Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo has UConn’s number (again).

The Notre Dame-UConn rivalry has produced some classic performances from women’s basketball greats over the years. Several of them — including Skylar Diggins-Smith, Jewell Loyd, Arike Ogunbowale and Marina Mabrey — attended Thursday night’s showdown between the two top-10 teams in South Bend.

In her second appearance in this storied match, Hannah Hidalgo continued to make a name for herself as one of the best to ever compete. A year after dropping 34 points on the road against the Huskies, Hidalgo led the Fighting Irish with 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists as No. 8 Notre Dame handed No. 2 UConn its first loss of the season, 79-68.

Hidalgo beat the Huskies in the previous meeting with their rim pressure, as UConn couldn’t stop them from driving to the right. With the Huskies sitting on their right side this time, Hidalgo used a different tactic and scored from distance. The sophomore set a career high with six 3-pointers, none bigger than her stepback jumper, to end the third quarter and extend a lead from 1 to 4. UConn erased what was once a 13-point deficit, but never took the lead thanks to Hidalgo’s heroics.

HANNAH!! HIDALGO!! SUMMER!! BAT!!

📺 ESPN#GoIrish // @HannahHidalgo pic.twitter.com/gyqEzUs7ig

— Notre Dame Women’s Basketball (@ndwbb) December 13, 2024

Notre Dame is 3-0 against top-five teams this season, with wins over Southern California and Texas. That’s what we learned from the Irish’s victory over the Huskies.

Hannah Hidalgo is a big game player

As Irish coach Niele Ivey said at halftime on the ESPN broadcast, Hidalgo was made for the biggest stages. She loves competing against the toughest opponents and that showed once again against UConn. This season, Hidalgo is averaging 24.6 points and 3.3 assists per game; against high-ranking opponents these values ​​increase to 27.5 and 6.3.

In fact, according to ESPN Stats & Info, Hidalgo recorded 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in her second game against an AP top-10 opponent, tying her with Sabrina Ionescu for the most games in the last 15 seasons.

The Irish suffered a setback in the first quarter when Olivia Miles suffered an ankle injury, but Hidalgo was undeterred.

Notre Dame was down 10-9 with two minutes left in the first quarter when Hidalgo took control of the game with a 9-0 run. After an assist from Sonia Citron, she hit a 3-pointer from the corner and made a pull-up 3 on the next possession after a Citron steal. The Huskies called a timeout, but the next time the Irish got the ball, Hidalgo found Cassandre Prosper in the corner with a kickout pass, and Notre Dame never trailed again.

Despite the added responsibility on offense, Hidalgo’s effort on defense was predictably insane, resulting in three steals. The Irish guards broke every turnover and disrupted the flow of UConn’s half-open attack. Hidalgo was also active with nine defensive boards; Her most important punchout came in the second quarter when she didn’t even grab the rebound but instead caused a third foul on Sarah Strong, forcing the rookie center to sit out the final five minutes of the first half.

Hidalgo was a first-team All-American last season and has improved as a scorer and decision-maker in her sophomore season. The Irish have started every game with the best player on the court, and that was true even when Paige Bueckers started for UConn on Thursday.

The Huskies and Irish have deep rosters as injuries in recent seasons have led to their younger players taking on larger roles. However, while Ashlynn Shade was overwhelmed filling in for Azzi Fudd, who was sidelined with a knee sprain, Notre Dame got a big boost from transfer Liatu King, who played power forward all season while Maddy Westbeld recovers from a foot injury.

UConn’s defensive plan required the Huskies to sink into the lane, and that meant leaving corners open on drives, sometimes even the strongside corner. King was the main beneficiary of that extra baseline space, hitting multiple jumpers while Hidalgo repeatedly found them in the short corner. King also had a game-high 12 rebounds – a few of which she couldn’t get back, but she got to the ball first thanks to her motor skills and a huge vertical jump.

During a sequence in the fourth quarter, King dove to the floor to steal the ball from Jana El Alfy in the post, then ran the length of the court and scored a layup off a Hidalgo feed. That brought the Irish back to 10 points and essentially ended the drama.

. @liatuking lies everywhere on the floor 🙌🙌#NCAAWBB X @ndwbb pic.twitter.com/gTEiDJGC3o

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) December 13, 2024

Connecticut finished the game with four players in double figures, more than Notre Dame’s three, but it took them too long to get going. Only Bueckers was able to find a rhythm in the first half, and the Huskies had a big hole to climb out of as KK Arnold and Kaitlyn Chen started to make an impact.

UConn didn’t get enough easy baskets

It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Huskies made their second free throw. Although coach Geno Auriemma expressed his displeasure with the referees, this performance is not uncommon for UConn. The Huskies entered the game ranked last in the country in percentage of points scored through the foul line. They rank 360th out of 362 Division I teams in free throw percentage. Normally, the Huskies shoot well enough from the field to make up for that deficit, but that wasn’t the case as Citron stuck to Bueckers and Kate Koval reached the rim to great effect protected.

A secondary problem was the lack of 3-point attempts. UConn hasn’t had a high 3-point rate in the Bueckers era because its star player is a mid-range expert. That changed in the 2024-25 season, but the Huskies returned to their old habits against Notre Dame. Despite facing significant resistance in the lane, UConn was unable to gain traction beyond the arc, making just 16 3-point attempts (UConn’s season average is 23.6). Notre Dame concedes a relatively high number of three-pointers, so defense was not the reason for this shooting profile in Thursday’s matchup.

If the Huskies want to lose the possession battle and make fewer free throws, they’ll have to even the score somewhere, and that should come from perimeter play, as Bueckers, Chen, Shade and Strong are all shooting at least 35 percent from distance. The lack of a shooter like Fudd was significant in this particular game; Perhaps their presence can make the difference when UConn faces two more ranked opponents (No. 18 Iowa State and No. 5 USC) before the start of the Big East Conference.

(Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)