South Bend: Notre Dame clinches a share of the ACC women’s title in a 72-59 dramatic home win over the Louisville Cardinals. Their star player–Hannah Hidalgo–showed up and showed out adding 20/6/9 to her name. Indeed, a powerful rebound from their back-to-back loses to NC State and Florida State that broke their 19-game winning streak just a week ago. Especially, since this gives them a chance of landing in the top seeds in the March Madness field. However, amidst all the celebrations, it is hard to ignore one thorn that has pained the Irish for some time now. The one player in question? That same star Irish who gave them a 25-2 regular season record before the Ls came in.

The Irish have been the team to beat since they lost two consecutive games in the very first month of the regular season. No doubt, Hidalgo’s name has been shining most throughout it all. But while the sophomore has put up big numbers on the board, the shooting has been an issue. A 19-game winning streak came to an abrupt end against last season’s ACC regular-season champion NC State with the guard clenching 26 points but only at a 30% shooting from the field in a 104-95 double OT loss. The same repeated again in the 86-81 home defeat against the Seminoles where Hidalgo went for 16 points at a second season-low 22% shooting. So, does the leading ACC team need to check on this crisis?

Indeed. Entering March, Notre Dame has a target on their back and a mission ahead of them. Hence, the face of the team certainly needs to be at her best in all aspects possible. The same thoughts were resonated by Alexa Philippou of ESPN before the Sunday win for the Irish. She told Taylor Tannebaum and Ari Chambers, “I mean she’s shooting I think 30% over the last 5 games, that’s the worst shooting percentage in any five-game stretch of her career.” 

In the last five games, including the Seminoles, Hannah shot under 50% from the field, only making the concerns stated by Philippou more critical. She shot 41.7% against Miami, 40% against Duke, and the lowest of these 16.7% against Pittsburgh from the field. This stretch of games shows that every player can hit a rough patch, even if you are the offensive firepower of the team.

Philippou further added, “You hate to say it, but Notre Dame does kind of go how she goes, there’s a reason why they were able to accumulate some of the best wins across the nation this season against Texas, against UConn, ’cause Hannah Hidalgo showed up. Maybe they don’t need 30 points from her every night, but also, look at that the body language! Just keep an eye on that too. I think they wanna see her, you know, even if she’s not shooting great, how can you make an impact in other ways? One stat that I saw which was very interesting, she had one assist in that Florida State game, not a lot to kind of compare, she didn’t have a great efficiency tonight.”

This season, Hannah helped her team win over powerhouses like UConn and Texas. In the game against the historic leaders of the Big East, the Huskies, the guard grabbed a game-high of 29 points, even leaving the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft Paige Bueckers behind with 25 points. She even brushed a triple double with 10 rebounds and 8 assists. The No. 3 also pulled the team over the SEC leaders, Texas Longhorns, in a 70-80 OT win. However, the shooting is a trouble for Niele Ivey and Co.

Even ESPN’s Elle Duncan flared the red flag after the Irish lost to Florida State as she said, “They’re the only one of the top 10 teams that have lost consecutive games this season, and they’ve done it twice, right?.. They’ve now allowed 85 points in back-to-back games; that’s for the first time since Neil Ivy took over. Yeah, you know they blew a 15-point lead. Which is their biggest blown lead at home since Neil Ivy took over. In Hannah Hidalgo’s last five games, she’s scoring 18 points per game on 30% shooting.”

Now sure, Hidalgo is yet to cross the 50% mark in her career when it comes to FG which currently reads 45.4%, and her 46.4% shooting is in fact an improvement on her last season’s 44.6%, but, there’s a but! Her rebounds have reduced to 5.3 from last season’s 6.2 rpg. Her assists have taken a bigger hit by dropping to just 3.8 from her freshman season’s 5.5 apg. Now, when you’re your team’s best player and you’re going through a shooting slump, this is what you do! You contribute in other ways!

And that’s exactly what she did. Hidalgo certainly brought her A-game against the Louisville Cardinals. While she went 6-14 from the field, another sub-par performance for her at 42%, she impacted the game in other ways. She grabbed 9 rebounds and dished out 6 assists, proving that even on her off days with shooting efficiency, she can help the team win.

With the regular season done and dusted, the focus will be on winning their consecutive ACC tournament. Hannah Hidalgo knows this is the perfect chance to get her shooting consistency back before the Big Dance begins and the Fighting Irish know their path in the ACC tournament as well!

Hannah Hidalgo and Co have their ACC Tournament path set

The ACC tournament brackets have been revealed with co-champions NC State getting the first seed while the Fighting Irish get the second seed courtesy of the head-to-head record. It promises to be an exciting tournament as Hannah Hidalgo and Co would definitely want to win it for the second time in a row!

Notre Dame’s might go against No. 7 California, No. 10 Virginia, and No. 15 Pittsburgh. Virginia and Pitt will face off in a first-round matchup, with the winner taking on California next. The winner of that game will then go head-to-head with Notre Dame in the tournament quarterfinals on Friday.

If Notre Dame clears the semifinals, they will find a spot in the Final on Sunday for a chance to grab the hardware they did the last season,

With March Madness fast approaching, Hannah Hidalgo will be eager to get her efficiency back on track. The first step before the Big Dance? Making a statement in the ACC tournament. Do you think the Fighting Irish can win the NCAA tournament this season? Do let us know in the comments!