Hannah Hidalgo, a 5-6 guard, is a defensive menace. The two-time ACC defensive player of the year put up an egregious stat line of 44 points, 4 assists, 16 steals, and 9 rebounds in the win against Akron. In the ‘best’ performance coach Niele Ivey has seen, she set a program record for most points and an NCAA record for the most steals in a game. In a funny coincidence, Hidalgo has already achieved a similar feat on the same day that she achieved this one. 

“There is something about this date for you, November 12th. Two years ago, you had a program record of 12 steals. You come out tonight and get 16. What is it about November 12th that gives you these magical powers?” asked Ryan Smith on ESPN. If you need a refresher, Hidalgo had that 12-steal game against NJIT as a freshman. She scored 26 points with 6 assists on the day, too. 

“Yeah. See, I didn’t even know that. Just a full circle moment. I don’t know. Just going out. My teammates put me in the right positions. I’m able to get steals and we’re in transition,” Hidalgo replied. The Notre Dame relies on all five players on the court synchronizing ball pressure and cutting off passing lanes. That enables Hidalgo to use her elite agility and quickness to intercept passes and snag steals at a rate no one can. 

The game featured 38 Zips turnovers and 30 Notre Dame steals, leading to 41 points off turnovers. That is a scale only possible with intense pressure from everyone beyond Hidalgo. Coach Ivey insisted before the season began that the defense should see an improvement from last year. 

“Everything that we’re focusing on is being impactful on the ball and making sure that we’re defensively applying pressure more consistently,” Ivey said. “ … We’re going to be strategic in the way that we defend.” The head of the snake is, of course, Hidalgo, but it was a proper team effort to get her there. Beyond just the steals, Hidalgo also dominated the points board and was asked whether she was fed the ball in her hot streak. 

“I rely a lot on my teammates, but you know, we try to just feed the high hand. So, you know, whoever’s hot, we look to go to them. I was hot at one point, and then once I kind of cooled off, I was trying to get my teammates more involved,” Hidalgo said. 

Hidalgo dominated the ball, as expected. She shot 16-of-25 from the field, 3-of-6 from the 3-point line, and 9-of-11 from the charity stripe. That was partly due to her form, but also because there is no established star on the team apart from Hidalgo. Senior forward Cassandre Prosper was the only one not named Hidalgo in the double digits with 14 points. They don’t have Olivia Miles, Sonia Citron, or Maddy Westbeld anymore. Hidalgo did have 4 assists. She will have to do more creative heavy lifting on days she doesn’t have a hot hand. 

Coach Niele Ivey pinpoints mistakes after the Hannah Hidalgo Show

Even in the most perfect games, there are tiny mistakes to improve upon. Notre Dame won the game 85-58, but it was still against Akron. The Fighting Irish were expected to win by a healthy margin. Next up, they have ranked teams like Michigan, then there is No. 8 and No.13 Ole Miss soon after. With a hard stretch coming, OT was also important to analyse the tiny errors. 

“(I) didn’t feel like we shot the ball very well, got into foul trouble, which made the game look a little bit sloppy in my opinion,” Ivey said. 

The Fighting Irish went 31-66 from the field and actually shot worse than Akron, which went 24-47. (47% vs 51.1%) From the three-point line, it looks worse. They shot 4-20 from downtown, with 3 of them coming from Hannah. 2 of their starters, Prosper and KK Bransford, finished with 4 fouls and had to sit out for stretches in the game. While Hidalgo terrorised the opposition, the Irish themselves had 20 turnovers on the day, something better teams would capitalise on. However, Ivey emphasised not to immediately fixate on those things and to celebrate Hidalgo’s record-breaking game and the win. 

“You have to celebrate that (Hannah Hidalgo’s performance) because that was just phenomenal to be a part of to witness. There are some things that we can clean up, like I told the team, and we’ll we’ll get better with those things, but wanted just to celebrate how amazing that performance was tonight,” she said. 

Even with this blistering start, the Fighting Irish are still underdogs in the ACC. Most people think they have lost too much to repeat their Sweet 16 qualification. “Hannah Hidalgo might average a triple-double and that still might not be good enough to put Notre Dame in contention for an ACC title or a top 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament,” Michael Thortham of SB Nation wrote. It’s time for them to turn heads and prove the doubters wrong against Michigan.