The Guru NCAAW Report: Hidalgo Outduels Bueckers and Fuels No. 8 Notre Dame to Upset No. 2 UConn For Third Straight Series Win

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Merchantville’s Hannah Hidalgo outdueled Paige Buecker leading to No. 8 Notre Dame dislodging No. 2 Connecticut from the dwindling list of unbeaten teams and thrilling the sellout Fighting Irish fanbase with a 79-68 victory, third straight in the series, Thursday night at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Indiana.

With finals occurring across the country there wasn’t much of anything else on the night’s card but when it came to these longtime rivals matching up dating to their days together in the old Big East alignment there need not any more be desired.

Hidalgo, the ACC preseason player of the year who along with Southern Cal’s JuJu Watkins were the top two freshmen in the nation in 2023-24, has been even more outstanding to date as a sophomore.

Against the Huskies (8-1), Hidalgo was close to a triple-double, scoring 29 points, grabbing ten rebounds, and dishing eight assists. From deep she was 6-for-11 beyond the arc.

“Hannah, fantastic,” said Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey. “She was on the floor almost every minute. Diving for loose balls. Almost a three piece. She plays with her heart.

“In the first half, her threes were major. Got the crowd into the game. “

“Her talent is obvious. Even if you're not a basketball person you can tell that the talent level that she has is pretty unique,” Hall of Fame Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said.

 “But I think more important is the way she attacks everything she does. The way she attacks your defense and then when she's on defense she attacks your offense, the way that she leads her team in so many ways, I think you put all those three things together and it's just a really, really, really difficult match up.”

Olivia Miles, who shook off an early ankle injury, and Liatu King each added 16 points for Notre Dame (8-2) could be even more of a challenge when several players return who are still rehabbing from injuries.

UConn was also without a key player in Azzi Fudd, who suffered a mild knee sprain during Saturday night’s romp over then-No. 22 Louisville as part of the Women’s Champions Classic doubleheader in Brooklyn.

But the Huskies still have Paige Bueckers, who scored 25 points, while freshman Sarah Strong scored 14.

“We’ll take this loss as a lesson, but also use it as fuel,” Bueckers said. “They beat us, and they deserved to win. They played harder than us and they wanted more, which is what we can’t have.”

Having missed time in previous seasons with injuries, Bueckers opted to return a fifth season before heading to the WNBA where she is expected to be the number one overall pick in April’s draft by the lottery-winning Dallas Wings.

A key stat on the night was Notre Dame keeping their visitors in their first true road game grounded shooting a dismal 3-0f-16 on 3-point attempts while the Fighting Irish were the flying Irish going 10-of-18 beyond the arc.

The home folks got some help on the bench with Marquette transfer Liza Karlen making her first appearance since suffering a left ankle sprain in a preseason exhibition game.

“There’s a couple of things that we have to go back and address that are certainly within our control,” Auriemma said. “Some of it is youth. Some of it is just undisciplined. Some of it is carelessness, so we have to, we have to do a better job with that as a coaching staff snd as players.

“We could have very easily been down 25, and instead we cut it to two, so that tells us something.”

Notre Dame has another non-conference game Sunday when the Irish host Eastern Michigan while Connecticut greets Georgetown to launch its Big East competition.

The only other game the Guru had listed from his giant nightly radar schedule was Louisville hosting Grambling of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

The Cardinals (6-4), who fell out of the AP women’s poll after Saturday night’s loss, had an easy time bouncing back with a 96-57 victory.

Olivia Cochran (18 pts., 11 rebs.) and Nyla Harris (14 pts., 10 rebs.) registered double doubles while reserve freshman Izela Arenas scored 13 points and freshman starter Tajianna Roberts tallied 10.

Senior substitute player Lydia Freeman was the only one in double figures for Grambling (2-8) scoring 13 with nine boards. The visitors are off until hosting Arkansas Baptist next Wednesday.

Louisville gets into ACC play Sunday in the Jimmy V Classic Hosting No. 22 NC State at 1 p.m. on ABC and ESPN+.

Looking Ahead

With this being the front end of the finals period, not much else in general is on Friday night’s action, the only local listing has La Salle hosting D-II Chestnut Hill at 6 p.m. on ESPN+ at John Glaser Arena ahead of the Explorers’ trip to No. 6 Texas in Austin next Tuesday.

Nationally, Stanford crosses the San Francisco Bay to meet its former longtime PAC-12 rival California in Berkeley for their debut in ACC competition at 10 p.m. (ACCNX).

A non-conference game involving former PAC-12 rivals has Utah of the Big 12 visiting Washington of the Big Ten at 9 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

On Saturday, locally, Rider hosts Stonehill on the front end of a doubleheader with the men at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Nationally, No. 13 Kansas State is hosting Middle Tennessee at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) in Manhattan.

No. 19 Tennessee hosts N.C. Central at 2 p.m. in Food City Center in Knoxville on SECN+.

No. 1 UCLA (9-0) will take its unbeaten record nearby to Long Beach State (5-3) at 5 p.m. (ESPN+), while Detroit Mercy (6-1) is at No. 20 Michigan (8-1) in Ann Arbor at 3 p.m. (B1G+).

No. 16 Kentucky is at Purdue at 5 p.m. in West Lafayette, Ind., on the Big Ten Network.

On Sunday, locally, Temple hosts No. 15 West Virginia at 2 p.m. in the Liacouras Center on ESPN2, the host Owls coming off their recent Big 5 Classic championship at Villanova over the Wildcats, who at the same time will host Sunbelt favorite James Madison (FloSports) in Finneran Pavilion.

It’s a coaching reunion of sorts from the CAA rivalry when ‘Nova coach Denise Dillon at Drexel at the Dukes fought for league supremacy.

Rutgers hosts Wagner at 2 p.m. (B1G+) at home in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., while Penn State visits Kansas in the Jayhawks’ Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence at 3 p.m. on ESPNU and ESPN+.

Drexel is at Florida State at 2 p.m. (ACCNX) at the Tucker Center in Tallahassee.

Nationally, No. 3 South Carolina hosts American Athletic Conference champion favorite South Florida at 2 p.m. on the SEC Network. Connecticut’s Big East game with Georgetown at 1:30 p.m. on SNY at the XL Center in Hartford.

At noon No. 21 Iowa visits No. 17 Michigan State in a Big Ten game on the Big Ten Network in East Lansing.

Fairfield is at St. John’s in Queens at 2 p.m. on FloSports while Quinnipiac is at Vermont also at 2 p.m. in Burlington on ESPN+.

Elon is at No. 5 Southern Cal at 3 p.m. (B1G+) in Los Angeles at the Galen Center.

Richmond, the defending A-10 champs, are hosting Texas in the Robins Center in Virginia at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.

And that’s the report.