At one point, it seemed like Notre Dame might actually put up some fight against the mighty UConn. The Irish trailed by just nine points at halftime, even going band for band with the No.1 Huskies 16-16 in the second quarter. Obviously, Hannah Hidalgo was the driving force of that run, scoring 10 of those points. However, the Huskies came back roaring in the second half, overwhelming Niele Ivey’s side. The game ended with the scoreline reading 85-47, Notre Dame’s biggest loss against UConn yet.

Hannah Hidalgo is in the same league as Sarah Strong. Before this game, she was averaging 25 points, 5.6 steals, 5.6 assists, and 6.2 rebounds per game. Going up against UConn, Hidalgo could only muster 16 points while shooting 5-15 from the field and 1-6 from the three-point line. She still had 3 steals, 2 assists, and 4 rebounds. Auriemma saw all of this clearly, and he didn’t shy away from pointing out why Hidalgo’s burden is so heavy.

“They’re in a tough spot. They lost a lot of really, really good offensive players, and they’re limited bench wise. It’s kind of where you know we’ve been here, so there’s an awful lot of there’s an awful output on Hannah’s shoulders, more so than the previous two years,” Auriemma told the media.

Olivia Miles transferred to TCU, Sonia Citron and Maddy Westbeld got drafted in the WNBA, Kate Koval transferred to LSU, and all in all, they retained a key  returner from the team that went on a 19-game winning streak and made the Sweet 16: Hannah Hidalgo. As a result, the team is suffering from a depth crisis.

“So we tried to take advantage of that and make sure that you know she had to do a lot more than just what she normally does for that,” Auriemma further said. “And I think defensively, she wasn’t able to cause as much havoc as she normally does.”

Hidalgo’s season-wide usage rate of 33.7% is second only to Liv McGill from Florida among the high major teams. In this game, that number dropped down to 29.8 as UConn crowded Hidalgo with bodies. That’s where KK Arnold came in, delivering what Auriemma called her best performance yet.

“I told her (KK Arnold) I thought this was the best game that she’s played, and she’s been at Connecticut because it’s a mentality to play really well against a really good player,” Auriemma said. But it’s difficult to be successful while depending on just one player. Hidalgo, as good as she is, cannot do everything. They have another key piece in KK Bransford out indefinitely with a knee injury, but this squad was always going to struggle.

Cassandre Prosper has stepped up to be the second in command to Hidalgo and is averaging 16.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. That is more than triple the 5.8 points and 3.7 rebounds last year. Apart from Hidalgo, this team lacks meaningful experience on the court.

Even with Prosper’s emergence, games against elite opponents like UConn just go on to expose Notre Dame’s lack of experience. That gap isn’t something talent or preparation alone can immediately erase, and it remains a difficult reality for Niele Ivey to manage. If the Irish want their postseason run to extend beyond the opening weekend in March, meaningful adjustments will have to be devised.

Notre Dame Needs To Evolve Beyond Hannah Hidalgo For Better Or Worse

Hannah Hidalgo almost always delivers. She couldn’t go against UConn, but they are the best team in the country with defense like no other. With this strategy, Notre Dame has gotten a few wins, and they will get some more. However, it is too safe of a outlook, and if the Irish want to make some noise come March, Niele Ivey will need to take some bold steps.

The Notre Dame coach knew how UConn was going to come out defending Hannah Hidalgo.
“Yeah, knowing that they have a lot of defensive strategy within this program. I was expecting a lot of different things,” She said. “I mean, they showed a little bit of ice, you know, they hedged, so things that we have been preparing for all season, that a lot of teams do, but also just knowing that they have a lot of different things that they’ll throw at you with their coverage defensively. So, we were prepared.”

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The primary strategy for every team is to keep Hidalgo in check. But Ivey has kept pushing Hidalgo and using her as the only primary option, with Cassandre Prosper as the secondary. A creative way to go would be to reduce Hidalgo’s usage and diversify it in the squad. Yes, it’s a risky move since their quality does not match Hidalgo’s.

But she can use Hannah Hidalgo’s gravity to make things easier for them. Make her play off the ball and drag defenders. The rest of the squad won’t learn and perform unless allowed to do so. And this squad is built with 9 seniors, so they have watched the team from the bench and have an idea of how to go about business. It could backfire, but it’s a better fate than continuing to pass the ball to Hidalgo and forgetting about it.