the program's DNA to perform well in March, and I'm sure they don't want this season to be any different. I believe we will be seeing Notre Dame play to every one of their strengths, and this especially means Hidalgo's defense. Offensive players will have to be incredibly careful around her because she will take advantage of every scenario defensively. In the ACC tourney specifically, if Hidalgo's defensive and offensive production are both up, which we can expect they will be, Notre Dame could be scary.