Hannah Hidalgo sets Notre Dame ACC Player of the Week record
No Notre Dame women’s basketball player in the two-time national championship-winning history of the program has ever won more ACC Player of the Week titles than Hannah Hidalgo. The sophomore guard earned her sixth such award Monday, and it isn’t even officially winter yet in her second season on campus.
The Irish have been playing in the ACC since a 2013 move from the Big East. One of the two aforementioned national titles has come in that span as well as many more runs to the Final Four, seasons guided by incredible players — none of whom won as many ACC Player of the Week nods as Hidalgo.
Hidalgo averaged 28.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 4.5 steals in Notre Dame home wins over then-No. 2 Uconn and Eastern Michigan. It’s the second time this season Hidalgo has been named the ACC Player of the Week and third time a Fighting Irish player has claimed the honor. Senior guard Olivia Miles came away with it the first time it was given out in early November.
Hidalgo has emphatically made her case for National Player of the Year. In Notre Dame’s three wins over top-five teams Hidalgo has put up the following stat lines…
• 24 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 5 steals vs. No. 3 USC
• 30 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals vs. No. 4 Texas
• 29 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals vs. No. 2 UConn
Hidalgo doesn’t just save her mastery for the best teams in the country, though. She stuffs the stat sheet against everybody. In 11 games this season, Hidalgo averages 25.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.2 steals and 3.8 assists per appearance. She’s having an even better year than she did as a freshman when she became one of five freshmen in the history of the sport to be named a First Team Associated Press All-American.
Notre Dame vaults to No. 3 in Associated Press Poll
The Fighting Irish’s stay outside of the top five of the AP Top 25 was short-lived. Notre Dame (9-2) is now No. 3 after beating then-No. 2 UConn last week followed by a 69-point win over Eastern Michigan.
The Irish fell all the way to No. 10 after consecutive losses in the Cayman Islands Classic, but the overall body of work is certainly deserving of one of the top spots in the country. No other team in the nation has a collection of wins quite like those of the Irish.
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Here is the full AP Poll.
1. UCLA (10-0) (30 first-place votes)
2. South Carolina (10-1) (1)
3. Notre Dame (11-2) (1)
4. UConn (9-1)
5. LSU (12-0)
6. Texas (10-1)
7. USC (10-1)
8. Maryland (10-0)
9. Duke (9-2)
10. Oklahoma (9-1)
11. Ohio State (10-0)
12. TCU (10-1)
13. Kansas State (11-1)
14. West Virginia (10-1)
15. Michigan State (10-0)
16. Kentucky (9-1)
17. Georgia Tech (11-0)
18. Tennessee (8-0)
19. North Carolina (10-2)
20. Michigan (9-1)
21. NC State (8-3)
22. Iowa (9-2)
23. Nebraska (10-1)
24. Cal (11-1)
25. Ole Miss (7-3)
