Notre Dame was licking its wounds after losing to Syracuse on Thursday for the second time this season. To cure their woes, the Irish got a crucial win over a longtime rival.
The Irish walked out of Gampel Pavilion on Saturday night with an 82-67 win over UConn, snapping the Huskies’ 13-game winning streak and blemishing their perfect record at home.
To understand the magnitude of the upset, consider that Notre Dame was ranked 15th in the AP Top 25 Poll and UConn was eighth, and the Huskies were favored by 14.5 points on DraftKings in the matchup. Additionally, Notre Dame hadn’t beaten UConn in back-to-back meetings in a decade.
And the Irish’s winning effort was all powered by the incredible play of Hannah Hidalgo, who cemented herself alongside USC’s JuJu Watkins in the National Freshman of the Year race with an otherworldly performance.
The rookie Irish guard piled up a career-high 34 points along with 10 rebounds and six assists.
She outplayed the other star on the court too in UConn’s Paige Bueckers, who finished with just 17 points on 5-of-17 shooting along with two assists, four steals and two turnovers.
According to HerHoopStats, Hidalgo has the only game of that sort – again: 34 points, 10 rebounds and six assists – since at least 2009 against UConn. And she’s the first player not named Caitlin Clark to have those stats against a major conference opponent since 2020. Additionally, according to ESPN, 34 points in a single game is a program record for a freshman at Notre Dame.
Best player on the floor is a freshman 🤯
— Skylar Diggins-Smith (@SkyDigg4) January 28, 2024
. @HannahHidalgo IS HOOPING🙌🔥#NCAAWBB x 🎥 FOX / @ndwbb pic.twitter.com/2AgUbj2FTp
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) January 28, 2024
Hannah is DIFFERENT
— Lo Dreher ✨ (@BiggggLo_) January 28, 2024
COUNT IT AT THE BUZZER 🚨🙌#NCAAWBB x 🎥 FOX / @ndwbb pic.twitter.com/M8OWMdXJgV
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) January 28, 2024
UConn and Notre Dame met 11 times in the Big East Tournament, six times in the Final Four and twice in the national championship. The rivalry is a long one filled with big games and iconic moments.
And it sure feels like we’ll remember what Hidalgo did as a freshman in Gampel for quite some time.
